U.S. POLITICS & DOMESTIC AFFAIRS
This set of the first ten constitutional amendments protects individual liberties from federal overreach.
What is the Bill of Rights?
This alliance, formed in 1949, is the cornerstone of U.S. collective defense commitments in Europe.
What is NATO?
Russia escalated operations in this country’s eastern regions throughout 2025.
What is Ukraine?
In early 2025, Congress renewed debate on this controversial tactic used to block judicial and Cabinet nominations.
What is the filibuster?
This classic political ideology emphasizes limited government, free markets, and individual rights.
What is liberalism?
This clause in Article I grants Congress the power to make laws “necessary and proper” to carry out its duties.
What is the Necessary and Proper Clause?
This doctrine, announced in 1947, committed the U.S. to contain Soviet expansion around the world.
What is the Truman Doctrine?
This form of dictatorship is led by a single ruler who maintains personal control over the state.
What is personalist authoritarianism?
This House Democratic leader frequently clashed with Republican leadership in 2025 over border policy.
Who is Hakeem Jeffries?
This type of authoritarian regime uses elections as a façade while limiting real competition.
What is competitive authoritarianism?
This concept describes the ability of Congress to shape policy through the budget process and control of federal expenditures.
What is the power of the purse?
This presidential advisory body integrates intelligence, military, and diplomatic information to inform national security decisions.
What is the National Security Council (NSC)?
This East Asian democracy saw a 2025 election centered on concerns about China’s influence.
What is Taiwan?
This political strategy — pitting “working-class voters” against “elites” — dominated party messaging early in 2025.
What is economic populism?
This IR theory argues that international politics is shaped primarily by states seeking power under anarchy.
What is realism?
This power allows presidents to refuse to sign legislation, forcing Congress to override with a two-thirds vote.
What is the veto?
This 2002 doctrine allowed the U.S. to strike emerging threats before they materialized.
What is the Bush Doctrine (preemption)?
A territorial standoff between these two nuclear-armed nations flared up again in 2025 along the Line of Actual Control.
What are India and China?
This Speaker of the House faced early 2025 challenges from both moderates and hardliners within his caucus.
Who is Mike Johnson?
This theory of democratization argues that the middle class pushes for political opening when economic conditions expand.
What is modernization theory?
This theory of American political development argues that policy choices early in U.S. history created self-reinforcing institutional patterns that shape later political outcomes.
What is path dependence? (Or: historical institutionalism)
This law requires presidents to notify Congress within 48 hours of deploying troops into hostilities.
What is the War Powers Resolution (1973)?
North Korea violated U.N. resolutions in 2025 by conducting this type of weapons test.
What is a ballistic missile test? or What is a hypersonic missiles?
This independent senator from Arizona made headlines in 2025 with her retirement and departure from the Democratic Party.
Who is Kyrsten Sinema?
This theory argues that domestic institutions shape the likelihood of war, with democracies less likely to fight each other.
What is the democratic peace theory?
This idea from constitutional theory argues that presidents adopt strategies to accumulate power over time, often reshaping the separation of powers.
What is the theory of the “imperial presidency”?
This concept refers to the risk of unintended conflict escalation when states interpret defensive measures as offensive threats.
What is the security dilemma?
Russia’s 2025 tactics exemplified this hybrid strategy blending military, cyber, and informational warfare.
What is hybrid warfare?
This senior Republican’s 2025 retirement announcement sparked debates about institutional memory loss in Congress.
Who is Mitch McConnell?
This formal model of politics argues that policy outcomes reflect the preferences of the pivotal voter under majority rule.
What is the median voter theorem?