Chapter 1: Principles of Government Vocabulary

Government

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

Public Policies

Are, in short, all of those things a government decides to do. Ex: taxation, defense, education, and health care to transportation, the environment, etc.

Legislative Power

The power to make 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 that arise 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 one person or a small group holds complete authority.

Democracy

A form of government in which the responsibility for the exercise of powers rests with a majority of the people. (Many rule)

State

A body of people, living in a defined territory, organized politically (that is, with a government), and with the power to make and enforce law without the consent of any higher authority.

Sovereign

Having supreme power within its own territory and can decide its own foreign and domestic policies; 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

Described as a centralized government; all powers held by the government belong to a single, central agency.

Federal Government

A form of government in which the powers of government 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 formed alliance of independent states for a common purpose.

Presidential Government

A form of government in which the executive and legislative branches of the 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.