Chapter 1: The Democratic Republic Flashcards
The struggle over power or influence within organizations or informal groups that can grant benefits or privileges.
Politics
An ongoing organization that performs certain functions for society.
Institution
The institution that has the ultimate authority for making decisions that resolve conflicts and allocate benefits and privileges within a society.
Government
A state of peace and security. Maintaining order by protecting members of society from violence and criminal activity is one of the oldest purposes of government.
Order
The greatest freedom of the individual that is consistent with the freedom of other individuals in society.
Liberty
The right and power of a government or other entity to enforce its decisions.
Authority
Popular acceptance of the right and power of a government or other entity to exercise authority.
Legitimacy
A form of government that controls all aspects of the political, social, and economic life of a nation.
Totalitarian Regime
A type of regime in which only the government itself is fully controlled by the ruler. Social and economic institutions exist that are not under the government’s control.
Authoritarianism
A system of government in which political authority is vested in the people. The term is derived form the Greek word “Demos” the people and “kratos” authority.
Democracy
A system of government in which political decisions are made by the people directly, rather than by their elected representatives. It is probably attained most easily in small political communities.
Direct Democracy
A government body primarily responsible for the making of laws.
Legislature
A procedure by which voters can petition to vote on a law or a constitutional amendment.
Initiative
An electoral device whereby legislative or constitutional measures are referred by the legislature to the voters for approval or disapproval.
Referendum
A procedure allowing the people to vote to dismiss an elected official from state office before his or her term has expired.
Recall
A form of government in which sovereign power rests with the people, rather than with a king or a monarch.
Republic
The concept that ultimate political authority is based on the will of the people.
Popular sovereignty
A republic in which representatives elected by the people make and enforce laws and policies.
Democratic Republic
A form of government in which representatives elected by the people made and enforce laws and policies. It may, however, retain the monarchy in a ceremonial role.
Representative Democracy
The right of all adults to vote for their government representatives.
Universal suffrage
A basic principle of democracy asserting that the greatest number of citizens in any political unit should select officials and determine policies.
Majority Rule
A government with powers that are limited either through a written document or through widely shared beliefs.
Limited government
A political theory, holding that, in a democracy, the government ought to do what the majority of the people want.
Majoritarianism
A perspective holding that society is ruled by a small number of people who hold the ultimate power to further their self-interest.
Elite Theory
A theory that views politics as a conflict among interest groups. Political decision making is characterized by compromise and accommodation.
Pluralism
A patterned set of ideas, values, and ways of thinking about government and politics that characterize a people.
Political Culture
The process by which political beliefs and values are transmitted to new immigrants and to our children. The family and the educational system are the most important sources of the political socialization process.
Political Socialization
Those personal freedoms, including freedom of religion and freedom of speech, that are protected for all individuals. Civil liberties restrain the government for taking certain actions against individuals.
Civil Liberties
The first ten amendments to the U.S.Constitution
Bill of rights
As a political value, the idea that all people are of equal worth
Equality
Anything that is or may be subject to ownership
Property
An economic system characterized by the private ownership of wealth-creating assets, free markets, and freedom of contract.
Capitalism
Currently, Those with no college education. Traditionally, individuals or families in which the head of household was employed in manual or unskilled labor.
Working Class
A comprehensive set of beliefs about the nature of an institution or government.
Ideology
A set of beliefs that includes a limited role for the national government in helping individuals, support for traditional ideals and life choices, and a cautious response to change.
Conservatism
An American movement founded in the 1950s that provided a comprehensive idealogical framework for conservative politics
Conservative Movement
A set of beliefs that includes the advocacy of positive government action to improve the welfare of individuals, support for civil rights, and tolerance for political and social change.
Liberalism
A political ideology based on strong support for economic and social equality. Socialists traditionally envisioned a society in which major businesses were taken over by the government or by employee cooperatives
Socialism
A political ideology based on skepticism or opposition toward most government activities.
Libertarianism
A popular alternative to the term liberal
Progressive
A statistic that measures the average number of children that women in a given group are expected to have over the course of a lifetime
Total fertility rate
A term used by the federal government to describe someone who can claim a heritage from a Spanish speaking country.
Hispanic
An alternate word for Hispanic. The Feminine is Latina.
Latino
