Social Contract SBT Study Guide

Flashcards covering the concepts of social contract theory, key Enlightenment thinkers, various types of government, features of democracy, and systems of power distribution based on the lecture notes.

State of nature

A hypothetical condition of humanity before the establishment of organized societies or governments.

Natural rights

Rights that all people have just by virtue of being human, specified by John Locke to include "life, liberty and property".

Social contract

An agreement in which people give up some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of a government in exchange for security, protection, and the maintenance of social order.

Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679)

Author of the 1651 book Leviathan, who proposed that the state of nature was "nasty, brutish, and short" and that people submitted to a monarch with absolute power to avoid it.

John Locke (1663-1704)

Thinker who asserted that people have natural rights and created a representative government to preserve them, maintaining the right to change the government if it violates those rights.

Charles de Montesquieu (1689-1755)

Theorist who emphasized the importance of separation of powers and checks and balances in government.

Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

Theorist whose social contract suggests people give up all individual rights to the community to follow the "general will" for the public good.

Power

The ability of one person or group to make another person or group do something, even if they don't want to.

Authority

The right to use power, which is often given by law, tradition, or the consent of the people.

Authoritarianism

A form of government where power is held by a single person or a small group, and the citizens have little to no say in how they are governed.

Autocracy

A government where a single person, such as a dictator or an absolute monarch, holds all of the power.

Absolute monarchy

A type of government where a king or queen holds all of the power, and this power is typically inherited.

Dictatorship

A government where a single leader, or dictator, comes to power and holds onto it by using force and limiting citizens' rights.

Oligarchy

A government where a small group of people, such as a wealthy elite or a military council, holds all the power.

Theocracy

A government where religious leaders rule in the name of a god or a higher power.

Single-party state

A government where only one political party is legally allowed to exist and hold power.

Totalitarianism

An autocracy or oligarchy in which the government has complete and total control over every aspect of a person's public and private life.

Democracy

A type of government where the people hold the power and can influence government decisions through voting and participation.

Direct democracy

A system where all citizens vote directly on every law and public policy.

Representative democracy

A system where citizens elect a group of people to make laws and public policies on their behalf.

Parliamentary democracy

A government where the executive leader, called a prime minister, is chosen from the leading party in the legislature and can be removed by that legislature.

Presidential democracy

A government where the president is elected separately from the law-making body and leads the executive branch.

Constitutional monarchy

A government in which a monarch shares power with a constitutionally organized government and typically has limited authority.

Limited government

A feature of democracy where powers exercised by the government are restricted, usually by a written constitution.

Rule of law

The principle that government is based on clear and fairly enforced laws that apply to everyone.

Popular sovereignty

The principle that the people are the ultimate source of authority and legitimacy of a government.

Constitution

A written plan that sets up a government, outlines its powers, and lists the rights of the people.

Separation of powers

The splitting of government powers between two or more independent branches to prevent any one group from gaining too much power.

Checks and balances

A system where each branch of government can limit the power of the other branches.

Federal system

A distribution of power where it is shared between a strong central (national) government and strong state or regional governments.

Unitary system

A system where all power is held by one central government, and local governments only have the power the central government gives them.

Confederal system

A system where most of the power is held by individual states or regional governments, and the central government is very weak.