4: Political Culture and Constitutions Flashcards
What is social capital?
Goodwill, fellowship, sympathy, and social intercourse among the individuals and families who make up a social unit.
The greater the level of community interaction and trust, the greater the _____ of that community is likely to be.
Democratic health.
Putnam regarded social capital as what?
Connections among individuals - social networks, norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them.
What are the four benefits posited to derive from social networks?
Trust.
Reciprocity.
Information.
Cooperation.
What is Putnam’s idea of ‘bowling alone’?
Social capital is declining in the U.S., argues this undermines the active civil engagement a strong democracy requires.
A constitution is a system of what?
Fundamental principles according to which a state is governed.
A constitution organizes government and sets it up by telling you what four things?
What kind of government is in place.
What the government’s limits are.
How to change it.
Rights of the people.
Constitutions lay the foundation for power relations between what three things?
Government and citizens.
Different levels of government (vertical power relations).
Different institutions of state (horizontal power relations).
What are three features of a strong constitution?
Easy to understand.
Impossible to ignore.
Can be amended (but not too easily).
List five purposes of a constitution.
Legitimacy.
Protect freedom and rights.
Encourage stability.
Draw attention to goals and values.
Set out spheres of jurisdiction, i.e. federalism vs. unitary.
What is a preamble?
Introductory, concise statement of the principles at work in full text.
The BNA Act outlined what with regard to governments?
Which government has jurisdiction, or authority, to make laws in specific areas.
Define intra vires and ultra vires.
Intra vires: within the powers (“valid” acts).
Ultra vires: beyond the powers (“invalid” acts).
What were the takeaways from the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen?
“End of all political associations is preservation of natural and imprescriptible rights of man; these rights are liberty, property, security, and the resistance of oppression.”
