Governments and Economies At-A-Glance Vocabulary Organizer

Name______Period_____

Unitary / One central government controls weaker states. Power is not shared between states, countries, or provinces.
Confederation / A weak or loose organization of states that agree to follow a central government. Each state makes its own laws and the central government is only concerned about defense and trade.
Federal / Power is shared by a powerful central government and states or provinces that are given considerable self-rule, usually through their own legislatures.
Democracy: / A government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving elections
Literacy / The ability to read and write.
Mixed Economy / An economy that is a combination of traditional, command, and market economies
Parliamentary Democracy / a democracy having a parliament where a prime minister is head of state
Absolute
Monarchy / Rule by one person – a monarch, usually a king or a queen – whose actions are restricted neither by written law nor by custom.
Constitutional
Monarchy / A monarchy in which the powers of the ruler are restricted to those granted under the constitution and laws of the nation.
Democratic
Republic / A nation that favors states’ rights rather than a strong national government.
Dictatorship / A government in which a single leader or party exercises absolute control over all citizens and every aspect of their lives without their free consent.
Direct democracy / Pure democracy. Democracy without representation, where those entitled to decide do so in sovereign assemblies, and where committees and executives are selected by lot rather than elected.
Representative democracy / A form of government founded on the principles of popular rule by the people’s representatives. The representatives form an independent ruling body (for an election period) charged with the responsibility of acting in the people’s interest, but not as their proxy representatives – i.e., not necessarily always according to their wishes, but with enough authority to exercise swift and resolute initiative in the face of changing circumstances.
Specialization / When countries produce only the goods that are able to be produced effectively because of resources
Oligarchy / Rule by the few, often seen as having self-serving ends. A form of government where political power effectively rests with a small elite segment of society (whether distinguished by wealth, family or military powers).
Gross Domestic Product / The total value of goods and services produced in a country in a year
OPEC / The purpose of this organization is to regulate the price and supply of oil.
Communism / A system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and a single, often authoritarian party holds power, claiming to make progress towards a higher social order in which all goods are equally shared by the people but in many cases is not
Theocracy / A nation or state in which the clergy exercise political party and in which the religious law is dominant over civil law. Ex. Iran led by the Ayatollah Khomeini
Autocratic / Having and exercising complete political power and control. Absolute power; holding all independent and arbitrary powers of government.
Command economy / The economic questions What to produce? How to produce? And for whom to produce? are determined by what the government determines is important and the prices are set by the government not by supply and demand
Standard of Living / Determined by the level of health care, education, and other services available in a country.
Presidential Democracy / system of government where an executive branch exists and presides separately from the legislature, A President is the head of the state and the chief of state
Market economy / Consumers and the producers answer the questions of production What to produce? How to produce? And for whom to produce?
What people are willing to produce and buy
Prices are set by the buyers and consumers
in what economy
Traditional economy / most of the economic decisions that are made are based on custom and on the habit of how such decisions were made in the past.
tariff / a tax placed on goods when they are brought into one country from another country.
embargo / A trade barrier in which one country announces that it will no longer trade with another country in order to isolate and cause problems with the country’s economy.
human capital / the knowledge and skills that make it possible for workers to earn a living producing goods or services.
entrepreneur / A person who sees an unmet need in society and comes up with a new business or product to meet that need.
capital goods / the factories, machines, and technology that are used as means of production
quota / a limit on trade that says that only a certain number or amount can be traded.
imports / Good brought into a country
natural resource / Raw materials that occur naturally in the earth
currency / The form of money used by different countries
export / Goods made and shipped out to other countries

Word Bank

Unitary Parliamentary democracy

export federal

Human Capital democracy

Mixed economy market economy

embargo traditional economy

quota capital goods

confederation import

theocracy entrepreneur

presidential democracy tariff

import opec

constitutional monarchy gross domestic product (gdp)

representative democracy autocratic/autocracy

literacy natural resource

communism democratic republic

oligarchy standard of living

specialization currency

command economy absolute monarchy

dictatorship direct democracy