US Government Quiz 1
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31 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 monarchy | governments headed by hereditary rulers who claim unlimited powers |
| dictatorship | people ruled by one powerful leader that takes and holds power by force |
| theocracy | a government headed by religious leader |
| single-party state | the constitution allows only one political party to govern |
| direct democracy | public decisions are made directly by citizens meeting in an assembly or voting by ballot |
| parliamentary democracy | voters elect law-makers to represent them in nation's parliament |
| presidential democracy | voters choose a president to lead the government as head of the executive branch |
| unitary system | constitution concentrates power in national or central government |
| federal system | constitution divides power between national government and regional governments |
| confederal system | power resides in regions - national government granted only enough power to maintain national security |
| traditional economy | people rely on time-tested customs to answer the three fundamental economic questions |
| market economy | individual producers and consumers answer the three fundamental economic questions |
| command economy | government answers the three fundamental economic questions |
| first fundamental economic question | what goods and services should be produced? |
| second fundamental economic question | how should these goods and services be produced? |
| third fundamental economic question | how should the people share goods and services? |
| factors of production | land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship |
| despot | tyrant |
| constitutional democracy | democratic government based on written constitution |
| authoritarian regime | system of government in which state exercises broad control over lives of citizens |
| totalitarianism | an extreme form of an authoritarian regime |
| e.g. monarchy | Saudi Arabia (royal family rules) |
| e.g. dictatorship | Napoleon Bonaparte (coup d'état in France) |
| e.g. theocracy | Vatican City (the pope rules) |
| e.g. single party state | Vietnam (Communist Party rules) |
| e.g. direct democracy | no real direct democracy, closest is Switzerland, which uses referendum process |
| referendum process | citizens regularly vote to approve laws passed by legislature |
| initiative process | citizens may propose laws and submit them directly to voters |
| recall election | people able to elect official out of office |
| e.g. parliamentary democracy | Canada |
| e.g. presidential democracy | USA |
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