Chapter 1
Edwards: Government in America: People, Politics, and Policy
Key Terms and Concepts:
Democracy: government by the people, for the people
Elite and Class theory: Society is divided between ruling upper class and lower class
Government: Institutions and processes through which public policies are made for
society
Gross domestic product: the total of the value of all the goods produced in the nation
Hyper-pluralism: A theory of government that groups are so strong that the
government’s power to govern is weakened
Individualism: The belief that individuals should be left to make their own decisions
Linkage institutions: Any medium that connects the people to politics
Majority Rule: choosing among alternative by majority vote
Minority Rights: Basic rights that the majority cannot infringe upon
Pluralist theory: A theory of politics being a competition
Policy agenda: What the government cares about at that time
Policy gridlock: No majority is achieved for an issue, so nothing is changed
Policy impacts: Impacts from the policy whether they are good or bad
Policymaking institutions: Branches of government that make policies
Policymaking system: A system that forms and acts upon the policy
Politics: Determines whom we select as our government leaders and what their
policies are
Public goods: Goods that everybody must share
Public policy: A course of action that the government chooses to take in response to
an issue
Representation: Relationship between the many leaders and the many followers
Traditional democratic theory: How democratic government makes its decisions
Key questions
As you study this chapter, ask yourself the following questions:
1. Can you distinguish among the fundamental concepts of government, politics,
and public policy?
2. Can you understand how government, politics, and public policy are
interrelated?
3. Ascertain how people can influence the government’s policy agenda?
4. Describe the basic concept of the policymaking system.
5. Determine the essential principles of traditional democratic theory
6. Examine the three contemporary theories of American democracy: pluralism,
elite and class theory, and hyper-pluralism.
7. Discuss and analyze the challenges to democracy presented in the text
8. Address the issue of the scope of government and explain how the scope of
government is relevant to an understanding of democracy
9. Understand the importance of individualism in limiting the scope of
American government
10. Begin to assess the two questions that are central to governing and that serve
as themes for this textbook: How should we govern? And What should
government do?