chapter 17: government and politics

Question 1

absolute monarchies

Answer 1

governments wherein a monarch has absolute or unmitigated power

Question 2

anarchy

Answer 2

the absence of any organized government

Question 3

authority:

Answer 3

power that people accept because it comes from a source that is perceived as legitimate

Question 4

charismatic authority

Answer 4

power legitimized on the basis of a leader’s exceptional personal qualities

Question 5

constitutional monarchies:

Answer 5

national governments that recognize monarchs but require these
figures to abide by the laws of a greater constitution

Question 6

democracy

Answer 6

a form of government that provides all citizens with an equal voice or vote in
determining state policy

Question 7

dictatorship

Answer 7

a form of government in which a single person (or a very small group) wields
complete and absolute authority over a government or populace after the dictator rises to
power, usually through economic or military might

Question 8

monarchy

Answer 8

a form of government in which a single person (a monarch) rules until that individual
dies or abdicates the throne

Question 9

oligarchy:

Answer 9

a form of government in which power is held by a small, elite group

Question 10

one person, one vote

Answer 10

a concept holding that each person’s vote should be counted equally

Question 11

patrimonialism

Answer 11

a type of authority wherein military and administrative factions enforce the
power of the master

Question 12

politics

Answer 12

a means of studying a nation’s or group’s underlying social norms as values as evidenced
through its political structure and practices

Question 13

power

Answer 13

the ability to exercise one’s will over others

Question 14

rational-legal authority

Answer 14

power that is legitimized by rules, regulations, and laws

Question 15

representative democracy

Answer 15

a government wherein citizens elect officials to represent their
interests

Question 16

totalitarian dictatorship

Answer 16

an extremely oppressive form of dictatorship in which most aspects of
citizens’ lives are controlled by the leader

Question 17

traditional authority

Answer 17

power legitimized on the basis of long-standing customs

Question 18

Max Weber studied power and authority,

Answer 18

differentiating

between the two concepts and formulating a system for classifying types of authority. Find out more

Question 19

The Reynolds v. Sims case, with its landmark “one person, one vote”

Answer 19

a concept holding that each
person’s vote should be counted equally. Before this decision, unequal distributions of population
enabled small groups of people in sparsely populated rural areas to have as much voting power as
densely populated urban areas.