Chapter 4 : States
Order by
36 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Autonomias | Spanish regions with devolved powers |
| Center | Nation's capital and its powers |
| Center-periphery tension | Resentment of outlying areas at rule by nation's capital |
| Centrifugal | Pulling apart |
| Confederation | Political system in which components override center |
| Decentralization | Shifting some administrative functions from central government to lower levels; less than devolution |
| Department | French first order civil division |
| Devolution | Shifting some powers from central government to component units |
| Failed state | One incapable of even minimal governance, with essentially no national government |
| Federalism | Balancing of power between a nation's capital and autonomous subdivisions, such as U.S. states. |
| First-order civil divisions | Countries' main territorial components, such as U.S. states or Spanish provinces. |
| Glasnost | Gorbachev's policy of media openness |
| Institutionalized | To make a political relationship permanent |
| Laissez-faire | French for "let it be"; economic system of minimal government interference and supervision; capitalism |
| Land | German federal first-order civil divison; plural Lander |
| Majoritarian | Electoral system that gives more than half of seats to one party |
| Majority | More than half |
| Mixed-member | Hybrid electoral system that uses both single member districts and proportional representation |
| Monarchy | Hereditary rule by one person |
| Nation | Population with a historic sense of self |
| Plurality | The most, even if less than half |
| Political institution | Established and durable pattern of authority |
| Prefect | Administrator of a French department |
| Prefecture | Japanese first-order civil division |
| Proportional representation | Elects representatives by party's percent of vote |
| Quasi | Nearly or almost |
| Regionalism | Feeling of regional differences and sometimes breakaway tendencies |
| Republic | A political system without a monarch; in Communist Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, federal first-order civil division |
| Single-member district | Electoral system that elects one person per district, as in the United States and Britain |
| Socialism | Economic system of government ownership of industry, allegedly for good of whole society; opposite of capitalism |
| State | Government structures of a nation |
| Statism | Economic system of state ownership of major industries to enhance power and prestige of state; a pre-capitalist system |
| Strong state | Modern form of government, able to administer and tax entire nation |
| Unitary system | Centralization of power in a nation's capital with little autonomy for subdivisions |
| Weak state | One unable to govern effectively, corrupt and penetrated by crime |
| Welfare state | Economic system of major government redistribution of income to poorer citizens |
First Time Here?
Welcome to Quizlet, a fun, free place to study. Try these flashcards, find others to study, or make your own.