Fall 2024 - GOVT 2305 - Week One Recap

A summary of last week's activities


Definitions

What is Government? 

. . . the body, entity, invested with the power to manage a political unit, organization or more often, a state.

What is Politics?

. . . the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of status or resources.

What types of governments exist? 

- Distribution of power
- - one (autocracy)
- - few (oligarchy)
- - many (democracy)

- Extent of governmental power
- - limited (constitutional)
- - authoritarian
- - totalitarian

Aristotle: 

- Pure
- Corrupt

What is Political Culture?

- "Political culture is the set of attitudes, beliefs, and sentiments, which give order and meaning to a political process and which provide the underlying assumptions and rules that govern behavior in the political system".

- - traditionalistic
- - individualistic
- - moralistic

For week 2:

What is a Constitution?

1. : the basic principles and laws of a nation, state, or social group that determine the powers and duties of the government and guarantee certain rights to the people in it.

2. : a written instrument containing the fundamental rules of a political or social organization.