Unit 3 Flashcards
What does democracy stand for?
Demos - Citizen
Kratos - Power
Define Democracy:
Government of the people, by the peopleand for the people
What concept is emphasized in Democracy?
Majority rule with respect for minority rights
What are the 2 types of democracy? There 2 subdevision systems? And the 2 types of the seperation of power?
1) Direct or Representative
2) Federal or Unitary
3) Parliamentary or Presidential
Where did Democracy originate? And what did they practice?
- Ancient Athens
- Practiced Direct Democracy
Define Direct Democracy:
- Citizens directly take part in the making of laws
In todays dan and age, why is direct democracy not practical?
Becasue of the large size of communities and the complexity of issues.
How is Direct Democracy still used today?
The governt is able to involve citizens through a direct vote in which each person votes for or againts the proposed action.
This is done through REFERENDUMS or PLEBISCITES.
Define Referendums:
Legally binding votes
Define Plebiscites:
Non-binding votes (opinion poll)
Define Representitive Democracy:
- Holds the principle of political equality (one person, one vote)
- Citizens vote to elect people who represent personal intrests and concerns
- To achieve political equity, the country is divided into 2 political units (constituencys and ridings)
- Thoses who are elected, meet debate, and make laws on behalf of the community.
How does the First Past the Post and Winner Takes All system work?
- It is a type of representitive democracy in which candidates compete for ONE seat, whoever wins the most votes becomes the ridings representitive.
What type of government does First Past the Post and Winner Takes All systems tend to create?
They tend to artifically create majority governments.
How does a Proportional Representation system elect representitives?
- Seats are distributed based on the total number of votes a political party wins.
What type of government does Proportional Representation system tend to create?
Minority or coalition governments.
Define a Fedual system:
- It hase three levels of goevernent (national, state/provincial, municipal)
- Power is divided dependant on the constitution
- Forbids one level from interfearing with anothers power
- Sometimes the levels have to negociate together if the issues overlap.
Define a Unitary system:
- only a national government (some legislative responsibilities are
usually delegated to lower (city, town,
county) levels of government) - national government has the power to disallow laws passed by these lower levels.
Why is political power divided amongst three branches?
so that power cannot be centralized in any one branch. This is called the principle of separation of powers.
What is the legislative branch responsible for?
Making laws
What is the executive branch responsible for?
Enforcing laws
What is the judiciary branch responsible for?
Intrepreting laws
Describe Parliamentary Democracy:
- emphasizes the
role of a parliament in making government
decisions & policy - Specifically, the executive branch is
comprised of a Prime Minister & Cabinet.
-
In a parliamentary democracy, how do prime ministers come into power?
Prime Ministers are not elected by citizens but rather are leaders of the political party that is elected to office.
Describe presidential democracy:
- a president is directly elected by the citizens.
- they makes up a big portion of the executive branch but they do work
with a Vice President & Cabinet. - they have veto power tho over decisions
