Introduction to Civics and Types of Government

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers concepts from the introductory civics lecture, including educational milestones, power dynamics, and various historical and modern government structures.

Ninth Grade Year

A critical period in high school where a student sets the tone and their grade point average for their remaining academic career.

Eleventh Grade Year

The final major year that colleges look at to determine if a student is capable of performing college-level work before they apply.

Oligarchy

A form of government ruled by a few people, such as the wealthy; noted in context where the top $10\%$ owns $70\%$ of the wealth.

Power

The ability to get people to do what you want, even if they do not want to do it, sometimes achieved through force or violence.

Authority

The socially accepted right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience, often provided by a specific role like a teacher or parent.

Absolute Monarchy

A form of government with a single monarch, such as a king, who has unlimited power and no requirement for voting.

Theocracy

A type of oligarchy that is based on or deals primarily with religion.

Cleisthenes

An Athenian figure who designed a revolutionary governmental solution to replace tyrants, instituting the rule of the people through a simple vote.

Direct Democracy

A system of government where every citizen has a say and votes individually on state issues, such as the Athenian use of white and black pebbles.

Constitutional Monarchy

A system, exemplified by Great Britain, where there is a figurehead monarch like King Charles, but the state is run by a parliament.

Presidential Democracy

The specific form of democracy used by the United States of America.

Autocracy

A general term for a government ruled by one individual who holds all the power.

Single-party state

A type of government where only one political party has the right to form the government.

Wealth Distribution Statistics

In the context of modern oligarchy, the top $10\%$ owns $70\%$ of the wealth, and $1\%$ owns $30\%$ of it.