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Term | Definition |
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government | the institution through which a society makes and enforces public policies |
public policies | all the things a government decides to do |
legeslative power | the power to make laws |
executive power | the power to enforce and administer laws |
judicial power | the power to interpret laws |
dictatorship | a government in which all power rests with an individual or small group |
democracy | a government in which supreme authority rests with the people |
state | a body of people, living in a defined territory, with a government that can make and enforce law without the consent of any higher authority |
sovereign | to have supreme and absolute power within a territory |
divine right | he theory that governments gain their authority from the will of God |
autocracy | government in which a single person holds all political power |
oligarchy | government in which a small, usually self-appointed group has the sole power to rule |
unitary government | a government in which all power belongs to one central agency |
federal government | a government in which power is divided between one central and several local governments |
division of powers | the split of power between central and local governments |
confederation | an alliance of independent states |
presidential government | a government with separate executive and legislative branches |
parliamentary government | a government in which the executive branch is part of the legislative branch and subject to its control |
majority rule | the principle that the will of the majority controls the actions of government |
compromise | the process of blending and adjusting competing views and interests |
citizen | one who holds certain rights and responsibilities within a state |
free enterprise system | an economic system characterized by the private ownership of capital goods, private investment, and a competitive marketplace that determines success or failure |
limited government | the idea that government is restricted in what it may do and that every individual has certain rights that government cannot remove |
representative government | the idea that government should both serve and be guided by the will of the people |
Magna Carta | the Great Charter signed in 1215 that limited the powers of the English king and guaranteed certain fundamental rights |
due process | protection against the unjust taking of life, liberty, or property |
Petition of Right | a document signed in 1628 that required the English king to obey the law of the land and increased the influence of Parliament |
English Bill of Rights | a document signed in 1689 that required free elections and guaranteed many basic rights, such as due process and trial by jury, to all English citizens |
charter | a written grant of authority from the king |
bicameral | having two houses, as in a two-house legislature |
proprietary | the name given to colonies organized and governed according to the will of a proprietor, a person granted land and authority by the king |
unicameral | having only one house, as in a one house legislature |
Ordered government | Local governments should be divided into units and ruled by officers according to law. |
Limited government | Individual citizens have basic rights There are limits on government power |
Representative government | Government should serve the will of the people. In other words, people should have a say in what the government does or does not do. |