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37 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
What is Government?
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An institution through which a society makes and enforces its public policies.
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Define Public Policies
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Things the government decides to do
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What are the 3 basic kinds of power every government has and exercises?
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Legislative, executive, and Judicial
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Define Legislative
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the power to make law and to frame public policies
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Define Executive
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The power to execute, enforce and administration law
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Define Judicial
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The power to interpert laws to determine their meaning and to settle disputes that rise within society
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Define constitution
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the body of fundamental laws setting out the princibles, structure, and process of government
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Define Dictatorship
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the ultimate responsibility for the exercise of these powers may be held by a single person or small group
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Define Democracy
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responsibility of powers rest with the majority of the people
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Politics is a __________; while ________ is an institution.
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Process, government
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What is the dominant political unit in the world?
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the state
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Define the State
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a body of people, living in a defined territory, organized politically, and with the power to make and enforce law without the consent of any higher authority.
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explain population
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size is irrelevant, and they may or not be homogeneous
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What does landen want you to know about territory?
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that there is great variance in states in the world
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What types of sovereignty do states have?
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supreme and absolute power within its own territory and can decide its own foreign and domestic policies
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what mr. landen wants u to know about government
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the agency through which the state exerts it will and works to accomplish its goals
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What are the 4 theories of the origins of government?
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The force theory, the evolutionary theory, the divine right theory, the social contract theory
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Define the Force theory
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One person or small group took control of an area and forced all with in it to sumit to that persons or groups rule
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Define the Evolutionary theory
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state evolved naturally out of the early family
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Define the Divine right theory
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God created the state and god gives those of royal birth a "____ ____" to rule
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Define the Social Contract Theory
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the state arose out of a voluntary act of free people
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In what 3 ways can governments be classified
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1.who can participate in governing process
2. geographic distribution of governmental power within the state 3. the relationship between the legislature and executive branches of the government |
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Define Democracy
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The supreme political authority rests with the peopple who hold sovereign power with gbovernment being conducted only by and with the consent of the people
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What is the diference between direct and indirect democracy? Which one are americans more familur with? Why?
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Direct: will of people is in law by the people themselves in mass meetings
Indirect: representatives express the popular vote We use indirect because of the fact that our country is so wide that it would be virtually imposible for direct to work |
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Define Dictatorship.
Is it relatively new? |
Those who rule cannot be held responsible to the will of the people, without government accountability for policies. It is probably the oldest and most common form of government.
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Define Autocracy
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government in which a single person holds unlimited political power
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Define Oligarchy
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the power to rule is held by a small self appointed elite
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Describe authoritarian power
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those in power hold absolute and unchallengeable authority
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What is meant by totalitarian power?
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exercise complete power over nearly every aspect of human powers
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Define Unitary Governments
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centeralized government where all powers belong to a single agency. ex: GB and the parliment
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Define Federal Governments
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powers are divided between a centeral and local governments
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describe the division of powers
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basic principle of federalism divided by geography
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define confederation
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an alliance of independent states. the central organization only has the power to handle those matters that the meembers have assigned to it
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2 examples of confederations
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European Union and confederate states of america
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Define Presidential Governments
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features a seperation of powers between the executive and legislative branches of the government. The chief executive is chosen independently of the legislature, holds office for fixted terms and has a number of popwers not subject to the direct control of the legislative branch
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Define Parliamentary Government
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the executive is made of the prime minister or premier and his or her official cabnite. The PM is the leader of the major party in the Parliament. A majority of governments in the world are parliamentary not presidential in form.
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What are the pros and cons of presidential versus the parliamentary
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pros: avoides prolonged conflict and dead clocks
cons: checks and balances are not part of the system |