Module 13 Vocabulary

Part 1-Vocabulary

1. Bicameral- Having two legislative chambers or houses. 2. Coalition- An organization of people or countries involved in a pact or treaty (the Constitution). 3. Consensus- An agreement in the judgment or opinion for the Constitution reached by a group of people, or countries, as a whole. 4. Democracy- A political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them. 5. Divided government- One party controls the White House and another party controls one or both houses of the United States Congress. 6. Entitlement- A guarantee to access of benefits granted by a law or contract. 7. Federal- A synonym for national, especially when referring
“First past the post”- A British analogy which Robert Dahl uses to refer to the part of the electoral system in which a candidate competing against another candidate only needs at least one more vote than his or her opponent in order to win. 9. Founding Fathers- The delegates who helped format and create the Constitution but were not all at the Convention of 1787. 10. Framers- Robert Dahl uses this instead of the Founding Fathers to refer to the delegates that discussed the formation of the Constitution at the Convention of 1787. 11. Gerrymandering- When candidates deliberately shape a district in a way to include voters who are in favor of themselves or their party and exclude those who are not in favor. 12. Liberty- Freedom of choice or political independence. 13. Logrolling- The act of exchanging favors for mutual gain, such as trading of influence or votes among legislative members to obtain passage of certain
Monarchy- A desired form of government by the Framers in which supreme power is given to an individual for life or until he resigns. 17. Plurality- Also known as the relative majority, it is a one-vote margin, as Robert Dahl explains. Plurality applies for the part of the electoral systems in which a candidate obtains office by getting at least one more vote (plurality) than anyone else that is running. 18. Popular vote- Consists of a society’s votes for their desired candidate in an election. 19. Proportional representation- The most popular electoral system alternative to a “winner take all” kind of election, this is when there has to be a strong relation between the amount of votes a party has and the amount of parliamentary seats a party wins in order for them to take office. 20. Referendum- A vote used to determine whether to keep, alter, or make void a law or constitutional amendment in which an entire electorate marks a ballot to either accept or reject a proposal. 21. Republic- A form of government whose head of state is not a monarch, but usually a president, and citizens are able to vote on their leader and at least part of the people have an impact on their