AP Government and Politics
Smith
Unit 1 Study Guide: Chapters 1, 4
Concepts:
1.
Explain the two basic questions to be asked about American (and any other form) government.
What is the meaning and implications of these questions?
2.
Explain what is meant by power in general terms and by political power in particular. Explain how
political power relates to authority, legitimacy, and democracy in the contest of American
government.
a. What is the source of legitimate authority in the US today?
3.
Distinguish between different concepts of democracy, explaining in which sense the American
government is and is not democratic.
a. Is representative democracy best?
i. How did the framers view and understand democracy?
ii. What are the criticisms of representative democracy?
b. Is direct democracy driven by self-interest?
i. What role does self-interest play in democracy?
4.
Differentiate between majoritarian politics and elitist politics, explaining the four major theories of
the latter.
a. Know Karl Marx, C. Wright Mills, Max Weber
b. What are the shortcomings and inadequacies of majoritarian politics?
5.
Define what scholars mean by political culture, and list some of the dominant aspects of political
culture in the United States
a. Explain how the American Revolution contributed to the development of U.S political
culture.
b. Who was Alexis de Tocqueville?
c. According to Tocqueville, why did a democratic republic take root in the US but not
elsewhere
d. American view of equality in terms of the economic system
6.
Discuss how U.S. citizens compare with those of other countries in their political attitudes.
7.
Define internal and external feelings of political efficacy and how each has varied over recent
generations.
8.
Explain why a certain level of political tolerance is necessary in the conduct of democratic politics.
a. Americans view of tolerance in the abstract vs. Americans view of tolerance in the concrete.
Terminology:
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21.
power
legitimacy
authority
democracy
direct democracy
representative democracy
majoritarian politics
elite
Marxist view
power elite view
bureaucratic view
pluralist view
civic duty
civic competence
class consciousness
culture war
orthodox
progressive
political efficacy
internal efficacy
external efficacy