Chapter1-The Study of American Government Flashcards
1
Q
Authority
A
Rightful use of power
Authorized official power
2
Q
Bureaucratic view
A
- Max Weber(German scholar, founder of sociology)
- All institutions are under control of bureaucracies
- Capitalists/workers/coalition of elites may come to power of government and legislative process enacted are under bureaucrats who operate the government
- power is appointed officials unknown to elites and citizens
- bureaucrats make government suit their own interest
3
Q
Democracy
A
“Rule of the many” Aristotelian ideal
Government by the people
Both directly or indirectly with free and frequent elections
4
Q
Direct(participatory) democracy
A
- Government in which citizens vote on laws and select officials directly
- Citizens directly participate in policy making and office holding
5
Q
Elite
A
Group of people with unequal share of political power
6
Q
Legitimacy
A
-political authority guaranteed by legal document
7
Q
Marxist view
A
- Karl Marx(modern socialist thought)
- even under democratic principles, the government reflects economic forces
- two economic classes that struggle for power:capitalists and workers
- the one that dominates the economy will also dominate government
- government: device for giving legal effect to lower classes
8
Q
Power elite view
A
- C. Wright Mills(mid-twentieth century American sociologist)
- politics&gov=corporate leaders, top military officials, elected officials
- American democracy is dominated by a small group of top leaders mostly not involved in government directly and are wealthy or with status/position
- Top communications media and labor unions officials may be added
9
Q
Pluralist view
A
- important resources are widely dispersed in society that no single group has monopoly on anything.
- so many groups with power(ex:state, city) that no one dominates
- mass public opinion also affect gov
- interest have a chance to affect outsome
10
Q
Power
A
Ability to influence other people’s actions
11
Q
Representative democracy
A
- Joseph Schumpeter
- Elitist theory of democracy(impractical in effort but practical in decision making)
- “Republican form of government”(Constitution)=representative democracy
- Framers of Constitution believed that government should mediate, not mirror views(favored rep dem)
12
Q
Plato
A
- Ancient Greece
- “The republic”
- Believed in a structured political society
- The ideal society consists of three main ideas of people(producers, warriors, guardians
- each group must perform its appropriate function and only that function
- Philosopher king is ideal ruler
- born into a social class and will stay
13
Q
Thomas Hobbes
A
- Born in England
- Book:Leviathan
- life in the state of nature is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”
- Best government is ruler with absolute power
- thought people gave up freedom to a ruler to be safe(“social contract”)
14
Q
John Locke
A
- English philosopher
- “two treatise on government”
- people are naturally reasonable
- born with natural rights
- basic rights: life,liberty, property
- people have rights to rebel against the govern If it didn’t protect their natural rights
- governments power comes from the “consent of the governed”
15
Q
Charles Montesquieu
A
- France
- separation of powers(lej)
