Key Terms Flashcards
(26 cards)
Written Constitution
A single authoritative document that defines the duties, powers and functions of government and so constitutes ‘higher’ law
Bill of Rights
A constitutional document that specifies the rights and freedoms of the individual and so defines the relationship between the state and it’s citizens
Rule of Law
The principle that all conduct and behaviour, of private citizens and govt official, should conform to a framework of law
Separations of power
The principle that legislative, executive and judicial power should be separated through the construction of three independent branches of government
Federalism
A territorial distribution of power based on the sharing of sovereignty between central (usually national) bodies and regional or provincial ones.
Civil Liberty
The private sphere of existance, belonging to the citizen not to the state; freedom from govt
Civil Society
A realm of autonomous associations and groups, formed by private citizens and enjoying independence from the government; civil society includes businesses, clubs families and so on
Democracy
Rule by the people; democracy implies both popular participation and government in the public interest, and can take a wide variety of forms
State of Nature
A pre-political society characterised by unrestrained freedom and the absence of established authority
Social Contract
A (hypothetical) agreement amongst individuals through which they form a state in order to escape from the disorder and chaos of the ‘state of nature’
State
An association that establishes sovereign power within a defined territorial area, usually possessing a monopoly of coercive power
Goverment
The machinery through which collective decisions are made on behalf of the state, usually compromising a legislature, executive and judiciary
Law
Established and public rules of social conduct, backed up by the machinery of the state the police, courts and prison
Pluralism
A belief in diversity or choice, or the theory that political power is or should be widely and evenly dispersed
Divine Right
The doctrine that earthly rulers are chosen by God and thus widely unchangeable authority; divine right is a defense for monarchical absolutism
Classical Liberalism
A tradition within liberalism that seeks to maximise the realm of undos trained individual action, typically by establishing a minimal state and a reliance on market economics
Modern Liberalism
A tradition within liberalism that provides (in contrast to classical liberalism) a qualified endorsement for social and economic intervention as a means of promoting personal development
Liberal Democracy
A democracy based on the recognition of individual rights and freedoms, in which decisions from direct or representative processes prevail in many policy areas
Positive Freedom
cl - ‘the positive sense of the word liberty derives from the wish on the part of the individual to be his own master’ Berlin
ml - green rejected the classical view of society, he saw a society as ‘organic’ and its citizens interdependent as well as independent. we can achieve personal satisfaction by doing good for others as well as ourselves
Negative Freedom
‘Liberty in this negative sense is simply the area within which a man can act unobstructed by others’ - Isaiah Berlin
Natural Rights
developed in the 17th and 18th century, it asserts that all individuals are born with rights that are granted by God or nature. ‘Life,Liberty and Happiness’ Hobbes (not a liberal) is viewed as the first major natural theorist of natural rights.Locke and Paine also contributed to these theories
Rationalism
A new mode of thinking associated with the Enlightenment. It proposes that there are rational explanations for all phenomena
Laissez-faire
A form of government that interferes to a minimum
Pluralism
A society in which there is tolerance towards many different beliefs, movements and faiths.
A political system in which different political parties and pressure groups are free to operate and have access to decision-making
