Forms of Government Flashcards
Civics
the study or science of the privileges and obligations of citizens.
Community
a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage.
Government
the political direction and control exercised over the actions of the members, citizens, or inhabitants of communities, societies, and states; direction of the affairs of a state, community, etc.; political administration:
Direct Democracy
a form of government in which policies and laws are decided by a majority of all those eligible rather than by a body of elected representatives.
Representative
a person or thing that represents another or others
Representative Democracy
a system of government in which citizens elect representatives who propose and vote on legislation or policy initiatives on their behalf.
Monarchy
a state or nation in which the supreme power is actually or nominally lodged in a monarch.: Compare absolute monarchy, limited monarchy.
Oligarchy
a form of government in which all power is vested in a few persons or in a dominant class or clique; government by the few.
Majority
a number of voters or votes, jurors, or others in agreement, constituting more than half of the total number.
Minority
a smaller party or group opposed to a majority, as in voting or other action.
Autocracy
government in which one person has uncontrolled or unlimited authority over others; the government or power of an absolute monarch.
Communism
a system of social organization in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single and self-perpetuating political party.
Socialism
a theory or system of social organization that advocates the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, capital, land, etc., by the community as a whole, usually through a centralized government.
Totalitarianism
absolute control by the state or a governing branch of a highly centralized institution.
Head of Government
Person responsible for carrying on the business of government and for leading the team of ministers who control the central institutions of the government and the state.
