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Government - Topic 1
Topic 1 Vocabulary
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Government | The institution through which a society makes and enforces its public policies |
Public Policies | All of the things a government decides to do |
Legislative Power | The power to make laws and to frame public policies |
Executive Power | The power to execute, enforce, and administer laws |
Judicial Power | The power to interpret laws, to determine their meaning, and to settle disputes that arise within the society |
Constitution | The body of fundamental laws setting out the principles, structures, and processes of a government |
Democracy | Form of government where supreme authority rests with the people |
State | A body of people, living in a defined territory, organized politically (that is, with a government), and with the power to make and enforce law without the consent of any higher authority |
Population | The number of people in a particular state or other area |
Territory | The land, with known an recognized boundaries, claimed by a state |
Sovereignty | A state's supreme and absolute power within it's own territory |
Force Theory | The idea that the state was born when one individual or group claimed control of an area and forced others within it tt submit ot that person's or group's rule |
Evolutionary Theory | The idea that the state arose out of the early family, which over time developed into a network of families and then into a tribe and, with the rise of agriculture, into a state |
Theory of the Divine Right of the Kings | The idea that God grants authority to a government |
Social Contract Theory | The idea that people, who had freedom but lacked the protection and security, agreed with one another to create state in which they would, through a social contract, give up as much power to the state as needed to promote the safety and well-being of all |
Autocracy | A form of government in which a single person holds unlimited power |
Oligarchy | A form of government in which the power to rule is held by a small, usually self-appointed elite |
Theocracy | A form of government in which the legal system is based on religious law |
Unitary Government | A centralized government in which all government powers belong to a single, central agency |
Federal Government | A form of government in which powers are divided between a central government and several local governments |
Confederation | A joining of several groups for a common purpose |
Presidential Government | A form of government in which the executive and legislative branches of the government are separate, independent, and coequal |
Parliamentary Government | A form of government in which the executive branch is made up of the prime minister, or premier, and the official's cabinet; this branch is part of the legislature |
Feudalism | A loosely organized system in which powerful lords divided their land among other, lesser lords |
Legitimacy | The belief of the people that a government has the right to make public policy |
Colonialism | The control of one nation over foreign lands |
Mercantilism | An economic and political theory emphasizing money as the chief source of wealth to increase the absolute power of the monarchy and the nation |
Compromise | An adjustment of opposing principles or systems by modifying some aspect of each in order to find the position most acceptable to the majority |
Free Enterprise System | An economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods; investments that are determined by private decision rather than by state control and determined in a free market |