Glossary For Politics

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Democracy- a system of government by

the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through

elected representatives.

Legitimacy- conformity to the law or

to rules

Representation- the action of

speaking or acting on behalf of someone or the state of being so represented.

Direct Democracy- (pure democracy) is a form of democracy in which

people decide (e.g. vote on, form consensus on) policy initiatives directly.

Representative

Democracy- (indirect democracy, representative republic, or psephocracy) is a variety of democracy founded on

the principle of elected officials representing a group of people, as opposed

to direct democracy.

Liberal

Democracy- is a form of government in which

representative democracy operates under the principles of liberalism, i.e. protecting the rights of the individual, which

are generally enshrined in law.

Parliamentary

Democracy- democratic form of government in

which the party (or a coalition of parties) with the greatest representation in

the parliament (legislature) forms the government,

its leader becoming prime minister or chancellor.

Political

Participation- is any activity that shapes, affects, or

involves the political sphere. Political participation ranges

from voting to attending a rally to committing an act of terrorism to sending a

letter to a representative.

Referendum-

a general vote by the electorate on a single political

question which has been referred to them for a direct decision.

Political

Party- A political party is a group of people who come together

to contest elections and hold power in the government. They agree on some

policies and programmes for the society with a view to promote the collective

good or to further their supporters' interests.

Left-

Communists

Right- Capitalists

Liberalism- is a political philosophy

or worldview founded on ideas of liberty and equality.

Conservatism-

(or conservativism) is any political philosophy that favours

tradition (in the sense of various religious, cultural, or nationally-defined

beliefs and customs) in the face of external forces for change, and is critical

of proposals for radical social change.

Socialism-

a political and economic theory of social organization which

advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be

owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

Factionalism- refers

to arguments or disputes between two or more small groups from within a larger

group. There has been a substantial amount of factionalism within the movement. factional, faction, fanaticism, fractional.

Consensus

Politics- suggests a strong and broad agreement between the main political parties.

In some senses this can mean more differences within parties than between them.

The classic example is the post war consensus on the welfare state

Adversary

Politics- is a situation that tends to occur when there is a

'two-party' system. This occurs when the two main parties fighting for power

have very different views. An example of this is the original ideologies of the

Labour and Conservative parties.

Election-

a formal and organized choice by vote of a person for a

political office or other position.

Majoritarian

Representation- A majoritarian voting system is an electoral method

which gives the right to appoint all the representatives to the majority of the

electors, denying representation to all minorities.

Mandate- an

official order or commission to do something.

Proportional

Representation- an electoral system in which parties gain seats

in proportion to the number of votes cast for them.

Electoral

Reform- is change in electoral systems to improve how public desires

are expressed in election results.

Party

System- is a concept in comparative political science concerning the system of government

by political parties in a democratic country.

Strong Government-

Stable Government-

Pressure

Group- a group that tries to influence public policy in the interest

of a particular cause.

Sectional/Promotional

Groups- are not self-interested in that the achievement of their

objectives is not necessarily of direct professional or economic benefit to the

members of the group. Examples of promotional/cause pressure groups are Shelter,

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and Greenpeace.

Insider

Groups- are regularly consulted by government departments (e.g. CBI,

NFU, BMA). The price of this privileged access is restraint: keeping

confidences, making sure arguments are well-substantiated, avoiding disruptive

tactics and “screening out” unacceptable demands.

Outsider

Groups- are those whose aims do not enjoy the support of the

Government. They tend to adopt media based, high profile campaigns to capture

public attention. An outsider group in the Scottish context would be the

football fans pressure group Fans Against Criminalisation (FAC).

Pluralism-

a condition or system in which two or more states, groups,

principles, sources of authority, etc., coexist. The practice of holding more

than one ecclesiastical office at a time.

Elitism- the

belief that a society or system should be led by an elite.

Functional

Representation- representation in legislative or other

political bodies based on the economic and social groups of a community.

Pluralist Democracy- describes a political system where there is more than one centre of

power. Democracies are by definition pluralist as

democracies allow freedom of association. However, pluralism may exist

without