POLS 242 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Ulster Unionist Party, Parliamentary Sovereignty, Hung Parliament

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Political Studies
• Course: POLS 242
• Professor: Oleg Kodolov

Document Summary

Democracy: a system of government in which sovereignty resides in the people. Nation: describes the attachment or identity of culture, beliefs, and values of society. State: individuals and institutions that make state policy. Representative government: a system of government with a law-making body that is partly elected by the people; only an elected assembly could make laws (legislate) and institute taxes. Westminster system of government: term used to describe the democratic british parliamentary system. Fusion of powers: a feature of parliamentary democracies, wherein the executive and legislative branches are connected. Party discipline: the ability of a parliamentary group of a political party to get its members to support the policies of their party leadership. In liberal democracies, it usually refers to the control that party leaders have over their caucus members in the legislature. Federalism: subnational units [states, provinces] are guaranteed considerable power and share sovereignty with central government.