Politics and the State Flashcards

Flashcards about Politics and the State.

State

A political association that establishes sovereign jurisdiction within defined territorial borders, and exercises authority through a set of permanent institutions.

Civil society

A private sphere of autonomous groups and associations, independent from state or public authority.

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.

Sovereignty

The principle of absolute and unlimited power.

Great power

A state deemed to rank amongst the most powerful in a hierarchical state system, reflecting its influence over minor states.

Nation-state

A sovereign political association within which citizenship and nationality overlap; one nation within a single state.

Divine right

The doctrine that earthly rulers are chosen by God and thus wield unchallengeable authority; a defence for monarchical absolutism.

Political obligation

The duty of the citizen towards the state; the basis of the state’s right to rule.

State of nature

A society devoid of political authority and of formal (legal) checks on the individual; usually employed as a theoretical device.

Anarchy

Literally, ‘without rule’; anarchy is often used pejoratively to suggest instability, or even chaos.

Pluralism

A belief in, or commitment to diversity or multiplicity; or the belief that power in modern societies is widely and evenly distributed.

Neopluralism

A style of social theorizing that remains faithful to pluralist values while recognizing the need to revise or update classical pluralism in the light of, for example, elite, Marxist and New Right theories.

Bourgeoisie

A Marxist term, denoting the ruling class of a capitalist society, the owners of productive wealth.

Proletariat

A Marxist term, denoting a class that subsists through the sale of its labour power; strictly speaking, the proletariat is not equivalent to the working class.

Neo-Marxism

Neo-Marxism (sometimes termed ‘modern’ or ‘western’ Marxism) refers to attempts to revise or recast the classical ideas of Marx while remaining faithful to certain Marxist principles or aspects of Marxist methodology.

Patriarchy

Patriarchy literally means ‘rule by the father’, the domination of the husband–father within the family, and the subordination of his wife and his children.

Rights

Legal or moral entitlements to act or be treated in a particular way; civil rights differ from human rights.

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.

Social justice

A morally justifiable distribution of material rewards; social justice is often seen to imply a bias in favour of equality.

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 (albeit different in different societies).

Collectivization

The abolition of private property in favour of a system of common or public ownership.

Totalitarianism

An all-encompassing system of political rule, involving pervasive ideological manipulation and open brutality.

Statism

Statism (or, in French, étatisme) is the belief that state intervention is the most appropriate means of resolving political problems, or bringing about economic and social development.

Laïcité

(French) The principle of the absence of religious involvement in government affairs, and of government involvement in religious affairs.

State religion

A religious body that is officially endorsed by the state, giving it special privileges, but (usually) not formal political authority.

Supraterritoriality

The reconfiguration of geography that has occurred through the declining importance of state borders, geographical distance and territorial location.

Economic sovereignty

The absolute authority of the state over national economic life, involving independent control of fiscal and monetary policies, and control over trade and capital flows.

Market state

A state that aims to enlarge citizens’ rights and opportuities, rather than assume control over economic and social life.

Political globalization

The growing importance of international bodies and organizations, and of transnation political forces generally.

Governance

Governance is a broader term than government. Although lacking a settled or agreed definition, it refers, in its widest sense, to the various ways through which social life is coordinated.

Warlordism

A condition in which locally-based militarized bands vie for power in the absence of a sovereign state.

Failed state

A failed state is a state that is unable to perform its key role of ensuring domestic order by monopolizing the use of force within its territory.

State-building

The construction of a functioning state through the establishment of legitimate institutions for the formulation and implementation of policy across key areas of government.