AP Government definitions Essay

Submitted By Hannah_C_Crider
Words: 1691
Pages: 7
Open Document
AP Government Vocabulary
1. Democracy: free and equal representation of people.
2. Direct Democracy: A democracy in which the power to govern lies directly in the hands of the people rather than being exercised through their representatives.
3. Direct Primary: a primary election in which the candidates who will seek office as nominees of a political party are chosen directly by popular vote.
4. Initiative: a means by which a petition signed by a certain minimum number of registered voters can force a public vote.
5. Referendum: a vote by the whole of an electorate on a specific question or questions put to it by a government or similar body.
6. Recall: A vote to remove someone from their political position.
7. Representative Democracy: a variety of democracy founded on the principle of elected officials representing a group of people, as opposed to direct democracy.
8. Constitutional Democracy: a system of government based on popular sovereignty in which the structures, powers, and limits of government are set forth in a constitution.
9. Constitutionalism: government by constitution: the principles or practice of government regulated by a constitution.
10. Majority rule: control by majority: control of an organization or institution according to the wishes or votes of the majority of its members.
11. Plurality rule: the excess of votes received by the leading candidate, in an election in which there are three or more candidates, over those received by the next leading candidate.
12. Theocracy: government by a god or by priests.
13. Electoral college: a select body of people who elect somebody to an office on behalf of a larger group
14. Federalism: a political system in which several states or regions defer some powers.
15. Writ of mandamus: a judicial remedy in the form of an order from a superior court, to any government subordinate court, corporation, or public authority—to do (or forbear from doing) some specific act which that body is obliged under law to do (or refrain from doing).
16. Writ of Certiorari: an order a higher court issues in order to review the decision and proceedings in a lower court and determine whether there were any irregularities.
17. Writ of Habeas Corpus: a court order that requires a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court.
18. In forma pauperis: not liable for court costs because of being identified as a poor person.
19. Amicus curiae briefs: someone who is not a party to a case who offers information that bears on the case but who has not been solicited by any of the parties to assist a court.
20. Bureaucracy: an administrative system, especially in a government, that divides work into specific categories carried out by special departments of nonelected officials.
21. Cloture: the process of closing a debate in the Senate by calling for a vote.
22. De facto segregation: segregation that happens in fact although not required by law.
23. De jure segregation: segregation that is imposed by law.
24. Ex post facto law: a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences (or status) of actions that were committed, or relationships that existed, before the enactment of the law.
25. Stare decisis: the principal that the precedent decisions are to be followed by the courts.
26. Delegated powers: expressed powers given to one branch of the government by the Constitution. They are assigned to another government agency with consent of the first.
27. Implied powers: a power that in not specifically authorized in writing, but is assumed because of similar powers which have already been granted in writing.
28. Express powers: powers that congress has that are specifically listed in the Constitution.
29. Reserve powers: a political power that a constitution reserves exclusively to the jurisdiction of a particular political authority.
30. Concurrent power: a political power exercised independently in the same field of legislation by both federal
Show More

Related Documents: AP Government definitions Essay

Essay on Economics and Competitive Labor Market

AP Microeconomics Review 1. Firm in Perfect Competition (Long-Run Equilibrium) 2. Monopoly Industry with comparison of price & output of a Perfectly Competitive Industry 3. Natural Monopoly with Fair-Return and Socially-Optimum Regulation 4. Negative Externality showing that too much is being produced at too low of a price 5. Positive externality showing that too little is being produced at too low of a price 6. Monopsony Labor Market with comparison of workers hired…

Words 883 - Pages 4

Reflection Paper Ap World History

My unrelenting fascination with historical topics and events began my junior year in AP U.S. History, when my class was assigned a genealogy project. I had endured AP World History the previous year, concluding that it was useless in all respects and a disappointing waste of time. I experienced a polar shift in attitude after investigating my family genealogy. It was enthralling to me to be able to pinpoint the cultural, economic, and political climates that drove my ancestors to the United States…

Words 300 - Pages 2

Coordination: Policy and Government Essay

whole of government challenge Chapter findings The report has defined 'whole of government' in the Australian Public Service (APS) as: Whole of government denotes public service agencies working across portfolio boundaries to achieve a shared goal and an integrated government response to particular issues. Approaches can be formal and informal. They can focus on policy development, program management and service delivery. APS agencies should review their work in light of this definition to assess…

Words 6262 - Pages 26

Transcendentalism: First Originally American Style of Writing and Thinking Essay

AP English Literature and Composition Sarah Ingram and Alex Ogle Mra. Wineland 1 October 2014 Transcendentalism Transcendentalism, popular in the nineteenth century, is the literately movement that spread solely in America with the belief that knowledge can be discovered trough one’s observations and soul. Members of the transcendentalism movement questioned all religions, believing that sanctity belonged and dwelled in the individual. Such members include but are not limited to Ralph Waldo Emerson…

Words 369 - Pages 2

Synthesis Essay On Poverty In America

Morgan Bevis Mrs. Colon AP Language and Composition 3 September, 2014 Inquiry Essay Rough Draft Picture a person who dropped out of high school, has a drug addiction, and is sitting at home, not bothering to get a job. Now imagine that our government provides this person with assistance in paying for rent, electricity, and food. This is unfortunately a very common situation for many Americans. I researched ways that the government assists people living in poverty in America, and my goal in this…

Words 905 - Pages 4

Vocabulary Definitions

Vocabulary Definitions 1. annihilate (verb) - to cause to be of no effect - to destroy the substance or force of - to cause to cease to exist 2. gyrating (verb) - to revolve around a fixed point or axis - to move in spiral or spiral-like course - to oscillate or vary, especially in a repetitious pattern 3. inevitable (adj.) - impossible to avoid or prevent -invariably occurring or appearing; predictable 4. axiom (noun) - a self-evident…

Words 771 - Pages 4

Latin America In The 20th And 21st Centuries Essay

AP World History Ms. Sheets University High School   WWII was not a critical event; LA only moderately involved (Brazil aided US steel industry) New definitions:  First World: capitalist industrialized nation  Second World: communist industrialized nation  Third World: developing nations, usually less economically powerful  Latin America, despite regional variety, mostly fits the Third World definition because of its slow industrialization and lingering reliance on Western markets. …

Words 942 - Pages 4

Civil Rights Act 1865

Martha Vasquez AP U.S. History November 27, 2013 Remini-Chapter 6 1. Civil Rights Act 1866 (p.158-159) In response to the Black Codes that were being enacted in Southern state legislatures in 1865-1866, Congress decided to pass the Civil Rights Act in April 1866. The Civil Rights Act declared African Americans as citizens of the United States and gave the federal government power to intervene in state affairs to protect the rights of the citizens. The Civil Rights Act of 1866, accordingly, granted…

Words 1343 - Pages 6

Questions On Consumers And Business

expenditure S =Savings • Average propensity to consume (APC = C/Y) – proportion of total income that is spent on consumption • Average propensity to save (APS = S/Y) – proportion of total income that it not spend, saved for future consumption Because each dollar of an individual’s disposable income must be spent or saved, the APC and APS must sum to 1. Factors that influence decision about whether to spend or save: • Cultural – people in industrialised economies spend more than East Asian…

Words 2599 - Pages 11

Essay on Building Information Modelling

1. Brief introduction of the topic 1.1. Definition According to the Wikipedia (2014), Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a process of digitally represent the physical and functional characteristics of an infrastructure during its life-cycle, as a reliable basis for making decisions based on the cooperation between different stakeholders in exchanging the knowledge at different stages of the life-cycle of the infrastructure. 1.2. Background As a type of advanced construction tool, BIM plays…

Words 1193 - Pages 5