Progress Exam Review
Part 1 – Short Notes:
Feminism A belief in the full equality of men and women and the insistence that all
barriers to such equality be removed.
Sovereignty The final or ultimate power over a population and a piece of territory,
commonly claimed by the government of a state but ultimately
sanctioned by the international system of states. In other contexts,
sovereignty can be said to reside in the people or in parliament; in all
cases, however, it has probably been eroded by global forces.
Political Anonymity
Political Ideology A reasonable consistent system of political beliefs that aspires to explain
the world, to justify certain power relationships, and to maintain or
transform existing institutions; a fairly coherent set of beliefs that not
only explains what may be wrong with society, but also provides a vision
of what society should be like.
e.g liberalism
Legitimacy A measure of the degree to which citizens accept and tolerate the
actions and decisions of social and political actors such as governments,
states, international organizations, and civil society groups themselves,
usually based on the notion that the decision-makers have a right to such
power.
Collective responsibility In Westminster parliamentary systems, members of the political
executive are collectively responsible to parliament for government
policy and for the overall administrative performance of the government.
The Crown
Checks and Balances A constitutional system of power-sharing under which powers are
assigned to different branches of government (especially executive,
legislative, and judicial) so as to enable each branch to curb the unilateral
exercise of power by the others.
Referendum A mechanism that provides citizens with the ability to vote directly on
pieces of legislation or constitutional changes.
Party Discipline The practice that all members in a legislature belonging to the same
political party should normally vote the same way, in accordance with
their party’s stand on the issue at hand.
Nation-state
Coalition Government A government that occurs when two or more parties hold seats in
cabinet supported by a combination of parties that forms a majority in
the legislature.
Authority The imposition of one’s will on another by reason of legitimacy—because
the subject regards the decision-maker as having a right to make such a
binding decision.
Systems Approach
