Government Vocab Chapter 1

Front 1

Aristotle

Back 1

A philosopher who defined democracy as the "rule of many"

Front 2

authority

Back 2

The right to exercise political power

Front 3

bureaucracy

Back 3

Structures of authority organized around expertise and specialization

Front 4

bureaucratic theory

Back 4

A theory that appointed civil servants make the key governing decisions.

Front 5

citizen participation

Back 5

A political system in which those affected by a governmental program must be permitted to participate in the program's formulation

Front 6

city-state

Back 6

A relatively small political unit within which classical democracy was practiced

Front 7

community control

Back 7

A political system in which local citizens are empowered to govern themselves directly

Front 8

democracy

Back 8

A term used to describe three different politcal systems in which the people are said to rule, directly or indirectly

Front 9

direct/participatory democracy

Back 9

A political system in which all or most citizens participate directly by either holding office or making policy

Front 10

elite (political)

Back 10

An identifiable group of people with a disproportionate share of political power

Front 11

elitist theory

Back 11

A theory that a few top leaders make the key decisions without reference to popular desires

Front 12

legitimacy

Back 12

The widely-shared perception that something or someone should be obeyed

Front 13

majoritarian policy

Back 13

A political system in which the choices of the political leaders are closely constrained by the preferences of the people

Front 14

Marxist theory

Back 14

A theory that government is merely a reflection of underlying economic forces

Front 15

Mills

Back 15

sociologist who presented the idea of a mostly nongovernmental power elite

Front 16

pluralist theory

Back 16

A theory that no one interest group consistently holds political power

Front 17

political power

Back 17

Power when used to determine who will hold government office and how government will behave

Front 18

power

Back 18

The ability of one person to cause another person to act in accordance with the first person's intentions

Front 19

representative democracy

Back 19

Conferring political power on those selected by the voters in competitive elections

Front 20

Schumpeter

Back 20

An economist who defined democracy as the competivitve struggle by political leaders for the people's vote

Front 21

Weber

Back 21

A sociologist who emphasized the phenomenon of bureaucracy in explaining political developments