UNIT 1: Gov Vocab
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Created by:
emmaxnicolex902 on October 6, 2010
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22 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 government | the institution made up of those who have authority and control over the people in order to make and enforce public policies |
| public policy | the fundamental policy on which laws rest, especially policies not yet enunciated in specific rules |
| constitution | the body of fundamental laws setting out the principles, structures, and process of a government |
| dictatorship | a form of government in which the leader has absolute power and authority |
| democracy | a form of government in which the supreme authority rests with the people |
| state | a body of people living in a defined territory who have a government with the power to make and enforce law with out consent of higher authority |
| sovereign | having supreme power within its own territory; neither subordinate nor responsible to any other authority |
| legislative branch | the branch that makes new laws and frames public policies |
| executive branch | the branch that enforces the laws |
| judicial branch | the branch that interprets the laws, determines their meanings, and settles disputes within society |
| divine | being or having the nature of a god; godly |
| social contract | the agreement among all the people in a society to give up part of their freedom to a government for protection |
| natural rights | assumed rights that all humans have |
| common good | the good of the community as a whole, common welfare |
| autocracy | government in which one person has unlimited power over all others |
| oligarchy | government in which all power is vested in a few persons or a dominant class |
| unitary government | a centralized form of government in which states or local governments exercise only those powers delegated by the national government |
| federal government | national government in a federated state |
| division of powers | dividing the powers into separate groups for balanced control |
| confederation | a political organization in which the sovereign states combine for certain specified purposes such as defense |
| presidential government | a system in which the powers of the president are constitutionally separate from those of legislature |
| parliamentary government | a system that gives government authority to a legislature or parliament which in turn selects the executive from its own members |
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