Government Terms - Chapter 1

An ongoing organization that performs certain functions for society.

Disagreements among people in a society over what the society’s priorities should be when distributing scarce resources.

The process of resolving conflicts over how society should use its scarce resources and who should receive various benefits, such as public health care and public higher education.

The individuals and institutions that make society’s rules and that also possess the power and authority to enforce those rules.

The ability to influence the behavior of others, usually through the use of force, persuasion, or rewards.

The ability to exercise power, such as the power to make and enforce laws, legitimately.

Essential services that individuals cannot provide for themselves, such as building and maintaining roads, providing welfare programs, operating public schools, and preserving national parks.

A form of government in which the power and authority of the government are in the hands of a single-person.

A form of autocracy in which a king, queen, emperor, empress, tsar, or tsarina is the highest authority in the government; monarchs usually obtain their power through inheritance.

The theory that a monarch’s right to rule was derived directly from God rather than from the consent of the people.

A form of government in which absolute power is exercised by a single person who usually has obtained his or her power by the use of force.

A system of government in which the people have ultimate political authority. The word is derived from the Greek demos (the people) and kratia (rule).

A system of government in which political decisions are made by the people themselves rather than by elected representatives. This form of government was practiced in some areas of ancient Greece.

A form of democracy in which the will of the majority is expressed through smaller groups of individuals elected by the people to act as their representatives.

Essentially, a representative democracy in which there is no king or queen and the people are sovereign.