North Rhine-Westphalia Abitur Social Sciences - independent foundations flashcards

30 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Human dignity

A constitutional commitment to respecting each person as a subject with inherent worth, constraining state power and informing rights protection.

Proportionality

A structured evaluation of a legitimate aim, suitable means, necessity and the balance between burdens and public purposes.

Bundestag

The elected German federal parliament, responsible for legislation, budget decisions, executive scrutiny and electing the federal chancellor under constitutional procedures.

Bundesrat

The federal institution composed of members of German Land governments, participating in federal legislation through constitutionally differentiated procedures.

Free mandate

The constitutional independence of a representative from binding orders and instructions, compatible with political cooperation and public accountability.

Interest group

An organization aggregating particular interests and seeking influence through advocacy, expertise or mobilization without necessarily competing to form government.

European Council

The EU institution of national heads of state or government that sets broad political direction, distinct from the ministerial Council.

Directive

An EU legal act binding addressed states as to a result, generally requiring national implementation while allowing choice of form and methods.

Income

A flow of resources received over a specified period, distinguished from assets and liabilities measured at a particular time.

Wealth

A stock of assets less liabilities at a specified date, requiring separate measurement from periodic earnings or disposable income.

Socialization

The lifelong interaction through which people acquire and reinterpret norms, roles, identities and expectations within changing social environments.

Gini coefficient

A summary distribution measure whose interpretation depends on the defined resource, population and scale, rather than directly counting people in poverty.

Relative poverty

Deprivation measured against a specified society-relative benchmark, which can change when the reference distribution changes even without identical absolute income changes.

Opportunity cost

The value of the next-best alternative forgone when choosing an action, not the sum of every rejected possibility.

Automatic stabilizer

A tax or transfer mechanism whose existing rules change receipts or payments with economic conditions without a new discretionary decision.

Comparative advantage

A lower opportunity cost in a specified activity, allowing potential gains from specialization even without an absolute productivity advantage.

Ecological fallacy

An unsupported inference about individuals from an aggregate relationship, such as assuming every resident shares a neighborhood average or motive.

Percentage point

The arithmetic difference between two percentages, distinct from their relative percentage change calculated against a stated starting value.

Selection bias

A systematic difference between those observed and the target population that can distort an inference even when the observed sample is large.

Confounder

A variable related to both a proposed explanatory factor and an outcome, potentially producing a misleading association if not addressed.

Counterfactual

The outcome that would have occurred under a different action or exposure, which cannot simply be read from a single observed before-and-after change.

Policy instrument

A concrete means of public action, such as information, regulation, spending or a price incentive, distinguished from the goal it seeks.

Policy implementation

The process through which adopted decisions become practical action, involving resources, interpretation, incentives and possible gaps between design and delivery.

Stakeholder analysis

Identification of affected actors, their interests, resources and responsibilities, without assuming that every interest has identical authority or legal standing.

Normative claim

A statement about what ought to be valued or done, requiring an explicit evaluative standard rather than empirical verification alone.

Empirical claim

A statement concerning observable conditions or relationships that can be assessed against appropriately gathered evidence and a stated method.

Input legitimacy

An account of justified authority emphasizing participation, representation and the procedures through which citizens can influence public decisions.

Output legitimacy

An account of justified authority emphasizing effective problem-solving and public outcomes, which does not by itself settle participation or rights concerns.

Framing

The selective organization and presentation of an issue that makes certain interpretations salient without necessarily changing every underlying factual observation.

Policy feedback

The process through which a policy’s results and experiences alter interests, public interpretations or later decisions, challenging a purely linear policy-cycle picture.