Terminology and concepts in
political science
Class 1: Introduction
Politics, according The activity through which human beings attempt to improve their lives
to Aristotle and create the Good Society. The ‘master science’.
Politics in the The activity through which people make, preserve and amend the
broadest sense general rules under which they live.
The making, preserving and amending of general social rules.
Conflict Competition between opposing forces, reflecting a diversity of opinions,
preferences, needs or interests.
Cooperation Working together; achieving goals through collective action.
Arena Location.
Process Mechanism.
Polis (Gr.) City-state; classically understood to imply the highest or most desirable
form of social organization.
Authority Legitimate power. The right to influence the behaviour of others.
Based on an acknowledged duty to obey, rather than on any form of
coercion or manipulation.
↔ power: the ability to influence the behaviour of others.
Polity A society organized through the exercise of political authority; for
Aristotle, rule by the many in the interests of all.
Anti-politics Disillusionment with formal or established political processes, reflected
in non-participation, support for anti-system parties, or the use of direct
action.
Power to The ability to achieve a desired outcome.
Power over The ability to influence the behaviour of others in a manner not of their
choosing.
Civil society Institutions that are ‘private’, in that they are independent from
government and organized by individuals in pursuit of their own ends.
A realm of autonomous groups and associations.
Oligarchy A small group of people having control over a country or organisation.
Idiosyncrasy A mode of behaviour or way of thought peculiar to an individual.
Consensus A broad agreement, the terms of which are accepted by a wide range of
individuals or groups.
An agreement about fundamental or underlying principles. It permits
disagreement on matters of emphasis or detail.
Compromise An agreement or settlement of a dispute that is reached by each side
making concessions.
Conciliation Mediation between two disputing people or groups.
Negotiation A discussion reaching an agreement.
Politics, according The activity by which differing interests within a given unit of rule are
to Crick conciliated by giving them a share in power to their importance to the
welfare and the survival of the whole community.
3 faces of power - Power as decision-making
- Power as agenda setting
- Power as thought control
,Power as decision- Power as conscious actions that in some way influence the content of
making decisions.
Power as agenda Power as the ability to set or control the political agenda, thereby
setting preventing issues or proposals from being aired in the first place.
Power as thought Power as the ability to influence another by shaping what they think,
control want or need.
Oppression Prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or exercise of authority.
Subjugation The action of bringing someone or something under domination or
control. (oppression)
Science A field of study that aims to develop reliable explanations of
phenomena through repeatable experiments, observation and
deduction.
Normative The prescription of values and standards of conduct; what ‘should be’
rather than what ‘is’.
Objective External to the observer, demonstrable; untainted by feelings, values or
bias.
Political Focused on ethical, prescriptive or normative questions, reflecting a
philosophy concern with what ‘should’, ‘ought’ or ‘must’ be brought about, rather
than what ‘is’.
Traditional Focused on the analytical study of ideas and doctrines that have been
approach to central to political thought.
politics
Empirical Based on observation and experiment; empirical knowledge is derived
from sense data and experience.
Positivism The theory that social, and indeed all forms of, enquiry should adhere
strictly to the methods of the natural sciences.
Behaviouralism The belief that social theories should be constructed only on the basis
of observable behaviour, providing quantifiable data for research.
Bias Sympathies or prejudices that (often unconsciously) affect human
judgement.
Formal politcal Analysis of politics, focused on the rationally self-interested behaviour
theory/rational- of the individuals involved.?
choice Providing insight into the actions of voters, lobbyists, bureaucrats and
theory/public- politicians, as well as into the behaviour of states within the
choice international system.
theory/political Resulted in institutional public-choice theory.
economy
Institutional A form of political analysis.
public-choice
theory
Institution A well-established body with a formal role and status.
More broadly: a set of rules that ensure regular and predictable
behaviour, the ‘rules of the game’.
New While remaining faithful to the core institutionalist belief that
institutionalism ‘institutions matter’, in the sense that political structures are thought to
shape political behaviour, new institutionalism has revised our
understanding of what constitutes an ‘institution’ in a number of
respects.
Constructivism An approach to analysis based on the belief that there is no objective
social or political reality independent of our understanding of it.
Post-positivism An approach to knowledge that questions the idea of an ‘objective’
, reality, emphasizing instead the extent to which people conceive, or
‘construct’ the world in which they live.
Postmodernism A shift away from societies structured by industrialization and class
solidarity, to increasingly fragmented and pluralistic ‘information’
societies.
Individuals are transformed from producers to consumers.
Individualism replaces class, religious and ethnic loyalties.
There is no such thing as certainty; the idea of absolute and universal
truth must be discarded as an arrogant pretence.
Discourse Human interaction, especially communication.
Discourse may disclose or illustrate power relations.
Deconstruction A close reading of philosophical or other texts with an eye to their
various blind spots and/or contradictions.
Concept Tool with which we think, criticize, argue, explain, analyse.
Short phrase or word referring to a general idea.
Ideal type A mental construct in which an attempt is made to draw out meaning
from an otherwise almost infinitely complex reality through the
presentation of a logical extreme.
A common mental construct in the social sciences derived from
observable reality although not confirming to it in detail because of
deliberate simplification and exaggeration.
Model A theoretical representation of empirical data that aims to advance
understanding by highlighting significant relationships and interactions.
Theory A systematic explanation of empirical data, usually (unlike a hypothesis)
presented as reliable knowledge.
Paradigm A pattern or model that highlight relevant features of a particular
phenomenon.
An intellectual framework comprising interrelated values, theories and
assumptions, within which the search for knowledge is conducted
(Kuhn).
Domestic politics Concerned with the state’s role in maintaining order and carrying our
regulation within its own borders.
International Concerned with relations between or among states.
politics
Sovereignty The authority of a state to govern itself or another state.
Transnational Configuration, which may apply to events, people, groups or
organizations, that takes little or no account of national governments or
state borders.
Bilateral Having or relating to 2 sides, affecting both sides.
Involving 2 parties, esp. countries.
Power The ability to make other people do what they do not want to do.
Power is the ability to apply force.
Class 2: Nation states
State The organisation that issues and enforces binding rules for the people
within a territory.
Territory Terrain or geographical area.
Country An imprecise synonym or short-hand term for state or nation-state.
~ territory?
(a) People A group of people whose common consciousness and identity makes
, them a collective entity.
Citizen A legally recognised member or subject of a state (or commonwealth)
with all the individual rights and duties of that state.
Denizen A foreigner allowed certain rights in their adopted country.
Sovereignty The highest power that gives the state freedom of action within its own
territory.
Government A government has a monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force
within a state. Securing internal and external sovereignty of the state
are major tasks of any government.
Nation-state A state based on the acceptance of a common culture, a common
history and a common fate irrespective of whatever political, social and
economic differences may exist between the members of the nation-
state.
Secession The action of withdrawing formally from membership or a federation or
body, especially a political state.
Welfare states Democracies that accept responsibility for well-being of all their
citizens, particularly by redistributing resources and providing goods
and services.
Sphere of A country or area in which another country has power to affect
influence developments although it has no formal authority.
Failed state A country that has lost control of some of its territory and government
authority and is unable to fulfil the basic functions of a sovereign state.
Normative Theory about how the world should be or ought to be.
political theory
Empirical political Theory that tries to understand by examining the evidence, how the
theory political world actually works and why it works that way.
Globalisation The growing interdependencies and interconnectedness of the world
that reduces the autonomy of individual states and the importance of
boundaries between them.
NGOs Non-profit, private and non-violent organisations that are independent
of government but seek to influence or control public policy without
actually seeking government office.
Jurisdiction The official power to make legal decisions and judgements.
Class 3: Democracy
Democracy A political system in which government is based on a fair and open
mandate from all qualified citizens of a state.
< Gr. Demokratia: power (krato)by the people (demo)
Features of
democratic rule??
Democratization The process by which states build the institutions and processes needed
to become stable democracies.
In 4 stages:
1. Liberalization (of an authoritarian political regime)
2. Transition (to democracy (fraught and lengthy))
3. Consolidation (accepting of democracy, democracy becoming
habitual)
4. Deepening (of democracy)
Direct democracy A system of government in which all members of the community take
part in making the decision that affect the community.
