Democracy fundamentals

Terms/definitions

• Amendment: a formal change or revision made to a document, law, or agreement.

  • Amending the U.S. Constitution (Article V): The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.

• Autocracy (Oxford): a system of government by one person with absolute power

• Citizen (Cornell Law School): a person who, by place of birth, nationality of one or both parents, or naturalization is granted full rights and responsibilities as a member of a nation or political community.

  • The Fourteenth Amendment states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” 

• Constitutional crisis (Oxford): a situation in which a major political dispute cannot be clearly resolved on the basis of the particular government’s constitution or established practice.

• Democracy (Oxford): a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives.

• Due Process (Oxford): fair treatment through the normal judicial system, especially as a citizen's entitlement. 

• Nationalism (Britannica): ideology based on the idea that the individual's loyalty and devotion to the nation-state surpass other individual or group interests. 

• Oligarchy (Oxford): a small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution.

• Totalitarian (Oxford): relating to a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state.