AP Gov Term List Pring

Government

The institution through which a society makes and enforces its public policies

the body, entity, invested with the power to manage a political unit, organization or more often, a State.

Democracy

government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.

rule of the majority

Pure/Direct Democracy

A government where citizens assemble and administer the government in person

a form of democracy in which the electorate decides on policy initiatives without elected representatives as proxies

Representative (Indirect) Democracy

A system of government in which citizens elect representatives, or leaders, to make decisions about the laws for all the people.

a type of democracy where elected people represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy.

Republic

A form of government in which the people select representatives to govern them and make laws.

a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch.

Elite Theory

A theory of government and politics contending that societies are divided along class lines and that an upper-class elite will rule, regardless of the formal niceties of governmental organization.

a small group of people have more influence over the gov.have a disproportionate share of political power

pluralist theory

A theory of government and politics emphasizing that politics is mainly a competition among groups, each one pressing for its own preferred policies.

multitude of groups and interests controlling the gov so that no one group dominates

Autocracy

a system of government by one person with absolute power.

a form of government in which one ruler has absolute control and decision-making power

Natural (Inalienable) Rights

rights that cannot be taken away from you

rights that are God-given and can never be taken or even given away

Social Contract Theory

A voluntary agreement between the government and the governed

people live together in society in accordance with an agreement that establishes moral and political rules of behavior

Divine Right Theory

God created the state and that God had given those of royal birth a "divine right" to rule

a political and religious doctrine of political legitimacy of a monarchy.

Limited Government

A principle of constitutional government; a government whose powers are defined and limited by a constitution.

a political structure where laws limit the powers of the government to avoid abuse.

Constitution

A written plan of government

a body of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is acknowledged to be governed.

Popular Sovereignty

A belief that ultimate power resides in the people.

principle that the authority of a state and its government are created and sustained by the consent of its people, who are the source of all political power.

Magna Carta (1215)

the first ever attempt to limit the power of the British King, guaranteed all people certain rights

written by a group of 13th-century barons to protect their rights and property against a tyrannical king. It is concerned with many practical matters and specific grievances relevant to the feudal system under which they lived

Petition of Right

Document prepared by Parliament and signed by King Charles I of England in 1628; challenged the idea of the divine right of kings and declared that even the monarch was subject to the laws of the land

an English constitutional document setting out specific individual protections against the state, reportedly of equal value to Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights 1689

Mayflower Compact

1620 - The first agreement for self-government in America. It was signed by the 41 men on the Mayflower and set up a government for the Plymouth colony.

the first framework of government written and enacted in the territory that is now the United States of America

House of Burgesses

in 1619 _____________ was formed, the first legislative body in colonial America.

elected representative element of the Virginia General Assembly, the legislative body of the Colony of Virginia. With the creation of the House of Burgesses in 1642, the General Assembly, which had been established in 1619, became a bicameral institution

Charles -Louis Montesquieu

among the most influential thinkers of the French Enlightenment. He criticized French society and especially the excesses of absolutism

French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher. He is the principal source of the theory of separation of powers, which is implemented in many constitutions throughout the world

John Locke

17th century English philosopher who opposed the Divine Right of Kings and who asserted that people have a natural right to life, liberty, and property.

English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism