IPOL TERMS
GENERAL TERMS
• Normative: The prescription of values and standards of conduct, what ‘should be’ rather than
what ‘is’.
• Empirical: Based on observation and experiment- derived from data and experience.
• Positivism: The theory that social and all forms of enquiry should adhere strictly to the methods
of the natural sciences.
• Behavioralism: The belief that social theories should be constructed only on the basis of
observable behavior, providing quantifiable data for research.
• Postmodernism: Highlights the shift away from societies structured by industrialization and
class solidarity to increasingly fragmented and pluralistic ‘information’ societies. Individuals are
transformed from producers to consumers and individualism replaces class, religious and ethnic
loyalties. Postmodernists argue that there is no such thing as certainty- absolute/ universal truth
must be discarded as an arrogant pretense.
• Post-positivism: An approach to knowledge that questions the idea of an ‘objective’ reality-
people conceive/ construct the world in which they live.
• Rationalism: The belief that the world can be understood and explained through the exercise of
human reason.
• Pragmatism: A theory or practice that places primary emphasis on practical circumstances and
goals.
• Nanny state: A state with extensive social responsibilities (welfare programs etc.).
• Pigmentocracy: A society in which skin color determines socio-economic and/or political status.
• Identity politics: Any politics based on shared characteristics that organize groups and
motivates their actions. Explicit and implicit choice.
• Intersectionality: The analytical framework that illuminates how racial, gendered, and other
kinds of disadvantage reinforce each other. Many of our identities can be sources of multiple
and overlapping oppressions or privileges. This concept was pioneered by Black women.
• Idealism: A view of politics that emphasizes the importance of morality and ideals; philosophical
idealism implies that ideas are more ‘real’ than the material world.
• Civil society: A private sphere of autonomous groups and associations independent from state
or public authority.
,• Sovereignty: the principle of absolute and unlimited power.
o Legal sovereignty refers to supreme legal authority, the ‘right’ to command compliance.
o Political sovereignty refers to absolute political power, the ‘ability’ to command
compliance.
o Internal sovereignty is the notion of supreme power/authority within the state.
o External sovereignty relates to a state’s place in the international order and its capacity
to act as an independent and autonomous entity.
• Pluralism: Belief/ commitment to diversity or multiplicity. Suggests that diversity is
healthy/desirable- safeguards individual liberty and promotes debate and understanding.
o Pluralism may be used to denote:
▪ The existence of party competition (political pluralism)
▪ A multiplicity of moral values (ethical pluralism)
▪ A variety of cultural norms (cultural pluralism).
• Neopluralism: Neopluralism is a style of social theorizing that remains faithful to pluralist values
while recognizing the need to revise or update classical pluralism.
o It takes account of modernizing trends- postindustrial society-
o capitalism is preferred to socialism- free-market economic doctrines are usually
regarded as obsolete.
o Western democracies are seen as ‘deformed polyarchies’, in which major corporations
exert disproportionate influence.
• Competition state: A state which pursues strategies to ensure long-term competitiveness in a
globalized economy.
• Tiger economies: Fast-growing and export-orientated economies modelled on Japan: for
example, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore.
• Welfare state: A state that takes primary responsibility for the social welfare of its citizens,
discharged through a range of social security, health, education and other services.
• Collectivization: The abolition of private property in favor of a system of common or public
ownership.
• Statism: The belief that state intervention is the most appropriate means of resolving political
• problems, or bringing about economic and social development. Statism is most clearly reflected
in government policies that regulate and control economic life
,• Political globalization: The growing importance of international bodies and organizations, and
of transnational political forces generally.
• Volksgeist: (German) Literally, the spirit of the people; the organic identity of a people reflected
in their culture and, particularly, their language.
• Culturalism: The belief that human beings are culturally defined creatures, culture being the
universal basis for personal and social identity.
• National self-determination: The principle that the nation is a sovereign entity; self-
determination implies both national independence and democratic rule.
• Internationalism: Theory of politics based on transnational or global cooperation- rooted in
universalist assumptions about human nature at odds with political nationalism.
o Liberal internationalism- based on individualism reflected in the assumption that
human rights have a ‘higher’ status than claims based on national sovereignty.
o Socialist internationalism: belief in international class solidarity, underpinned by
assumptions about a common humanity.
• Universalism: The theory that there is a common core to human identity shared by people
everywhere.
• Neo-colonialism: an economic phenomenon based on the export of capital from an advanced
country to a less developed one (for example, so-called US ‘dollar imperialism’ in Latin America).
• Political equality: Core principle of democracy- an equal distribution of political power and
influence- each individual member carries the same weight.
o Liberal-democratic theory: Equal distribution of political rights (right to vote, stand to
election etc.).
o Socialist theory: Political influence is linked to factors such as the control of economic
resources, access to means of mass communication.
• Totalitarian democracy: An absolute dictatorship that masquerades as a democracy, typically
based on the leader’s claim to a monopoly of ideological wisdom.
• General will: The genuine interests of a collective body, equivalent to the common good; the
will of all, provided each person acts selflessly.
• Deliberative democracy: A form of democracy that emphasizes the need for reasoned
discussion and debate to help to formulate legitimate political outcomes.
, • Parliamentary democracy: form of democratic rule that operates through a popularly elected
deliberative assembly, which mediates between government and the people. Responsible and
representative government. Balances popular participation against elite rule.
• Elitism: Minority in whose hands power, wealth or privilege is concentrated. Elitism is a belief in,
or practice of, rule by an elite or minority.
o Normative elitism: political power should be vested in the hands of a wise/enlightened
minority.
o Classical elitism: claims to be empirical, sees elite rule as an unchangeable fact of social
existence.
o Modern elitism: empirical and more critical/discriminating about the causes of elite rule.
• Eurocommunism: Form of deradicalized communism that attempted to blend Marxism with
liberal-democratic principles.
• Government gridlock: Paralysis resulting from institutional rivalry within government, or the
attempt to respond to conflicting public demands.
• Ethnocentrism: The application of values and theories drawn from one’s own culture to other
groups and peoples; ethnocentrism implies bias or distortion
• Westminster model: A system of government in which the executive is drawn from, and (in
theory) accountable to, the assembly or parliament.
• Transition countries: Former Soviet Bloc countries that are in the process of transition from
central planning to market capitalism.
• Majoritarianism: refers to a rule of decision-making in which the preferences of the majority
overrule those of the minority. The belief that majority views should prevail over minority views
with the possible implication that the defeated minority is morally obliged to come into line with
views of the majority.
• Atomism: The tendency for society to be made up of a collection of self-interested and largely
self-sufficient individuals, operating as separate atoms.
• Fordism: Fordism refers to the large-scale mass-production methods pioneered by Henry Ford in
Detroit in the USA. These used mechanization and highly regimented production-line labor
processes to produce standardized, relatively cheap products. Fordist societies were structured
largely by solidaristic class loyalties.
• Post-Fordism: emerged as the result of the introduction of more flexible microelectronics-based
machinery that gave individual workers greater autonomy and made possible innovations such
