Defining Interest Groups and Political Parties What is an Interest Group? an organized group of individuals who share common goals or objectives who attempt to influence policymakers in all three branches of government, and at all levels What is a political party?

Defining Public Opinion Public Opinion-the- aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs shared by some portion of the adult population -Consensus opinions-when there is general agreement among the citizenry on an issue - Divisive opinionswhen- public opinion is polarized between two quite different positions

Civil rights all rights rooted in the Fourteenth Amendments guarantee of equal protection under the law what the government must do to ensure equal protection what the government must do to ensure freedom from discrimination

Civil Liberties versus civil Rights civil liberties involve restraining the government's action against individuals civil rights are rights all individuals share as provided for in the 14th amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law

Three Systems of Government Unitary System-centralized government in which local governments exercise only those powers given to them by the central government Confederal System -consists of a league of independent states, each having essentially sovereign power Federal system-power is divided by a written constitution between a central government and

The Colonial Background Jamestown-representative- assembly Plymouth- social contract with consent of the governed

What is Foreign policy? ~ nation's' external goals and techniques and strategies used to achieve them American foreign policy includes national security policy, which is policy designed to protect the independence and the political and economic integrity of the United States

The Policy Making Process agenda building --identifying a problem and getting it on the agenda policy formulation -the debate that occurs between government officials, and between the public in the media, and in campaigns

The Common Law Tradition common law-judge made law that originated in England and was derived from prevailing customs precedent-a court ruling bearing on subsequent legal decisions in similar cases - emanates from stare decisis, or standing on decided cases

The Nature of Bureaucracy a large organization that is structured hierarchically to carry out specific functions private bureaucracies exist within organizations like corporations has a single set of leaders public bureaucracies exist within organizations like