Government of Canada

. politics: making binding decisions about who gets what, when & how
. state: political unit of an entire territory. Consists of terr., pop., and gov't
. government: consists of authoritative structures of the political system
. nation: politically conscious, mobilized group of people w/ sense territory
. sovereign: final authority rests w/ national gov't
. citizen: formal member of a state
. ethnicity: subjective characteristic of groups of people sharing customs
. federation: # of territorial units and central gov't make decisions
. unitary system: power & authority centralized in one gov't
. law: special body of rules by gov't backed with threat of state force
. authority: gov't power to make binding decisions & issue commands
. democratic political system: reconciles competing interests w/ elections
Includes: free elections, voting rights, >1 party, freedom speech, rule of law
. majority principle: policy decisions made by majority or elected body
. authoritarian political system: imposes one dominant interest on all others
. legitimacy: when citizens accept that the gov't can make decisions for them
. policies: broadly based patterns of gov't action
. rule of law: guarantee that state's actions will be governed by law
. constitutional monarchy: monarch is head of state, laws restrict the state
. parliamentary system of government: parliament w/ 2 houses, elected lower house (house of commons) & appointed upper house (senate) & gov. gen. to represent queen
. representative democracy: elected officials make decisions w/ force of law
. republic: no monarch, gov't of state done by people or elected official
. responsible government: ministers responsible to House, which answers to the people
. state institution: related to constitution, incl: exec, legis, bureau, courts, cops, prisons
. debt: accumulation of deficits since 1867
. deficit: amount by gov't spending exceeds revenues
. budget:

M.P. = Member of Parliament – federal
MNA =... [continues]

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