Types of Government
Question: A form of government where a single ruler, such as a king or queen, holds absolute or constitutional power, often inherited through a royal family line.
What is a Monarchy?
Question: A system of government where power is divided and shared between a central national government and individual state or regional governments.
Answer: What is Federalism?
Question: This branch of government is responsible for creating, debating, and passing laws.
Answer: What is the Legislative Branch?
Question: The formal act of choosing a political candidate for office or deciding on a political issue by casting a ballot.
Answer: What is an Election?
Question: A body of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or country is acknowledged to be governed.
Answer: What is a Constitution?
Question: A system of government where power is vested in the people, who rule either directly or through freely elected representatives.
Answer: What is a Democracy?
Question: A centralized system of government where all primary political power rests in a single, central national government (e.g., the United Kingdom or France).
Answer: What is a Unitary System?
Question: This branch of government, often headed by a President or Prime Minister, is responsible for enforcing and administering laws.
Answer: What is the Executive Branch?
Question: An organized group of people with similar political opinions and goals, who work together to win elections and operate the government.
Answer: What is a Political Party?
Question: A political ideology that generally emphasizes individual liberty, equal rights, and government action to address social issues.
Answer: What is Liberalism?
Question: A form of government where a small, elite group of people holds all the political power, often based on wealth, royalty, or military control.
Answer: What is an Oligarchy?
Question: The political doctrine that divides the responsibilities of government into three distinct branches to prevent any one branch from gaining too much power.
Answer: What is the Separation of Powers?
Question: This branch of government is made up of courts and judges who interpret the laws and decide if laws violate the Constitution.
Answer: What is the Judicial Branch?
Question: The legal right to vote in public and political elections.
Answer: What is Suffrage (or Franchise)?
Question: A political ideology that generally favors traditional values, limited government intervention in the economy, and individual responsibility.
Answer: What is Conservatism?
Question: A system of government in which priests or religious leaders rule in the name of God or a higher power, making religious law the law of the land.
Answer: What is a Theocracy?
Question: The political doctrine that divides the responsibilities of government into three distinct branches to prevent any one branch from gaining too much power.
Answer: What is the Separation of Powers?
Question: A legislature that is divided into two separate chambers or houses, such as the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Answer: What is a Bicameral Legislature?
Question: A voting system where the candidate who wins the most votes wins the seat, even if they do not achieve an absolute majority.
Answer: What is Plurality (or Winner-Take-All)?
Question: The supreme, absolute, and uncontrollable power by which an independent state is governed.
Answer: What is Sovereignty?
Question: An authoritarian political system where the state holds total authority over society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life.
Answer: What is Totalitarianism?
Question: A system that allows each branch of government to amend or veto acts of another branch so as to prevent any single branch from exerting dominant control.
Answer: What is Checks and Balances?
Question: The power of the judicial branch to review actions of the legislative and executive branches and declare them unconstitutional.
Answer: What is Judicial Review?
Question: An electoral system in which legislative seats are awarded to political parties in proportion to the percentage of the vote the party receives.
Answer: What is Proportional Representation?
Question: The practice of manipulating the boundaries of an electoral constituency so as to favor one specific political party or class.
Answer: What is Gerrymandering?