Test Study Guide
Test 3 Wednesday December 14th 10:30 am
Chapters 13,14,15,16
Topics:
Parties in Government
Parties role in Congress
Parties in executive and courts
Simi-responsible parties
Model of responsible parties
Case for responsible parties
Case against responsible parties
Ideology and
parties
Role of Parties in the the political system
Functions
they serve
Why parties in decline
Why party id in decline
Public finance reform
The main features of reform
Why
it has not worked
The role of money in campaigns
Why we need reform
Future of Parties
Why we need the parties
realignment
dealignment
Where do we go from here
Thrid Parties
Role
Types
How they differ from
major parties
Why they are not more successful
1. How new style campaigning has weakened the parties
2. Latest changes in
new style--internet, and social media
3. Functions of the convention
4. Comparing delegates and party regulars
5. Role of party in nomination process
6. Role of the party in election campaign
7. Majority and minority parties in
Congress
8. Do primaries produce good candidates?
9. Why primary voters
are not typical
10. Do voters make informed choices?
11. Who votes in the
primaries?
12. How smart are voters?
13. Obama--advantages, and problems
in 2012
Test 1 Monday October 3rd
Chapters 1, 2, 3
Topics:
What are political parties
Functions of
parties
How parties differ from interest groups
Role of parties in the
system
Why parties are in decline
Why a two party system
Why not more
effective 3rd parties
How laws impact the parties
How culture
influences the parties
How party organization differs
at the national, state and local levels
Role of Incumbency
Role of
3rd parties
Chances for a 3rd party replacing one of
the two majors
How 3rd parties get created
Will the two party
system continue
Test 2 Friday April 24th
Chapters 7,9,13, 15
Topics
1. Social base of parties
2. Coalition of issues
3. Methods of
nomination
4. Limits of the current system of nomination
5. Methods to
reform the nomination process
6. Role of parties in the legislature
7.
Responsible parties model
8. Why we don't have responsible parties
Test 1 Wednesday, March 11th
Chapters 1,2,3,6.
Topics
1. Factors that have weakened the parties
2. Why a two party system
3. Characteristics of parties
4. Functions of political parties
5. Why machine declined
6.Why party identification is on the decline
7. Why the parties seem to survive
8. Who are the Independents?
Test 2 November 8th
Chapters 6,7,8.
Topics
1. How does party identification change over time
2. how does party identification effect the way people vote in specific
elections
3. What influences an individuals party identification
4. Why are parties in decline
5. Definition and types of Independents
6. Social basis of parties
7. Why people vote
8. What prevents people from voting
1st Test Wednesday October
4th
Topics
1. A three part definition of parties
2. Functions
Primary
Secondary
3. What functions do parties perform well?
4. Characteristics of parties
5. Why two party system?
6. What factors have weakened the parties?
6. What are the incentives to join organizations?
7. Relationship between candidates and party organization
8. Differences between old style and new methods of organization
9. Revitalization of party organization
10. What incentives apply to party organization
Readings
Chapters 1 and 2, 5 in text
Second Test Wednesday March 24th
Chapters 6(pp.112-123), 7(pp.129-134),
8 (pp.150-160)
Independent Voters—behavioral and attitudinal
Role of party id in voter choice
Party id as cue to voting
Role of candidate image and issues
Sociological model of voting
Specific role of: social class, religion,
gender, region, race
Why has party organization declined?
What can be done to improve party organization?
Characteristics of party organization
Third Test: Wednesday, May
5th
Chapters 13, 15,16
Chapter 13
Gingrich Revolution
What unifies parties in legislature
Limits on party control
Chap 15
Case for responsible
parties
Case against responsible
partiers
When is party
government most likely
Chapter 16
What directions
can partiers go in terms of realignment
Realignment
Dealignment
Status quo
Role
of parties in system
Weaknesses
of each component
Potential
of each to revitalize itself
Future
of parties
Second Test November 6th
Chapters 6,7,8 Part III
Realignment, dealignment, maintaining
Possibility for 3rd parties
Role of Party id as predictor of vote
Party id behavioral and attitudinal
How we acquire a party id
Why party id is on the decline
Independents and how they differ from party id citizens
Independents behavioral and attitudinal
Voters--demographics vs demographics of non-voters
Reasons for non-voting:
Psychological
Political
Legal
2nd Test Wednesday March 21st
Chapters 7,8
Who are party identifiers?
Who are the independents?
Myth of the independent
Attitudinal and behavioral independents
Barriers to voting
Political reasons
Sociological reasons
Psychological reasons
Demographic
Contextual(electoral)
Rational
American Voter’s view of partisans and independent
Why people vote
Why people don’t vote
Types of nonvoters: politically ignorant, indifferent, dissatisfied,
inactive
Rational nonvoting
Test 1 Wednesday February 21, 2001
Test covers chapters 1,2,3,5.
1. Know a good definition of the three components of a political party:
-
party organization
-
party-in-the-electorate
-
party-in-the-government
2. Examine each of these components in terms of it's
structure--who is in it and how it operates, and
functions it performs
3. What are the primary and secondary functions of parties in the political
system.
Which functions do the parties perform well which not as well.
4. What are 3rd parties like? What functions do they serve? What
chances do they have to be competitive? What limits them?
5. Why do we have a two party system?
6. Identify the forces that have led to the decline of the parties.
7. Know the methods have been used by the parties to nominate candidates:
-
caucus
-
convention
primaries
8. What is a political machine? How did they operate? Why did they
fall apart? What is left of the machine in Chicago?
9. What motivates people to participate in politics?
Test 2 Friday March 31th 2000
This test covers three basic topics
1. Television
and campaigns
2. Campaign Reform
3. Party-in-the-electorate
Televison
How TV is used in campaigns--negative
ads, positive ads, time on news programs.
How TV has weakened the parties--candidate
centered campaigning
Why is TV so expensive in campaigns--all
the professionals needed to run tv ads
Campaign Reform
Features of Campagin Reform
Soft money
What can be done to have real reform?
Parties-in-the-electorate
Groups in the parties coalitions
How people are socialized to the parties
How candidates are viewed by the voters
Who are the partisans--groups and characteristics
Who are the independents
Who are non-voters
Reasons why people don't vote
Test 3 Friday May 5th
This test covers three topics
1. Party-in the Government
2. 3rd parties
3. Responsible Parties
Party in the Government
1. How does party-in-the-government differ from the other two elements
of political parties?
2. What makes party-in-the-government more powerful and effective than
party organization or party-in-the-electorate.
3. What influences are there on party members to vote against their
party? Keep in mind the political culture, interest groups, the president,
other members of Congress, public opinion all play a role.
4. What is party-in-the-government and how do parties operate at this
level? Keep in mind what I said in class that parties are a personnel
agency that staff all the important positions in Congress and that before
anyone is seated they must acknowledge their party before committee assignments
are given out.
The parties also have policy committees that try to determine the direction
of bills in Congress.
Third Parties
Check out the 3rd parties on the Web we discussed in class at Politics1
or choose three parties from the list. Compare them with the Democrats
and Republicans for ideas. How are they similar, how are they different.
What are the obsticalses to third parties in the system?
What makes third parties more like interest groups than parties?
What would thrid parties have to do to be sucessful in the contest
for elected office.
Responsible Parties
What is the responsible parties model?
What are the reasons why we don't have responsible parties now?
Could anything be done to make American parties more like the responsible
model?
Do we even want responsible parties?
Do we want strong parties in the U.S.?
What keeps us from having strong parties?
|
