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Glencoe U.S Gov. Ch1
Term | Definition |
---|---|
State | Country or Nation |
What are the four characteristics of a State? | population, territory, government, sovereignty |
Government | makes and enforces public policies |
Sovereignty | supreme and absolute power within it's territory |
Population | A group of individuals that belong to the same species and live in the same area |
Territory | an area of land under the jurisdiction of a ruler or state. |
Force Theory of Government | when a person or a group of people take control of an area, such as a state, and make everyone in that area follow their rules and beliefs. |
Evolutionary Theory of Government | developed out of early family, family-clan-tribe, evolved into state. |
Divine Right Theory of Government | chosen by God. |
Social Contract Theory | The belief that the people agree to set up rulers for certain purposes and thus have the right to resist or remove rulers who act against those purposes. |
What's the purpose of government? | maintain social order, provide public services, provide national security, and make economic decisions. |
Maintain social order | make laws, punish law breakers |
Providing Public Services | Promotes general welfare |
Providing National Security | protection of people, relations with other nations. |
Making Economic Decisions | stimulate economy |
Unitary System | All power to the central gov. Power to create local governments/limited authority Examples: Great Britain, Italy, and France |
Federal System | Powers divided and shared Examples: U.S. , Canada, and Australia. |
Constitution | a plan that provides the rules for government |
Major Purposes of a Government | 1. sets out ideals that the people bound by it believe in and share. 2. Establishes basic structure of government and defines government powers and duties. 3. Provides supreme law of the country, whether that's written or unwritten. |
Preamble | 0: States the goals and purposes of the gov. 0: Main body describes basic structure of government and describes the powers and duties. |
How many articles does the U.S. Constitution have? | 7 |
Autocracy | A system of government in which the power to rule is in the hands of a single individual |
Oligarchy | A government ruled by a few powerful people |
Democracy | A political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them |
What is the U.S.? | a representative democracy |
What are the characteristics of Democracy? | free elections, worth of the individual, majority rule; minority rights, necessity of compromise, and individual freedom. |
Free elections | Elections are free and open to all citizens of voting age each individuals vote counts the same. |
Worth of the Individual | Each individual, no matter what his or her station in life, is a separate and distinct being. |
Equality of all persons | 1. Equality of Opportunity 2. Equality before the Law ->No person should be held back on arbitrary (based on unsupported opinion; random choice) reasons (race, gender) ->Equal people under law |
Majority Rule, Minority Rights | the democratic principle that a government follows the preferences of the majority of voters but protects the interests of the minority |
Necessity of Compromise | blending and adjusting competing views and interests |
Individual Freedom | 0: Democracy cannot exist when individuals have complete freedom. 0: Individuals have as much freedom as the law allows. |
Essential Elements for a Democracy | 1. Citizen participation 2. Favorable economy 3. Widespread education 4. Strong civil society 5. Social consensus |
Capitalism | Freedom of choice and individual incentive. |
What are the characteristics of Capitalism? | 1. Private ownership of property and resources 2. Free enterprise 3. Business competition 4. Freedom of Choice 5. Possibility of Profits |
The United States is... | A pure capitalist system not used with a mixed market economy, free market combined with government influences. |
Economics | The study of human efforts to satisfy seemingly unlimited wants with limited resources. |
What are the 3 major economic systems? | 1. Capitalism 2. Socialism 3. Communism |
Free Market | An economic system in which prices and wages are determined by unrestricted competition between businesses, without government regulation or fear of monopolies. Adam smith: Laissez-faire |
Socialism | The government owns the means of production and makes economic decisions. |
Socialism has 3 goals, those are... | 1. Public ownership of the basic means of production. 2. Government control over key economic policies. 3. Equal distribution of wealth. (workers should share equally in benefits of production. |
Democratic Socialism | Citizens have basic democratic rights but the economic decisions are made by and large industries owned by the government. Decisions made to benefit everyone. |
Communism | A theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state. |
Karl Marx | Often recognized as the father of communism. Analysis of history led to his belief that communism would replace capitalism as it replaced feudalism. Believed in a classless society. |
Proletariat | Marx's term for the exploited class, the mass of workers who do not own the means of production |
Bourgeoisie | the middle class, including merchants, industrialists, and professional people |
Violent Revolution | the term suggested by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels for the necessary response of workers to their repression by the ruling class |
Communism, a Command Economy | Economic system where decisions about production and distribution of goods and services are made by a central authority |
Adam Smith | wrote The Wealth of Nations in 1776 |