Democracy and Non-Democratic Government
This is the voluntary groups and organizations that are not controlled by the state.
What is civil society?
This made the constitution fully Canadian, added the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to the constitution, and established procedures for amending the constitution.
What is the Constitution Act, 1982?
This is the legislative branch of the American government consisting of the House of Representatives and the
Senate.
What is Congress?
This is having nuclear arms that a country can use to prevent an enemy attacking.
What is a nuclear deterrent?
This is a concentration of power in the international system. It could be a state or an alliance of states.
What is a pole?
This is when even the government that makes the law can be made to obey the law by having an independent court system that is free from political pressure.
What is Rule of Law?
This is a system of governing in which the monarch acts as official head of state but is strictly limited in power by the constitution.
What is constitutional monarchy?
This is a basic principle of the American presidential system in which each of the three branches of government is able to check the actions of the others so that no individual or institution becomes too powerful.
What are checks and balances?
This is a measure of per capita income that shows the purchasing power of an income, instead of its worth at
current exchange rates.
What is purchasing power parity (PPP)?
A type of international system dominated by four or more great powers. The other states in the system play only a marginal role.
What is a multipolar system?
This is government’s obligation to provide timely access to information and to operate visibly so that it can be held accountable for its actions.
What is transparency?
This is government above the governments of its member-states.
What is supranational government?
This is a system of governing in which the president and Congress each separately derive their authority from being elected by the people and have a fixed term of office.
What is a presidential system?
This is an annual index for most countries, calculated by the United Nations Development Programme and based on educational attainment, life expectancy, and per capita gross national income (GNI).
What is the human development index (HDI)?
This is a situation in which no great power is dominant in the international system.
What is balance of power?
This is when citizens can assess the performance of their elected representatives and vote whether or not to allow them to continue to hold office.
What is accountability?
This is a system of governing in which sovereign authority rests with the central government; regional and local
governments are subordinate.
What is a unitary system?
This is the lower chamber of the US Congress. Representatives are elected for a two-year term in districts of approximately equal population size.
What is the House of Representatives?
This is an economic model that emphasizes private enterprise and significantly limits the economic role of the state.
What is the free-market economic model?
This is the dilemma that arises when states need power to feel secure, but their accumulation of power might undermine rather than increase their security if it leads other states to feel that they are in danger and form an alliance to meet the perceived threat.
What is a security dilemma?
For a liberal democracy to function properly, there must be centres of power that are independent of government, including businesses, unions, educational institutions, interest groups, political parties, social movements, and the media.
What is political pluralism?
This is a system of governing in which sovereign authority is divided or shared between the central government and regional governments, with each deriving its authority from the constitution.
What is a federal system?
The ability of the president to prevent the passage of a bill. The president of the United States has the authority to disallow laws passed by Congress, although this can be overridden by a two-thirds majority in each body of Congress.
What is the presidential veto?
This is an economic policy that gives government a significant role in directing a country’s economy.
What is the statist economic model?
A type of international system in which two superpowers compete with one another. The other states in the system fall within the sphere of influence of one or the other of the two superpowers.
What is bipolarity?