American Gov Exam 1 Definitions

Government: The means by which a society organises itself and allocates authoirty in order to accomplish collective goals and provide benefits. 

Politics: The process of gaining and exercising control within a government for the purpose of setting and achieving goals. 

Oligarchy: Only members of a certain political part can participate in gov (rich elites) 

Autocracy: Governments controlled by one person

Monarchy: where one ruler holds power

Democracy: Governments run by the people

Direct Democracy: From of gov where people participate directly in decisions 

Representative Democracy: where voters elect reps to make decisions on behalf of the people

Totalitarnism: Governments that recognise little or no limits on their authority 

Authoritarianism: Governments that recognise some of their limits 

Constitutional: Governments recognise and codify broad limits on their authority 

Collective Action Principle: a. gov requires collective social action b. as the number and diversity increase so does the problem. 

Institution Principle: important to understand things like division of labor and checks on the powers of politicians and institutions. 

Supremacy clause: Constitution and laws is the supreme law of the land, one…