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AP Gov - Ch. 1
America in the 21st Century
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| institution | an ongoing organization that performs certain functions for society |
| social conflict | disagreements among people in a society over what the society's priorities should be when distributing scarce resources |
| politics | the process of resolving conflicts over how society should use its scarce resources and who should receive various benefits |
| government | the individuals and institutions that make society's rules and that also possess the power and authority to enforce those rules |
| power | the ability to influence the behavior of others, usually through the use of force, persuasion or rewards |
| authority | the ability to legitimately exercise power, such as the power to make and enforce laws |
| public services | essential services that individuals cannot provide for themselves, such as building and maintaining roads, providing welfare programs, operating public schools and preserving national parks |
| democracy | a system of government in which the people have ultimate political authority |
| direct democracy | a system of government in which political decisions are made by the people themselves |
| representative democracy | a form of democracy in which the will of the majority is expressed through smaller groups of individuals elected by the people to act as representatives |
| republic | a representative democracy in which there is no king or queen and the people are soverign |
| parliament | the name of the national legislative body in countries governed by a parliamentary system |
| bicameral legislature | a legislature made up of two chambers |
| social contract | a voluntary agreement among individuals to create a government and to give that government adequate power to secure the mutual protection and welfare of all individuals |
| natural rights | rights that are not bestowed by governments but are inherent within every man, woman, and child by virtue of the fact that he or she is a human being |
| equality | a concept that holds, at minimum, that all people are entitled to equal protection under the law |
| capitalism | an economic system based on the private ownership of wealth-producing property, free markets, and freedom of contract |
| ideology | a system of political ideas that are rooted in religious or philosophical beliefs concerning human nature, society, and government |
| liberalism | a set of political beliefs that include the advocacy of active government, including government intervention to improve the welfare of individuals and to protect civil rights |
| conservative | a set of beliefs that include a limited role for the national government in helping individuals and in the economic affairs of the nation, support for traditional values and lifestyles, and a cautious response to change |
| progressivism | an alternative, more popular term for the set of political beliefs also known as liberalism |
| moderate | a person whose views fall in the middle of the political spectrum |
| radical left | persons on the extreme left side of the political spectrum, who would like major changes in the political order, usually to promote egalitarianism |
| radical right | persons on the extreme right side of the political spectrum which includes reactionaries and former libertarians |
| ideologue | an individual who holds very strong political opinions |