Ch. 1 Terms Flashcards
anarchism
Threats the gov’t poses to community.
authoritarian
Of systems, states, and regimes. A gov’t of few that rule many or military gov’t that makes all the decisions for the community.
autocratic
A nondemocratic regime.
democracy
A political system in which citizens enjoy a number of basic civil and political rights, and which their most important leaders are elected in free and fair elections. Those leaders are accountable under the rule of law. “Government by the people”.
democratization
The enhancement of human rights and the expansion of freedom.
equality of income
Income distribution.
ethnicity
As defined by Max Weber “those human groups that entertain a subjective belief in their common descent because of similarities of physical type or of customs or both, or because of memories of colonization and migration…”.
European Union (EU)
Accepted European states (countries) into the Union.
externalities
Occurs when an activity incur costs that are not borne by the producer or the user.
globalization
The citizens in all/most countries increasingly have to share in cultures that have developed elsewhere.
governments
Organizations of individuals who have the power to make binding decisions on behalf of a particular community.
gross domestic product (GDP)
A measure of national economic development.
human rights
Basic human needs that should at least be protected.
libertarianism
Believes in individual freedoms and that gov’t will encroach on them.
military, party, and party dictatorships and totalitarian nations
Systems in which gov’t constricts the rights and privacy of its citizens in a severe and intrusive manner.
nation
A group of people who live in a common territory and have a common identity.
nation-states
National identification and sovereignty both coincide.
oligarchy
“ruled by few”
political culture
Defines a public’s expectations toward the political process. The more it is shared by the gov’t and its people the more peaceful the society.
political systems
A particular type of social system that is involved in making the authoritative public decisions.
public goods
Goods that if one person in a community enjoys, it cannot be denied to the whole community. Also, that the consumption of the good does not detract from another. Ex. clean air.
religious fundamentalism
A religion’s reaction to modernization.
rent-seeking
benefits created through gov’t intervention in the economy.
sovereignty
A state that has independent legal authority over a population in a particular territory, based on the recognized right to self-determination.
state
A particular type of country whose citizens have rights and obligations related to that state.
state of nature
The state of humankind if no gov’t existed.
United Nations (UN)
Formed at the end of WW 2 in 1945.
vested interests
Gov’t created private gains.
