Download Term 1: Political Systems and Historical Events Definitions and more Quizzes Political Theory in PDF only on Docsity!
Apartheid System
The South African system designed to perpetuate racial domination by whites prior to the advent of black majority rule there in the early 1990s. TERM 2
Authoritarian States
DEFINITION 2 Governments in which all legitimate power rest in one person(dictatorship) or a small group of persons (oligarchy), indivudual rights are subordinate to the wishes of the state, and all means necessary are used to maintain political power TERM 3
Autocracy
DEFINITION 3 Unchecked political power exercised by a single ruler A governmental arrangement in which those who hold power did not gain power by any regular constitutional process and are not responsible in their exercise of power to any formal set of rules. TERM 4
cells
DEFINITION 4 Small, tightly knit organizational units at the grassroots leverl of V.I. Lenin Bolshevik party. TERM 5
Central Committee
DEFINITION 5 The group that directed the Soviet Communist party between party congresses. Its members were chosen by the party leadership.
Charismatic leader
A political leader who gains legitimacy largely through the adoration of the populace. Such adoration may spring from past heroic feats (real or imagined) or from personal oratorical skills and political writings TERM 7
Collectivization
DEFINITION 7 The takeover of all lands and other means of production by the state TERM 8
Coup d'tat
DEFINITION 8 The attempted seizure of governmental pwoer by an alternate power group(often the military) that seeks to gain control of vital government institutions without any fundamental alteration in the form of government or society TERM 9
court politics
DEFINITION 9 The political process in a state where great power is vested in a single person, as in traditional monarchy or in a personal dictatorship TERM 10
crisis transitions
DEFINITION 10 Transitions from an autocratic to a democratic system that take place in the context of an economic crisis.
Hundred Flowers Campaign
A brief period in China (1956) when Mao Zedong directed that freedom of expression and individualism be allowed; it was quashed when violent criticism of the regime erupted. TERM 17
junta
DEFINITION 17 a ruling oligarchy, especially one made up of military officers. TERM 18
military government
DEFINITION 18 An autocracy in which military officers rule, perhaps with the help of appointed civilians, but without any sort of auxiliary structure such as a political party. TERM 19
oligarchy
DEFINITION 19 A form of authoritarian government in which a small group of powerful individuals wields absolute pwer TERM 20
one-party state
DEFINITION 20 A state in which the government is based on, and in turn supports, only a single political party. No other party is allowed to function in other than a token way.
Presidential government
A democratic system in which the legislature and executive exist independently and are elected independently of each other. the president takes a leading role in forming policy but must have the consent of the legislature if that policy is to be enacted. A presidential system divides power, whereas a parliamentary system unifies it. TERM 22
Procedural justice
DEFINITION 22 A concept of justice less concerned with fairness of distribution to people than with the procedures by which decisions are reached about them. TERM 23
propaganda
DEFINITION 23 the use of mass media to create whatever impression is desired among the general population and to influence thoughts and activities toward desired ends. TERM 24
purge
DEFINITION 24 the elimination ofall rivals to power through mass arrests, imprisonment, exile, and murder, often directed at former associates and their followers who have (or are imagined to have) enough influence to be a threat to the ruling elite. TERM 25
substantive justice
DEFINITION 25 a concept of justice that emphasized people receiving what they need and deserve, whether on the basis of the contributions they make to common efforts of their need for the reward or of at least approximate equality of treatment
