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25 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
institution through which a society makes and enforces its public policies- made up of those people who exercise powers- all those who have authority and control over people |
government |
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all of those things a government decides to do: taxation, defense, education, crime, and healthcare to transportation, the environment, civil rights, and working conditions |
public policies |
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Government exercises three basic kinds of power: |
- Legislative -Executive -Judicial |
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the power to make laws and to frame public policies |
Legislative power |
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power to execute, enforce, and administer laws |
executive power |
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power to interpret laws, determine their meaning, and to settle disputes that arise within society |
judicial power |
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example of judicial power |
supreme court |
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example of executive power |
president |
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example of legislative power |
congress |
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body of fundamental laws setting out the principles, structures, and processes of the government
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constitution
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power held by a single person or small group- are not held responsible to the will of the people |
dictatorship |
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Responsibility for the exercise of the three powers with the majority of the people- supreme authority rests with the people |
democracy |
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a process by which a society decides how power and resources will be distributed within that society |
politics |
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decides who will reap the benefits and who will pay the costs of its public policies, neither good nor bad
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politics |
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T or F. Government is an institution |
true
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Four characteristics of a state:
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1. population 2. territory 3. sovereignty 4. government |
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large or small, every state must be inhabited (characteristic of a state) |
population |
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every state must have land known and recognized boundaries (characteristic of a state) |
territory |
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the state has absolute power within its territory- it can decide its own foreign and domestic policies (characteristic of a state) |
sovereignty |
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the mechanism through which a state makes and enforces its policies (characteristic of a state) |
goverment |
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four theories of how to become state |
1. forced theory 2. evolutionary theory 3. divine right theory 4. social contract |
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an individual or group claim control over territory forced population to submit-- state became sovereign and those in control form the government
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forced theory |
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a population formed other primitive families-- the heads of these families became the government-- when the family settled in a territory and claimed it as their own they became a sovereign state |
evolutionary theory |
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God created the state making it sovereign-- government is made up of those chosen by God to rule certain territory-- people (population) must obey the rule |
divine right theory |
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a population in a given place (territory) gave up as much power to a government as needed to promote the well-being of all-- so they created a sovereign state |
social contract |