POL214Y5 Chapter 1: CHAPTER 1 DEFINITIONS
Document Summary
Politics: activities related to influences, making, and implementing collective decisions. Power: the ability to affect the behaviour of others, particularly by getting them to act in ways that they would not otherwise have done. State: an independent, self-governing country whose governing institutions are able to make and enforce rules that are binding on the people living within a particular territory. Government: the set of institutions that have the authority to make executive decisions; present proposed laws, taxes, and expenditures to the appropriate legislative body; and oversee the implementation of laws and policies. Legitimacy: the acceptance by the people that those in positions of authority have the right to govern. Democracy: rule by the people either directly or through the election of representatives. Direct democracy: a form of democracy in which citizens are directly involved in making the governing decisions. Representative democracy: a form of democracy in which citizens elect representatives to make governing decisions on their behalf.
