Government ND ch 1
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40 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Polis | Greek word for city-state |
| State | an area organized into a political unit and ruled by an established government with control over its internal and foreign affairs |
| Citizenship | the state of being accepted as a member of country and having the rights, duties and privledges of the country. |
| Allegiance | the loyalty that citizens owe to their country (or subjects to their sovereign) |
| Territory | a land area under control of a particular group or government |
| Government | the institution through which the state maintains social order, provides public services, and enforces binding decisions on citizens |
| Public Policy | A choice that government makes in response to a political issue. A policy is a course of action taken with regard to some problem |
| Legitimacy | political authority conferred by law or by a state or national constitution |
| Social Contract | the notion that society is based on an agreement between government and the governed in which people agree to give up some rights in exchange for the protection of others |
| Divine Right | belief that a rulers authority comes directly from god. |
| Edmund Burke | A conservative British politician who was generally sympathetic to the colonists' greivances, and who felt that Britain's colonial policies were misguided. He also opposed the early feminist movements. He once said, "A woman is but an animal, and not an animal of the highest order." |
| Politics | the profession devoted to governing and to political affairs |
| Unitary Government | a centralized government in which all government powers belong to a single central agency |
| Federal System of Government | a system in which power is shared among state and national authorities |
| Autocracy | government by one person having unlimited power |
| Oligarchy | a system of government in which a small group holds power |
| Monarchy | an autocracy governed by a monarch who usually inherits the authority |
| Democracy | a political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them |
| Constitutional Monarchy | A King or Queen is the official head of state but power is limited by a constitution. |
| Dictatorship | a form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.) |
| Totalitarianism | government control over every aspect of public and private life |
| Junta | a group of military officers who rule a country after seizing power |
| Propaganda | information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc. |
| Direct Democracy | A form of government in which citizens rule directly and not through representatives |
| Representative Democracy | A system of government in which citizens elect representatives, or leaders, to make decisions about the laws for all the people. |
| Republic | a political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them |
| Robert's Rules of Order | A handbook for running meetings effectively and efficiently, based on the procedures used in the British parliament. The principles included in the handbook are applicable to any decision-making organization, from Congress to community club committees. The handbook sets the guidelines for such issues as leading debates; recognizing speakers; defining the role of the chair and other officers; proposing, seconding, and voting on motions; and writing and amending constitutions and bylaws. |
| Civil Liberties | the guarantees of the safety of persons, opinions, and property from the arbitrary acts of government, including freedom of speech and freedom of religion |
| Civil Rights | right or rights belonging to a person by reason of citizenship including especially the fundamental freedoms and privileges guaranteed by the 13th and 14th amendments and subsequent acts of Congress including the right to legal and social and economic equality |
| Rule by Law | everyone has to follow the law, including the government officials; everyone is equal under the law |
| Majority rule | the doctrine that the numerical majority of an organized group can make decisions binding on the whole group |
| 14th Amendment | This amendment declared that all persons born or naturalized in the United States were entitled equal rights regardless of their race, and that their rights were protected at both the state and national levels. |
| jus soli | The law of soil, which determines citizenship based on where a person is born |
| jus sanguinis | The law of blood, which determines citizenship based on one's parents' citizenship. |
| Dual Citizenship | the status of a person who is a legal citizen of two or more nations |
| Naturalization | the legal process by which a person is granted citizenship |
| Expatriation | the act of abandoning one's country and giving up citizenship |
| Collective naturalization | granting citizenship to a large group of people at one time |
| Aliens | people who live in a nation but are not citizens of that nation |
| foreign policy | a nation's overall plan for dealing with other nations |
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