Fed Gov Chapter 1

Front 1

institution through which a society makes and enforces its public policies- made up of those people who exercise powers- all those who have authority and control over people

Back 1

government

Front 2

all of those things a government decides to do: taxation, defense, education, crime, and healthcare to transportation, the environment, civil rights, and working conditions

Back 2

public policies

Front 3

Government exercises three basic kinds of power:

Back 3

- Legislative

-Executive

-Judicial

Front 4

the power to make laws and to frame public policies

Back 4

Legislative power

Front 5

power to execute, enforce, and administer laws

Back 5

executive power

Front 6

power to interpret laws, determine their meaning, and to settle disputes that arise within society

Back 6

judicial power

Front 7

example of judicial power

Back 7

supreme court

Front 8

example of executive power

Back 8

president

Front 9

example of legislative power

Back 9

congress

Front 10

body of fundamental laws setting out the principles, structures, and processes of the government

Back 10

constitution

Front 11

power held by a single person or small group- are not held responsible to the will of the people

Back 11

dictatorship

Front 12

Responsibility for the exercise of the three powers with the majority of the people- supreme authority rests with the people

Back 12

democracy

Front 13

a process by which a society decides how power and resources will be distributed within that society

Back 13

politics

Front 14

decides who will reap the benefits and who will pay the costs of its public policies, neither good nor bad

Back 14

politics

Front 15

T or F.

Government is an institution

Back 15

true

Front 16

Four characteristics of a state:

Back 16

1. population

2. territory

3. sovereignty

4. government

Front 17

large or small, every state must be inhabited

(characteristic of a state)

Back 17

population

Front 18

every state must have land known and recognized boundaries

(characteristic of a state)

Back 18

territory

Front 19

the state has absolute power within its territory- it can decide its own foreign and domestic policies

(characteristic of a state)

Back 19

sovereignty

Front 20

the mechanism through which a state makes and enforces its policies

(characteristic of a state)

Back 20

goverment

Front 21

four theories of how to become state

Back 21

1. forced theory

2. evolutionary theory

3. divine right theory

4. social contract

Front 22

an individual or group claim control over territory forced population to submit-- state became sovereign and those in control form the government

Back 22

forced theory

Front 23

a population formed other primitive families-- the heads of these families became the government-- when the family settled in a territory and claimed it as their own they became a sovereign state

Back 23

evolutionary theory

Front 24

God created the state making it sovereign-- government is made up of those chosen by God to rule certain territory-- people (population) must obey the rule

Back 24

divine right theory

Front 25

a population in a given place (territory) gave up as much power to a government as needed to promote the well-being of all-- so they created a sovereign state

Back 25

social contract