Understanding Gov't and Politics, Chapter 2

Question 1

What is the definition of politics?

Answer 1

Who gets what, when, and how.
A process of determining how power and resources are distributed without resorting to violence.

Question 2

What is the definition of power?

Answer 2

The ability to get others to do what you want

Question 3

What is the definition of government?

Answer 3

A system or organization for exercising authority over a body of people.

Question 4

What is the definition of authority?

Answer 4

The power people/society recognize as legitimate. To which we have given implicit consent.

Question 5

What is the definition of rules?

Answer 5

Directives that specify how resources will be distributed or what procedures govern collective activity.
The “how” of who gets what

Question 6

What is the definition of institutions?

Answer 6

Organizations in which government power is exercised
The “where” of political struggle.

Question 7

What is a dictatorship/monarchy?

Answer 7

Sovereignty can be vested in an individual

Question 8

What is a theocracy?

Answer 8

Sovereignty can be vested in God

Question 9

What is fascism?

Answer 9

Sovereignty can be vested in the state itself.

Question 10

What is an oligarchy?

Answer 10

Sovereignty can be vested in a ruling class

Question 11

What is anarchy?

Answer 11

The absence of government and laws.

Question 12

What is democracy?

Answer 12

A government that vests power in the people; based on popular sovereignty

Question 13

What is popular sovereignty?

Answer 13

The concept of that the citizens are the ultimate source of political power.

Question 14

What is elite democracy?

Answer 14

Limits the citizen’s role in choosing among competing leaders

Question 15

What is a pluralist democracy?

Answer 15

Citizen membership in groups is the key to political powers/interest groups

Question 16

What is participatory democracy?

Answer 16

Citizens should actively and directly control all aspects of their lives and participate in all aspects of lawmaking.

Question 17

What is the definition of economics?

Answer 17

The production and distribution of a society’s material resources and services

Question 18

What is the definition of capitalism?

Answer 18

Market determines production, distribution, and price decisions

Question 19

What is regulated capitalism?

Answer 19

A market system in which the government intervenes to protect rights and make procedural guarantees.

Question 20

What is laissez-faire capitalism?

Answer 20

An economic system in which the market makes all decisions and gov’t plays no role

Question 21

What is socialism/a socialist economy?

Answer 21

The state determines production, distribution, and price decisions, property id gov’t owned

Question 22

What are substantive guarantees?

Answer 22

Government assurance or particular outcomes or results.

Question 23

What are procedural guarantees?

Answer 23

Promises to be fair/equal even if certain outcomes are not expected

Question 24

What is the Social Contract Theory?

Answer 24

Society is based on an agreement between gov’t and the governed in which people agree to give up some rights in exchange for protection.