- Amendment: a change or modification to a constitution
- Assembly: a meeting of people to discuss government business
- Congress: the part of the US Government that makes laws
- Diet: the name of the legislature of Japan
- autocracy: rule by one person
- civil rights: rights reserved to citizens that governments cannot interfere with
- compromise: to make a deal when both sides give in on some conditions
- confederation: national government is weak and local governments are strong
- de facto: the way things actually are
- de jure: the way things are supposed to be by law
- democracy: form of government allowing a large number of citizens to participate
- federal: power is shared by a national and state governments
- judiciary: the part of the government that judges and settles disputes
- legislation: a law
- legislature: the part of the government that writes laws
- monarchy: a system where kings and queens hand power to their relatives
- municipal: a city
- popular: something that comes from the mass of citizens or people
- principle: a fixed idea that guides people and governments
- province: a term for a part of a country, such as in Canada