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Chapter 1 Key Terms
Question | Answer |
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Government | the institution through which a society makes and enforces public policies |
public policies | all the things a government decides to do |
legislative power | the power to make laws |
executive power | the power to enforce and and administer laws |
judicial power | the power to interpret laws |
dictatorship | a government in which all power rests with an individual or small group |
democracy | a government in which supreme authority rests with the people |
state | a body of people, living in a defined territory, with a government that can make and enforce law without the consent of any higher authority |
sovereign | to have supreme and absolute power within a territory |
divine right | the theory that governments gain their authority from the will of God |
autocracy | government in which a single person holds all political power |
oligarchy | government in which a small, usually self-appointed group has the sole power to rule |
unitary government | a government in which all power belongs to one central agency |
federal government | a government in which power is divided between one central and several local governments |
division of powers | the split of power between central and local governments |
confederation | an alliance of independent states |
presidential governemnt | a government with separate executive and legislative branches |
parliamentary government | a government in which the executive branch is part of the legislative branch and subject to its control |
majority rule | the principle that the will of the majority controls the actions of government |
compromise | the process of blending and adjusting competing views and interests |
citizen | one who holds certain rights and responsibilities within a state |
free enterprise system | an economic system characterized by the private ownership of capital goods, private investment, and a competitive marketplace that determines success or failure |