18 PART ONE • THE AMERICAN SYSTEM
authoritarianism 4
authority 3
Bill of Rights 9
capitalism 10
civil liberties 8
conservatism 13
conservative
movement 14
democracy 4
democratic republic 6direct democracy 4
elite theory 7
equality 9
government 2
initiative 4
institution 2
legislature 4
legitimacy 3
liberalism 14
libertarianism 15liberty 3
limited government 6
majoritarianism 7
majority rule 6
order 2
pluralism 8
political culture 8
political ideology 13
political socialization 8
politics 2popular sovereignty 5
property 10
recall 4
referendum 4
representative
democracy 6
republic 5
socialism 15
totalitarian regime 4
universal suffrage 6keyterms
chaptersummary
1 Politics is the process by which people decide
which members of society receive certain benefits
or privileges and which members do not. It is the
struggle over power or influence within institutions
or organizations that can grant benefits or
privileges. Government is an institution within
which decisions are made that resolve conflicts
and allocate benefits and privileges. It is the
predominant institution within society because it
has the ultimate decision-making authority.
2 Two fundamental political values are order,
which includes security against violence, and
liberty, the greatest freedom of the individual
consistent with the freedom of other individuals. To
be effective, government authority must be backed
by legitimacy.
3 Many of our terms for describing forms of
government came from the ancient Greeks. In a
direct democracy, such as that of ancient Athens,
the people themselves make the important political
decisions. The United States is a democraticrepublic—also called a representative democracy—in
which the people elect representatives to make the
decisions.
4 Theories of American democracy include
majoritarianism, in which the government does
what the majority wants; elite theory, in which
the real power lies with one or more elites; and
pluralism, in which organized interest groups
contend for power.
5 Fundamental American values include liberty,
order, equality, and property. Not all of these values
are fully compatible. The value of order often
competes with civil liberties, and economic equality
competes with property rights.
6 Popular political ideologies can be arranged on a
continuum from left (liberal) to right (conservative).
We can also analyze economic liberalism and
conservatism separately from cultural liberalism
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