Magruder's American Government Chapter 1
Terms
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- government
- The institution through which a society makes and enforces its public policies.
- public policy
- All of the goals a government sets and the various courses of action it pursues as it attempts to realize these goals.
- legislative power
- The power to make a law and to frame public policies.
- executive power
- The power to execute, enforce, and administer law.
- judicial power
- The power to interpret laws, to determine their meaning, and to settle disputes within the society.
- constitution
- The body of fundamental laws setting out the principles, structures, and processes of a government.
- dictatorship
- A form of government in which the leader has absolute power and authority.
- democracy
- A type of government in which the supreme government rests with the people.
- state
- A body of people living in a defined territory who have a government with the power to make and enforce law without the consent of any higher authority.
- sovereign
- Having supreme authority within its own territory; neither subordinate nor responsible to any other authority.
- autocracy
- A form of government in which a single person holds unlimited political power.
- oligarchy
- A form of government in which the power to rule is held by a small, usually self appointed elite.
- unitary government
- A centralized government in which all governmental powers belong to a single, central agency.
- federal government
- A form of government in which powers are divided between a central government and several local governments.
- division of powers
- Basic principle of federalism; the constitutional provisions by which governmental powers are divided on a geographic basis (in the United States, between the National Government and the States).
- confederation
- A joining of several groups for a common purpose.
- presidential government
- A form of government in which the executive and legislative branches of government are separate, independent, and coequal.
- parliamentary government
- A form of government in which the executive branch is made up of the prime minister, or premier, and that official’s cabinet.
- compromise
- An adjustment of opposing principles or systems by modifying some aspect of each.
- free enterprise system
- An economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods; investments that are determined by private decision rather than by state control, and determined in a free market.
- law of supply and demand
- A law which states that when supplies of goods and services become plentiful, prices tend to drop. When supplies become scarcer, prices tend to rise.
- mixed economy
- An economy in which private enterprise exists in combination with a considerable amount of government regulation and promotion.