UK Political System

Question 1

Authority

Answer 1

The right to take a particular course of action.

Question 2

Power

Answer 2

The ability to do something or make something happen.

Question 3

Governance

Answer 3

A form of decision making which involves a wide range of institutions, networks and relationships.

Question 4

Government

Answer 4

A. The activity or system of governing a political unit.

B. The set of institutions that exercise authority and make the rules of a political unit.

Question 5

Executive

Answer 5

The branch of government responsible for the implementation of policy.

Question 6

Legislature

Answer 6

The branch of government responsible for passing laws.

Question 7

Westminster model

Answer 7

A form of government exemplified by the British political system in which parliament is sovereign, the executive and legislature are fused and political power is centralised.

Question 8

Judiciary

Answer 8

The branch of government responsible for interpreting the law and deciding upon legal disputes.

Question 9

Rule of law

Answer 9

A legal theory holding that the relationship between the state and the individual is governed by law, protecting the individual from arbitrary state action.

Question 10

Civil liberties

Answer 10

Fundamental individual rights and freedoms that ought to be protected from interference or encroachment by the state.

Question 11

Elective dictatorship

Answer 11

Where there is excessive power in the executive branch of government.

Question 12

Constitution

Answer 12

The laws, rules and practices which determine the institutions of the state, and the relationship between state and its citizens.

Question 13

Legitimacy

Answer 13

Rightfulness: a political system is legitimate when it is based on the consent of the people and actions follow from agreed laws and procedures.

Question 14

Sovereignty

Answer 14

Legal supremacy or absolute law-making authority.

Question 15

Referendum

Answer 15

References vote on a single issue put to a public ballot by the government.

Question 16

Constitutional monarchy

Answer 16

A form of monarchy in which the monarch is head of state but in which powers are exercised by parliament and by ministers.

Question 17

Fusion of powers

Answer 17

Intermingling of personnel in the executive and legislative branches found in parliamentary systems,

Question 18

Head of state

Answer 18

The chief public representative of a country such as a monarch or a president.

Question 19

Separation of powers

Answer 19

The principle that legislative, executive and judicial branches of government should be independent of each other.

Question 20

Judicial review

Answer 20

The process by which judges determine whether public officials or public bodies have acted in a manner that is lawful.

Question 21

Quasi-federal state

Answer 21

A state in which the government of a unitary state devolves some of its powers to subnational governments. It has some of the features of a unitary state and some of a federal state.

Question 22

Unitary state

Answer 22

A homogenous state in which power is concentrated at the political centre and all parts of the state are governed in the same way.

Question 23

Devolution

Answer 23

The transfer of some policy-making powers from the centre to subnational institutions, but which sees the state wide legislature retain ultimate authority.

Question 24

Multilevel governance

Answer 24

A system of decision-making in which policy competences are shared between local, regional, national and supranational institutions.

Question 25

Party system

Answer 25

The set of political parties in a political system and the relationships between them.