government    Government is that complex of offices, personnel, and processes by which a state is ruled and by which its public policies are made and enforced.

public policy    Public policies of a government are all those things a government decides to do or not do. Examples: imposing an income and property taxes; minimum wages; maintaining an armed force. Public policy includes all of the decisions and non-decisions of government

public goods    Things that everyone can share, such as clean air.

justice   The reasonable, fair, impartial administration of the law.

unitary government    Power is held in a single, central agency. A centralized government. Local government is created by the central government for convenience and is answerable only to central government. Most governments are unitary. Great Britain is an example of unitary but democratic. Do not confuse with dictatorship.

federal government    Powers are divided between a central government and several local governments. Both act on their own sets of laws, officials, and agencies. In U.S., national government has power and so do states (also known as federalism).

confederation   An alliance of independent states. A confederate government possesses little authority to act on its own. The central government has limited power and can only handle matters that the member states have assigned to it.

presidential government    Features a separation of powers. In a presidential government, the executive and legislative branches are independent and coequal. The executive and legislative branches each can check the actions of the other branch. President chosen independently of the legislature, holds office for a fixed term, and has powers not subject to direct control of the legislature.

parliamentary government    Members of the executive branch are also members of the legislative branch (the Parliament). Executive is made up of the prime minister or premier and that official's cabinet. Executive is leader of the majority party or of a coalition of parties and is chosen by Parliament.

dictatorship   Dictatorships exercise absolute, not limited authority over the people. Participation in government is limited to the individual or group who rules. Those who rule are not responsible to the will of the people. No accountability.

democracy   In a democracy, sovereignty is located with the people who hold the power and give consent to the government to rule.

direct democracy    Will of people translated into public policy directly by people themselves, in mass meetings. Doesn't exist in any national level, anywhere in the world.

representative democracy    Small group of people elected by the people to act on their behalf to express their popular will. They are held accountable to the people through elections.

politics    Politics can best defined as "who gets what, when, and how."

political participation    Political participation refers to the ways in which people get involved in politics.

single-issue groups    Interest groups whose members will vote on a single issue, such as pro-life and pro-choice groups that ignore a politician's stand on everything except abortion.

majority rule    The majority rule is the popular rule. In a democracy, the majority will be right more often and wrong. The majority have a "right" to be wrong.

minority rights    The majority must recognize the right of the minority, by fair and lawful means, to become the majority. The majority must always be willing to listen to a minority's argument, to hear its objections, to bear its criticisms, and welcome its suggestions.

compromise   The process of reconciling competing views and interests in order to find the position most acceptable to the largest number.

anarchy   The total absence of government

political system    A political system is a set of institutions and activities that link together government, politics, and public policy.

political issue    A political issue arises when people disagree about a problem or about a public policy choice.

linkage institutions    In a democratic society, parties, elections, interest groups, and the media are key linkage institutions between the preferences of citizens and the government's policy agenda.

policy impacts    Policy impacts are the effects policy has on people and on society's problems.

pluralist theory    Pluralist theory contends that many centers of influence compete for power and control.

elite and class theory    Elite and class theory contends that our society (like all societies) is divided along class lines. An upper-class elite rules, regardless of governmental organization, with wealth as the basis of class power.

hyperpluralism    Pluralism gone sour.

policy gridlock    The decentralized nature of American government allows one or a few such groups to block policy, thus creating policy gridlock and the inability of government to deal with important national problems such as health care.

gross domestic product    The value of all goods and services produced annually by the United States

liberals    Liberals generally favor more governmental regulation of the economy; more policies to help disadvantaged groups; and, more policies to redistribute income.

conservatives   Conservatives generally favor fewer governmental regulations and a greater reliance on the market; fewer governmental policies in the name of disadvantaged groups; and, fewer tax laws that discourage business growth

Chief Justice Richard Barajas
Advanced Placement U.S. Government and Politics
Cathedral High School, El Paso, Texas
Last updated: July 17, 2000