Democracy in Tension
This democratic view prioritizes broad participation and sees citizen engagement as essential to legitimacy.
What is participatory democracy?
This amendment is most often cited when states argue the federal government has overreached.
These set of amendments generally protect people from government infringement.
What are civil liberties?
According to Mayhew, this is the primary motivation of members of Congress.
What is reelection?
This concept explains why cooperation is difficult even when all actors would benefit.
What is a collective action problem?
This view argues democracy works best when elites govern and citizens play a limited role.
What is the minimalist view of democracy?
This form of federalism emphasizes shared responsibilities between state and federal governments.
What is cooperative federalism?
Civil liberties are primarily protected through this branch of government.
What is the judiciary?
This congressional feature allows members to claim credit for bringing resources back home.
What is pork barrel spending?
This theory assumes power is widely distributed but is criticized for ignoring inequality.
What is pluralism?
In this political system, citizens elect representatives to make laws and govern on their behalf.
This clause enables Congress “to make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying…”
What is the elastic clause?
This amendment is the constitutional bridge that allows most rights to apply to the states.
What is the 14th?
This institutional rule gives the Senate minority disproportionate power.
What is the filibuster?
This institutional feature, in which the legislature is made up of two chambers, is encourages compromise but also slows policymaking.
What is bicameralism?
Federalists feared this outcome if democracy became too direct.
Majoritarian Tyranny
This form of federalism emphasizes distinct and separate responsibilities between state and federal governments.
What is dual federalism?
Before Brandenburg, this standard allowed greater restriction of speech during wartime.
What is 'clear and present danger' or Schenck?
This organizational feature allows Congress to divide labor among its members.
What are committees?
This concept helps explain why Americans approve of their own representative but not Congress as a whole.
What is the Paradox of Congress?
Federalist Paper #51 emphasizes this problem as a reason for separating powers.
What are factions?
This Supreme Court decision limited federal power under the commerce clause, ruling that the Gun-Free School Zones Act was unconstitutional, reaffirming federalism by protecting state power over local issues like gun control.
What is United States v. Lopez?
This concept explains how privacy rights emerge even though “privacy” is not explicitly listed in the Constitution.
According to Fenno, this constituency is made up of the voters who are most likely to turn out.
This democratic feature can prevent sudden or extreme policy change.
What is gridlock?