Political Ideas - Key Words

Politics

The relationship between people, institutions, and resources, as well as the allocation of these resources.

State

The state is something that we are aware of and know but it proves much more difficult to define

Man-made historical and political formations, sometimes pretend to be natural for legitimacy

features in the state: Monopoly of violence; territoriality; sovereignty; constitutionality; rule of law; public bureaucracy; authority/legitimacy; citizenship

Power/Authority

Democracy

Minimal State

Social Democratic State

Collectivised State

Civil Society

Neo-liberalism

Civil Disobedience

Political Concept

General idea usually expressed in a single word/short phrase

e.g. ‘to treat a cat as a cat, we must first have a concept of what a cat is’

Normative Concepts

Values; moral principles or ideals which should/ought to/must be brought about (Prescriptive Concepts)

Positive Concepts

Facts; have an objective and demonstratable existence (Descriptive Concepts)

Justice

The existence of proper balance, in political theory justice has concerned both the terms of membership in a social group and the distribution of benefits and burdens - Normative Concept