1. Honors English I Vocabulary
Lesson 18: Governing and authority

2. Autonomy
(noun)Independence; the quality or condition of being self-governing.
Example: Perhaps the most important difference between elementary and secondary school students is the greater amount of autonomy given to the latter.

3. despot
(noun)
a. A ruler having absolute power or authority.
b. A person who exercises power oppressively; a tyrant.
Example: After Napoleon declared himself Emperor of France in 1804, he ruled as a despot, answerable to no one but himself.

4. Feudal
(adjective)
a. Characteristic of the social and economic system of medieval Western Europe
b. Imposing, impressive, or imperious in the manner of a medieval lord
Example: Feudal societies were based upon contractual obligations between lords and their vassals.

5. hegemony
(noun)
a. Dominion or control, particularly of one country over others.
b. Dominant influence or authority
Example: In the sixteenth century, Spain sought hegemony over all the new world.

6. Hierarchy
(noun) An order of persons or entities classified according to authority, rank, or importance.
Example: The hierarchy of an American corporation would include chief executive and other senior officers.

7. Prerogative
(noun)
a. A right or privilege, particularly a hereditary or official one, held by a person or group.
Example: The President has the prerogative of vetoing bills passed by Congress.

8. Regime (noun) A government or any other administrative organ in power
Example: Many regimes in South America have been unstable.

9. Sovereign (noun) The chief state, usually in a monarchy. (adjective)
a. Self-governing; independent
b. Having the highest rank or supreme power
Example: Tsar Nikolai II was the last sovereign in Russia

10. Totalitarian
(adjective) Designating a form of government in which one person or party has absolute power to the exclusion of any opposition
Example: Communist nations tend to be totalitarian.

11. Usurp
(trans. verb) To seize and retain the rights, power, property, or position of another without legal authority.
Example: The barbarian hordes swept through Rome in the fifth century to usurp the territory of the Roman citizenry.