Study Guide – Final Exam
1. Identify and explain Laswell’s, Easton’s, and Feagin’s definitions of politics.
2. Define government. Explain government’s legitimate use of force. Why do people agree to
obey government’s laws?
3. Discuss the five stages of the policy-making process (the production line model). Outline the
activities and actors that may be involved in each stage.
4. Discuss the policy classification scheme introduced in class, identifying the activity of
government associated with each class and providing examples to illustrate each class. What
two questions must be answered in order to classify policy under this scheme?
5. What are the two principal functions of Congress? Explain the inherent conflict that exists
between these two functions. How might this conflict explain Fenno’s dilemma?
6. Discuss the legislative process. What is a “veto point?” Identify the primary veto points in the
legislative process. How many veto points can be associated with a typical bill in Congress?
7. Explain what the author of your text means by “home style.” Describe at least three ways that
members of Congress practice home style for their districts.
8. Describe the leadership system in Congress and explain the primary responsibilities of each
position.
9. What is meant by the “media presidency?” What is meant by the “textbook presidency?” How
do these perpetuate a “mythological presidency?” Explain why the true nature of presidential
power is personal, episodic, and negative.
10. Detail the constitutional basis of presidential power. Are the president’s powers broad and
flexible or narrow and restricted? Explain your answer by contrasting the literalist and
stewardship theories.
11. What is a bureaucracy? Discuss the premises of the classical model of bureaucracy?
12. What types of bureaucracies are found in the executive branch?
13. What do we mean when we say that a court decision has policy impact? How does this differ
from legal impact? Give examples of U.S. Supreme Court [USSC] decisions that have policy
impact. Explain each example.
14. What is judicial review? Discuss the ‘historical’ birth’ of judicial review in MARBURY V MADISON
[1803]. What were the facts of the case? What was the constitutional issue? What did the
USSC decide? What was the long-term significance of the case?
15. Why is compliance important as a criterion of judicial policy-making? Give examples of USSC
decisions that meet this criterion. Explain each example.
16. What is the exclusionary rule? What USSC decisions are relevant to the exclusionary rule?
What provision(s) of the Constitution is (are) relevant to the exclusionary rule?
17. What are the Miranda warnings? Explain their significance in the process of a criminal
investigation.
18. What potential conflict exists between the 1st Amendment’s provision of freedom of the press
and the 6th Amendment’s guarantee to an impartial jury trial? Discuss.
19. List and explain at least five “criminal due process” protections found in the Constitution and
the Bill of Rights.
20. Identify and discuss case law (USSC decisions) relating to the following: searches and
seizures, self-incrimination, and right to counsel.
21. List and discuss the three responses of blacks to the imposition of segregation.
22. Explain Martin Luther King’s nonviolent direct action and its impact on the civil rights
movement.
23. Explain why the USSC believed that the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause failed to
provide a constitutional basis for Congress’ positive civil rights agenda in the late 19th century.
Discuss the constitutional provision that the USSC used to uphold congressional legislation in
the mid-20th century.
24. List the major civil rights statutes passed by Congress and discuss the major provisions of
these acts.
25. Discuss the significance of PLESSY V FERGUSON and of BROWN V BOARD OF EDUCATION by
contrasting the facts, decisions, and legacies of the cases.
26. What is the current law with respect to affirmative action in admissions policies of universities?
[What is the significance of the federal court’s decisions in BAKKE V UC, DAVIS and HOPWOOD
V TEXAS?]
27. Identify the following:




























public agenda
official agenda
policy statement
implementing actions
statute
executive order
administrative ruling
court decision
informal policy statement
radical left
radical right
civil disobedience
legitimacy
authoritative government
authoritarian government
separation of powers/checks and balances
Federalists
Anti-Federalists
Articles of Confederation
Declaration of Independence
The Constitution of 1787
Bill of Rights
gerrymandering
apportionment
redistricting
filibuster
cloture
incumbency











































safe seat
open seat
trustee
delegate
politico
executive order
veto
veto point
pocket veto
line-item veto
treaties
executive agreements
formal rule-making
adjudication
merit system
spoils system
judicial review
stare decisis
original jurisdiction
appellate jurisdiction
writ of certiorari
writ of mandamus
Emancipation Proclamation
Jim Crowism
equality of opportunity
equality of results
de jure segregation
de facto segregation
affirmative action
set-aside program
reverse discrimination
comparable worth
glass ceiling
14th Amendment
18th Amendment
19th Amendment
DRED SCOTT V SANFORD
CIVIL RIGHTS CASES of 1883
PLESSY V FERGUSON
BROWN V BOARD OF EDUCATION
SWANN V CHARLOTTE-MECHLENBURG
BAKKE V UC, DAVIS
HOPWOOD V TEXAS
**SPECIAL NOTE: Be prepared to answer possible questions on the exam regarding the role of any
of the institutions discussed in the photocopied articles with respect to the abortion, gay rights,
pornography, death penalty, and affirmative action issues. For example,
Discuss the role of Congress (alternatively president, bureaucracies, courts, public opinion,
interest groups, or federalism) in developing policy with respect to the abortion, gay rights,
pornography, death penalty, and affirmative action issues.