Copy of `Political Science - Politics Glossary`

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Political Science - Politics Glossary Category: Government and organisations > Politics Date & country: 17/11/2008, USA Words: 290

judicial review
The power of the courts to declare legislation unconstitutional (ultra vires).

judicial activism
The willingness and inclination of judges to overturn legislation or executive action.

item veto
The power of an American president or state governor to veto particular components of a bill rather than reject the entire legislation.

intervention
In a court case, the presentation of a view on the law without representing one of the parties in the litigation.

international relations
An area of political study concerned with the interaction of independent states.

international regimes
The pattern of regular cooperation governed by implicit and explicit expectations between two or more states.

international order
The combination of major actors, rules, mechanisms and understandings to manage the co-existence and interdependence of states.

international law
The body of rules governing the relationships of states with each other.

International Monetary Fund
An international organization created to prevent another collapse in the world monetary system through the stabilization of national currencies throughout the world.

interest party
A political party with a single interest or purpose, such as the Green Party.

interest (pressure) group
Organizations whose members act together to influence public policy in order to promote their common interest.

institutional group
Groups which are closely associated with the government and act internally to influence public decisions.

initiative
The initiation of legislative action on a particular issue by way of a voters' petition.

informal institutions
Institutions which are an integral part of the political process, but which are not established by a constitution.

influence
A form of power based on the ability to persuade others to share in a desired objective.

ideology
A system of beliefs and values that explains society and prescribes the role of government.

ideological party
A type of political party which emphasizes ideological purity over the attainment of power.

human rights
Rights thought to belong to all people simply because they are human beings.

head of state
An individual who represents the state but does not exercise political power.

head of government
The person in effective charge of the executive branch of government; the prime minister in a parliamentary system.

gerrymander
Manipulating constituency boundaries for partisan election purposes. government. A specialized group of individuals, institutions and agencies which make and enforce public decisions.

free-market environmentalism
The view that environmental problems are best solved by property rights and markets.

functions
The special activity or purpose structures serve in the political process; for example interest groups to articulate interests.

free riders
Those who enjoy a collective good without helping to pay for it.

free vote
A legislative vote in which members are not required to toe the party line.

fragment theory
A theory (proposed by Louis Hartz) which argues that colonial societies such as Canada originated as fragments of the larger European society and that these societies have remained marked throughout their history by the conditions of their origin.

formal–legal institutions
Institutions which are explicitly created by a constitution.

feminism
The belief that society is disadvantageous to women, systematically depriving them of individual choice, political power, economic opportunity and intellectual recognition.

First International
A loose association of socialist parties and labour unions in Western Europe, organized in 1864.

federalism
A system of government in which sovereignty is divided between a central government and several provincial or state governments.

fascism
An extreme form of nationalism that played on fears of communism and rejected individual freedom, liberal individualism, democracy, and limitations on the state.

extractive laws
Laws designed to collect taxes from citizens to pay for governing society.

faction
An association of individuals organized for the purpose of influencing government actions favourable to their interests, now known as interest groups.

executive
A small group of elected officials who direct the policy process, and oversee the vast array of departments and agencies of government.

ethnic group
A group whose common identity is based on racial, national, or religious association.

equality rights
A section of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (s. 15) that prohibits governments from discriminating against certain categories of people.

equality of right
Application of the law in the same way to all.

equality of result
The equalization of outcomes of social and economic processes.

equality of opportunity
The equalization of life chances for all individuals in society, regardless of economic position.

episteme
Greek word for knowledge that can be demonstrated by logical argument from first principles.

elite
A small group of people with a disproportionate amount of public decision-making power.

empirical
Political analysis based on factual and observable data in contrast to thoughts or ideas.

Electoral College
The body which formally chooses the president of the United States.

downsizing
Reduction of the size and scope of government.

doxa
Greek word for an opinion that may be at least partly true but cannot be fully expounded.

distributive laws
Laws designed to distribute public goods and services to individuals in society.

discretion
The flexibility afforded government to decide something within the broader framework of rules.

disallowance
A power given to the federal government in the Constitution Act, 1867, under which the cabinet can nullify any provincial law, even though it has received royal assent from the lieutenant-governor of the province.

direct democracy
A system of government based on public decisions made by citizens meeting in an assembly or voting by ballot.

diplomacy
A system of formal, regularized communication that allows states to peacefully conduct their business with each other.

dictatorship of the proletariat
A revolutionary seizure of power by the 'vanguard' of society, the communist party, which then rules in the name of the working class.

despotism
An individual ruling through fear without regard to law and not answerable to the people.

dictator
In Roman Law, an appointed individual given exceptional powers in times of crisis.

devolution
A system of government in which the sovereign central government devolves (delegates) power to regional governments.

department of finance
The government department that has overall responsibility for the government's finances and its role in the economy.

deputy minister
The Canadian public servant who heads each government department, manages the department, and advises the minister.

deregulation
A government policy designed to remove regulations on market activity.

delegate
A representative role in which the individual subordinates his/her views to those of their constituents.

democratic centralism
The concentration of power in the leadership of the communist party, which in theory acts in the interests of the people.

debit
Any transaction which sends money out of the country (e.g. payments for the import of goods).

deficit
Occurs when the value of a state's imports is more than the value of its exports.

deep ecology
A form of environmentalism holding that nature and the natural order should be valued over individual human happiness.

customary law
Rules of conduct developed over time and enforceable in court.

current accounts surplus
A state selling more to the world than it is buying.

custom
A generally accepted practice or behaviour developed over time.

Crown corporation
Corporations owned by the government that assume a structure similar to a private company and that operate semi-independently of the cabinet.

credit
Any transaction which brings money into the country (e.g. payments for the export of goods).

corporatism
The organization of liberal democracies in such a way that the state is the dominant force in society and the activities of all interests in society are subordinate to that force.

coup d`état
A forceful and unconstitutional change of government, often by a faction within the military or the ruling party.

convention
A practice or custom followed in government although not explicitly written in the constitution or in legislation.

contracting out
The hiring of private organizations to provide public services.

constructive vote of confidence
A system in which the majority in the lower house can bring down the government, but not until that majority approves another government (e.g. in Germany).

constitutionalism
The belief that governments will defer to the rules and principles enshrined in a constitution and uphold the rule of law.

constitution
The fundamental rules and principles by which a state is organized.

constituency
A electoral district with a body of electors who vote for a representative in an elected assembly.

consociationalism
A form of democracy in which harmony in segmented societies is maintained through the distinctive roles of elites and the autonomy of organized interests.

conservatism
A political ideology generally characterized by a belief in individualism and minimal government intervention in the economy and society; also a belief in the virtue of the status quo and general acceptance of traditional morality.

conservationism
The attempt to manage natural resources in order to maximize benefits over a long period of time.

confidence
Support for the government by the majority of the members of parliament.

consent of the governed
People's acceptance of the form of government under which they live.

confederation
A federal system of government in which sovereign constituent governments create a central government but balance of power remains with constituent governments.

communism
A political ideology characterized by a belief in eliminating exploitation through public ownership and central planning of the economy.

comparative politics
An area of political study concerned with the relative similarities and differences of political systems.

communications (mass) media
A general term for all modern means of conveying information.

common law
The accumulation of judicial precedents as the basis for court decisions.

Cominform
'Communist Information Bureau'; an international communist organization after World War II.

collective defence
An alliance among states against external threats.

collective security
A commitment by a number of states to join in an alliance against member states that threaten peace.

collective (public) goods
Goods and services enjoyed in common and not divisible among individuals.

coercion
A form of power based on forced compliance through fear and intimidation.

code civil
The unique system of civil law used in Quebec.

code of law
A comprehensive set of interrelated legal rules.

coalition
An alliance between two or more political units in response to opposing forces.

coalition government
A parliamentary government in which the cabinet is composed of members of more than one party.

classical liberalism
A liberal ideology entailing a minimal role for government in order to maximize individual freedom.

citizenship
Legal membership in a community known as a nation-state.

checks and balances
A system of government in which power is divided between the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, and these powers check and balance each other.

caucus
A meeting of legislators of any one party to discuss parliamentary strategy and party policy.

charismatic authority
Authority based on the admiration of personal qualities of an individual.

cabinet solidarity
A convention that all cabinet ministers publicly support whatever decisions the cabinet has taken, regardless of their personal views.