Civics Midterm

The purposes of government are to provide leadership, order, security and defense, public services, and economic security and assistance.

A state is a political community that occupies a definite territory and has an organized government.

The evolutionary theory states that government started by extended families needed order and organization, forming governments.

The force theory states that states emerged when people needed to cooperate to survive but could become organized only when one or more people took control.

The divine right theory is the idea that certain people are chosen by a god or gods to rule.

The social contract theory states that states exist to protect and serve their people.

Thomas Hobbes used the phrase “social contract” when he wrote that without order and protection, no decent life of any kind would be possible.

John Locke claimed that people had natural rights and that the social contract was made between the people and a government that promised to preserve these rights.

A unitary system of government gives all key powers to the central government.

A confederate system of government has a weak central government with any other powers not given to the central government going to states.

A federal system of government divides and shares the powers of government between the national and state or provincial government.

A constitution is a plan that provides the rules for government.

A constitution serves several major purposes: (1) it sets out ideals that the people bound by the constitution believe in and share, (2) it establishes the basic structure of government and defines the government's powers and duties, and (3) it provides the supreme law for the country.

The term constitutional government refers to a government in which a constitution has authority to place clearly recognized limits on the powers of those who govern.

Authoritarian governments are characterized by leadership that controls all aspects of its citizens’ economic and social lives.

Monarchy is a form of government in which one person has great power; a king, queen, or emperor inherits the throne and heads the state.

Democracies derive their power from the consent and trust of the people.

The principles of democracy are citizen participation, regular free and fair elections, accepting the results of elections, rule of law, majority rule with minority rights, accountability, transparency, limited government and a bill of rights, control of the abuse of power, economic freedom, equality, individual or human rights, independent judiciary, and competing political parties.

The Magna Carta came to be regarded as a guarantee for limited government, and the principles it popularized came to be widely used.

Representative government is government in which people elect delegates to make laws and conduct government.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that property rights and other basic rights such as freedom of speech and religion came from people living together in a community.