Sources of Power & Political Change
A body of fundamental rules that establishes government institutions and allocates or limits their powers.
What is a constitution?
A system in which primary governing authority rests with the central government.
What is a unitary system?
The belief that a government or regime has the rightful authority to rule.
What is legitimacy?
The organizations and established rules that structure political decision-making and behavior.
What are institutions?
The ability to influence decisions, shape behavior, or secure desired political outcomes.
What is political power?
The transfer of powers from a central government to regional or subnational governments.
What is devolution?
A measure of income inequality in which higher values generally indicate greater inequality.
What is the Gini Index?
The administrative organization of government departments and agencies that carries out public policy.
What is bureaucracy?
The recognized or accepted right to exercise political power.
What is political authority?
The division of governmental responsibilities among branches, such as legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
What is separation of powers?
GDP divided by population, used as a rough measure of average economic output per person.
What is GDP per capita?
The sphere of organized social life that operates outside the government, including community groups and nonprofit organizations.
What is civil society?
The process through which political leadership passes from one leader to another under established rules or practices.
What is political succession?
Mechanisms through which branches or institutions can limit or review one another's actions.
What are checks and balances?
Acceptance of authority based on established laws, rules, and procedures.
What is rational-legal legitimacy?
Organizations that connect citizens to government and help communicate political interests and demands, such as political parties and interest groups.
What are linkage institutions?
A change in the fundamental rules and institutions governing access to and exercise of political power.
What is regime change?
An arrangement in which executive and legislative authority are closely linked, as in many parliamentary systems.
What is fusion of powers?
A composite development measure based on health, education, and income.
What is the Human Development Index (HDI)?
The authority of courts to determine whether laws or government actions violate a constitution.
What is judicial review?