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Chapter 1: The Study of American Government

Terms in this set (24)

Aristotle
A philosopher who defined democracy as the "rule of the many"
authority
the right to use power.
bureaucracy
a system of managing government through departments run by appointed officials
bureaucratic theory
a theory that appointed civil servants make the key governing decisions
citizen participation
a political system in which those affected by a governmental program must be permitted to participate in the program's formulation
city-state
a city and its surrounding lands functioning as an independent political unit
community control
a political system in which local citizens are empowered to govern themselves directly
democracy
Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representative
direct democracy
A form of government in which citizens rule directly and not through representatives
elite (political)
An identifiable group of people with a disproportionate share of political power
elitist theory
a theory that a few top leaders make the key decisions without reference to popular desires
Hamilton
Individual who worried the new government he helped to create would be too democratic
legitimacy
The widely-shared pereception that something or someone should be obeyed
majoritarian politics
A political system in which the choices of the political leaders are closely constrained by the preferences of the people
Marxist theory
a theory that government is merely a reflection of underlying economic forces
Mills
A sociologist who presented the idea of a mostly nongovernmental power elite
New England town meeting
A North American approximation of direct or participatory democracy
pluralist theory
a theory that no one interest group consistently holds political power
polis
Greek city-state
political power
power used to determine who will hold government office and how the government will behave
power
the ability of one person to get another person to act in accordance with the first person's intentions
representative democracy
a government in which leaders make decisions by winning a competitive struggle for the popular vote
Schumpeter
An economist who defined democracy as the competitive struggle by political leaders for the people's vote
Weber
A sociologist who emphasized the phenomenon of bureaucracy in explaining political developments
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