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A territory with a population and sovereign government.
Or: Population, Territory, Government, Sovereignty |
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| Any group of people with something in common: beliefs, customs, ethnicity, language, etc. |
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| Answering to no higher or outside authority. A sovereign government is able to rule over its population within its territory without interference. Wisconsin is not a sovereign state; the United States is a sovereign state. |
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| The family is the most basic system of government. Governments arose after family systems became too large and complex. |
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| People are forced to come together under a government by the need to survive (building shelters, bridges, creating agriculture) or by fear of a leader. |
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| A ruler or rulers declare that God or gods have chosen them to rule over people. |
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| Government provides its citizens with protection, social order, and services in exchange for payment and obedience of the citizens. |
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| A social contract theorist with a positive view of human nature. People can be trusted to have a say in government. No one is above the law. If government interferes with people's rights, people should change their government. |
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| A social contract theorist with a negative view of human nature. Without government, chaos rules, and people cannot be trusted outside of a government. Since any government is better than no government, people should not rise up against even bad rulers. |
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| Rule by a small group of people. |
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| Rule by the citizens (the people). |
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| People elect representatives to express their views on issues and problems. This system becomes popular when a large population's complex problems make direct democracy impossible. |
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| All people may vote on all measures and issues. This gives the people a voice but the system becomes overwhelmed in large, complex states, making representative government necessary. |
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| Examples are Great Britain, Sweden. A monarch (king, queen, etc.) rules, but their power is limited by a constitution. |
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| Examples include Saudi Arabia. State is ruled by a king, queen, or other monarch who is not limited in their power by any binding constitution. |
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| Totalitarian Dictatorship |
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| "Total" rule by one ruler. A type of autocracy. One historical example is Hitler. |
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| Creates a compromise between liberty and security (Locke and Hobbes). Individual liberty is only limited by concerns for group security. In other words, you can do whatever you want until you interfere with the rights of others. |
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| An economic theory. No state ownership of property, and no government regulation of business. There are no true capitalist countries in the world today. |
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| An economic theory. The state owns major industries and regulates business. The state also provides extensive services to its people including welfare. One example is Sweden. |
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| An economic theory. Government controls all means of production, and there is very little or no private property. This greatly limits economic freedom of citizens. Examples include North Korea and China. |
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| The economic system of the United States, consisting of a mix of socialism and capitalism. |
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| A written framework for government and problem-solving. These tend to be short and flexible and not a detail of every law in a society. |
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