Chapter 1: American Government and Civic Engagement

How a society organizes itself and allocates authority to accomplish collective goals?

What is a government?

The process of gaining and exercising control within a government to set and achieve a set of goals

Politics

According to John Locke, what are the three natural rights all people possess

Life, liberty, and property

Which Scottish philosopher, in his book “The Wealth of Nations,” argued that people should be free to acquire property and operate businesses as they wish?

Adam Smith

A political system in which people govern themselves is known as a ___

democracy

Alternative economic system to capitalism where the government owns the means of generating wealth, such as factories and banks? b

Socialism

Goods and services provided by private businesses that can only be used by those who pay for them are called ___

private goods

Good or services that are available to all without charge, such as national security and public education, are called ___

Public goods

What type of good is available to many people, but only if they can pay the price, such as private school education?

Toll good

What type of goods are free of charge but are in limited supply, such as fish in the sea or clean drinking water?

Common goods

Difference between public and common goods?

With common goods, there is a limited supply. However, public goods dont share the same concern.

The participation that connects citizens to government is known as ___ engagement

Civic

What type of government does the United States have?

A republic, or representative democracy.

In a ___, citizens do not govern directly but instead elect representatives to make decisions on their behalf

Representative democracy

What principle in a representative democracy states that the opinions of the majority have more influence over the minority?

What is majority rule?

In a representative democracy, what protections ensure that people cannot be deprived of certain rights even if a majority thinks they should be?

Minority rights

What form of government does people participate directly in making all government decisions?

Direct democracy

New England town meetings are cited as an example of ___ in the United States

Direct democracy

What form of government does one ruler, usually a hereditary one, hold political power?

Monarchy

What form of government does a handful of elite members of society hold all political power?

Oligarchy

Under ____, the government is more important than the citizens and controls all aspects of their lives

Totalitarianism

The belief that a set of elite citizens is really in charge of the government and that others have no influence is called the ___ theory

Elite

What theory of government posits that political power rests with competing interest groups who share influence in government?

Pluralism

According to pluralist theory, how is government policy shaped?

From the ground up, groups make their desires known to politicians.

What perspective on government suggests that public policy is influenced by competing groups and elites?

Trade off perspective

What amendment to the U.S. Constitution lowered the nations voting age to 18

The 26th Amendment

What were young men being drafted to fight in when they argued for the right to vote at 18

The Vietnam War

Which group of people are most likely to become active in politics of community service

Individuals with higher levels of income and education

Relationship between capitalism and individualism?

Capitalism relies on individualism, and a democratic government, in theory, promotes individualism

Primary way of the U.S. Government to fund public goods?

Through the general tax base.