Summary
Summary Exam 1 material needed
- Course
- POLS 1101
- Institution
- Georgia State University
Includes definitions and answers to the questions that are from the professor's Exam 1 study guide, including chapters 1, 7, 8, 9, and 6.
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CH. 1: AN INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN GOVERNMENT ANDPOLITICS
Section 2: What is Government?
○ Government: A set of enduring institutions that claim legitimate authority to
use force and make laws binding upon the people of a particular territory.
○ legitimate authority: The right to issue commands and to punish those who do
not comply with the commands.
○ Sovereignty(chủ quyền): The right of a government to govern its territory
without interference from other governments and to use military force to
defend itself and its territory from foreign aggression.
○ legislative branch/legislature: An institution of government that makes laws
(i.e. “legislates”).
○ executive branch: A set of institutions in government with authority to put
laws into effect, including, but not limited to, through the use of physical force
by police or military.
○ Judiciary (or Judicial Branch): The branch of government consisting of courts
of law. (See also Courts of Law.)
○ power of the sword: The government’s ability to influence behavior by using,
or threatening to use, physical force through the police or military. In
American government, the executive branch wields the power of the sword.
● the legislatures of the:
+ Federal government: Congress
+ Georgia: Georgia General Assembly
● the upper and lower chambers of those two legislatures
+ Federal: Senate (upper) and House of Representatives (lower)
+ GA: same but with the word GA in front
● the heads of the executive branches of the
+ Federal government: offices of the President and Vice President and
bureaucratic agencies
+ Georgia government: governor (currently Brian Kemp) & executive officers
, Lieutenant governor
Secretary of State
Attorney general
State school superintendent
The commissioners of agriculture, insurance, and labor
● the highest courts in the judicial branches of the:
+ Federal government: The Supreme of the United States
+ Georgia government: The Supreme Court of Georgia
- Which branch of government do bureaucratic agencies belong to: legislative,
executive, or judicial? - executive
+ Bureaucratic Agencies: Organizational units within the executive branch of
government responsible for implementing specific public policies and/or
providing public services.
- Do all governments claim to have legitimate authority to wield the power of the
sword? - Even though it is said “In American government, the executive branch
wields the power of the sword”, however, all governments claim to have preeminent
legitimate authority to use physical / violent force.
Two More Ways Governments Exercise Power over the People
● Vocabulary to know:
○ relational power: The ability to get a person or group to do what they
otherwise would not do. For any possible two-way power relationship, if the
individuals or groups who are part of the relationship are called “A” and “B,”
, then A has power over B to the extent that A can get B to do what B would not
otherwise do.
○ power of the purse: The government’s ability to influence behavior by using
money—through taxing and/or spending—as a positive incentive or negative
incentive. In American government, the legislative branch controls the power
of the purse. (Contrast with the Power of the Sword, which is wielded by the
executive branch.)
○ positive incentive: A promise to provide a benefit in exchange for behaving
in a desired way. Sometimes called a “Carrot.” (Contrast with Negative
Incentive.)
○ negative incentive: A threat to impose a burden if one does not behave in a
desired way. Sometimes called a “Stick.” (Contrast with Positive Incentive.)
○ affecting hearts and minds: Governments also regularly seek to affect the
people’s hearts and minds so that the people are persuaded, or genuinely feel a
desire or duty, to do what they would otherwise not do
○ Propaganda: A form of persuasive communication that urges people to do
support, or take actions to advance, a political goal by manipulating their
irrational biases and concealing from them things they reasonably should
consider.
● How is the power of the purse different from the “power of the sword”?
- The power of the purse use money while the sword use physical force like the
police or military
● Be able to recognize the difference between government using the power of the purse
as “positive incentives” versus as “negative incentives.”
- Positive: a benefit in return for a desired behavior
- Negative: punishment to deter disobedience
● Why is using the power of the purse not a part of the definition of government?
The use of money as either a positive incentive (carrot) or negative incentive (stick) is
not a part of the definition of government because governments are far from being the
only human organizations that use money to exercise power over others.
● Why is affecting hearts and minds not a part of the definition of government?
Affecting hearts and minds is not a part of the definition of government because many
other types of organizations also attempt to wield power over people in this way
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