Veto - answer✔A presidential power to reject a bill approved by Congress; Congress may
override the president's veto with a two-thirds vote in both houses
Bicameralism - answer✔The term used to describe a two-house congress. In the United States,
this consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate
Unfunded Mandate - answer✔Federal requirements placed upon the state governments
without sufficient funds for implementation
Filibuster - answer✔The senatorial procedure whereby a single senator or group of senators
can talk for an extended period of time in hope of delaying, modifying, or defeating a proposal
Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards - answer✔A federal program that mandates
achievement of an average level of fuel efficiency for a given automaker's line of vehicles. That
is, it sets minimum fuel economy standards, but only for the average of all vehicles produced
Policy Implementation - answer✔The actual development of a program's details to ensure that
policy goals and objectives will be attained; it is during this part of the policy process when one
sees actual government intervention and real consequences for society
Deterrence - answer✔A policy strategy used most often in national defense in which the object
is to deter or prevent a potential enemy from taking actions harmful to the nation. The strategy
of nuclear deterrence, for example, was based on the assumption that no nation would engage
in a preemptive, or first-strike, war because the likely retaliation would be too massive to
accept
Agenda Setting - answer✔A step in the policy process whereby policy actors attempt to get an
issue seriously considered for public action
Market Failure - answer✔A term used when the private market is not efficient; some argue that
such a failure provides a justification for government intervention
Positive Externality - answer✔A type of market failure that occurs the same way as a negative
externality, but the third party gains something from the two-party interaction and does not
have to pay for it
Political Feasibility - answer✔A calculation of the likely acceptability to policymakers of
proposed policy ideas or alternatives. Refers to whether elected officials are likely to support
the idea. This is assumed to reflect a broader social acceptability of the same ideas or
alternatives
Collective Good - answer✔The general good of all people in a community, state, or nation. Also
refers to goods, such as national defense, that could in principle be private but instead are
provided by government because private markets cannot do so. Also called a public good
Block Grants - answer✔Transfers of federal dollars to the states, where the states have
substantial discretion in how to spend the money to meet the needs of their citizens
Policy Gridlock - answer✔When political decision makers are unable or unwilling to
compromise in a way that permits public policy action
Cap-and-trade policy - answer✔A policy action that relies on market-based mechanisms in
which an overall cap or ceiling is set and trading of permits or allowances is allowed within that
cap. The cap may be lowered over time
Redistributive Policies - answer✔Policies that provide benefits to one category of individuals at
the expense of another; often reflect ideological or class conflict
Paris Agreement - answer✔The late 2015 commitment by nearly all nations to adopt policies to
lower greenhouse gas emissions in a major effort to combat climate change
Realpolitik - answer✔A hardheaded or practical appraisal of national interests that emphasizes
competition among nation-states
National Security Agency (NSA) - answer✔A secretive intelligence agency created in 1952 to
coordinate, direct, and perform activities to protect U.S. government information systems as
well as assess a diversity of foreign communications related to national security
Interest Groups - answer✔organization of people who share political, social or other goals; and
agree to try to influence public policy to achieve those goals.
NGOs - answer✔A non-governmental, non-profit organization that runs aid programs and
lobbies for people's rights around the world
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