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Agreement Reality

Things that we believe are real even though we have never directly experienced them through our five senses.

Classic Conservatism

A political ideology that maintains that unrestrained individual human reason cannot take the place of long-standing, traditional institutions.

Classic Liberalism

A political ideology that emphasizes the belief that people should be generally free from governmental constraints or interference.

Communism

A political ideology that advocates, via revolution, a classless, socialist society in which justice and fairness for the whole prevail over the interests of individuals.

Conceptual Frameworks

The personal experiences, preferences, and expectations that we all use to make sense of the world.

Democratic Socialism

A political ideology that advocates for a socialist state through democratic means.

Experiential Reality

Things that we directly experience through our five senses.

Fascism

A political ideology that argues for the supremacy and purity of one group of people or nationality in a society.

Idealism

A way of looking at the world where the focus is on what we would like to do or what we would like the world to be; also refers to a theoretical perspective in international relations that stresses the quest for peace.

Idealist Period

The two decades between the world wars that were marked by the effort to envision and attain a perfectly peaceful world.

Imperialism

The extension of an empire's or nation's rule or authority over foreign countries or the acquisition and holding of colonies and dependencies for the purpose of economic gain.

League of Nations

An international institution created after World War I that attempted to bring nations together to peaceably resolve conflict in a form of collective security.

Karl Marx

A German economist, theorist, sociologist, and philosopher most notable for his works criticizing capitalism and advocating communism—a classless, collective socialist society.

Political Ideology

You know, that thing where you take an ideal and turn it into a bunch of cheesy slogans for action in pursuit of the utopia that supposedly results from the ideal.

Political Science

Field of study characterized by a search for critical understanding of the good political life, significant empirical understanding, and wise political and policy judgments.

Political Theory

A body of work aimed at developing knowledge about politics and political systems.

Politics

Individual or combined actions of individuals, governments, and/or groups aimed at getting what they want accomplished; when those actions have public consequences.

Realism

A way of looking at the world where the focus is on what we are able to do, what is possible for the world to be; also refers to a theoretical perspective in international relations that views international politics as a strategy game.

Reform Liberalism

A political ideology that argues that within a capitalist system, government should play a role in regulating the economy and removing major inequalities.

Scientific Method

A specific set of rules and processes for pursuing knowledge with observation, hypothesis-building, experimentation, and replication.

Adam Smith

An English economist whose Wealth of Nations argued that individual rational choices in a free market are the ideal way to foster efficient economic activity.

Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)

The purchasing of stock in corporations or the acquiring of proxy votes from willing corporate stockholders by groups seeking to change or influence the direction of corporate policies.

Sophist

One who in ancient Greece taught promising young men practical skills, such as rhetoric, so that they could be successful in public life; they did not focus on metaphysics or ethics.

Utopia

An ideal world.

Alliances

An agreement between groups or individuals to join resources and abilities for a purpose that individually benefits the members of the alliance.

Anarchists

Radical ideologues who long for a lack of authority or hierarchy because they believe that human beings are capable of peacefully intermingling and ordering society without broad, formalized governmental structures.

Anarchy

The absence of any kind of overarching authority or hierarchy.

Authority

Where knowledge, natural ability, or experience makes it rational for people to choose to place themselves in a subordinate position to another individual or group

Collective Action

Coordinated group action that is designed to achieve a common goal that individuals acting on their own could not otherwise obtain.

Government

The creation of institutions or structures to provide the security that people continually need; the result of a group's need to institutionalize, or make permanent, its power.

Group Identity

The degree to which members identify with a group, and conversely, identify who is not part of that group, a process that affects the group's strength, cohesiveness, and survival

Hierarchy

A societal structure that elevates someone or some group to a position of authority over others.

Individual Security

Focus on the continued safety of the individual.

National Security

Encompasses the requirement to maintain the survival of the nationstate through the use of economic, military, and political power and the exercise of diplomacy

The Other

Someone who is identified as an outsider and not part of the group, defined as a means of initiating conflict, and is therefore identified as the enemy.

Political Capital

An individual's or institution's reserve of power that can be called upon to achieve political goals.

Power

The ability to get something done.

Regime Security

The leaders' ability to protect their hold on power

Security

The ability to protect oneself and one's property.

State Security

The ability at the governmental level to protect borders and governmental structures from outside threats.

Atomization

The deliberate isolation of people from each other in society to keep them from forming a group that could threaten a leader's hold on power.

Crosscutting Cleavages

When a group contains many different points of conflict, thus allowing people to find many points of agreement and conflict within the group.

Legitimacy

People's voluntary acceptance of their government and its exercise of authority.

Panopticon

A social mechanism of control where people know that while they are not watched all the time, they may be watched at any time.

Peer Policing

A system in which people police each other.

Preference Falsification

When people hide the way they truly feel while publicly expressing what those in power want them to communicate.

Public Goods

Resources shared by the community.

Revolution

Mass uprisings focused on the goal of tearing down and replacing the current government.

Safety Valve

A mechanism that allows people to blow off steam in order to avoid larger conflict.

Self-Policing

A social mechanism where only a few enforcers are needed to maintain control of the population because the fear of being punished keeps people in line.

Totalitarian

A form of government that tries to control every aspect of life, sometimes down to the level of thought.

Capitalism

An economic system based on the free market and individual competition for profits.

Central Bank

A kind of sort of government bank that loans imaginary money to real banks.

Currency

A universally accepted "placeholder" between trades of all the myriad different forms of real wealth, simplifying trade and enabling the fractionalization of whole goods.

Deflation

Situation in which the number of currency units is falling relative to available wealth.

Enlightened Self-Interest

The idea that people will restrain their self-interest in recognition of the need to preserve a common resource.

Federal Reserve Rate

The interest rate the Federal Reserve charges on loans to banks.

Feudalism

An economic system under which peasants raise crops and livestock on small plots within the landlord's estate and are obligated to give a substantial percentage of their production to the landlord in exchange for protection.

Humanist

An idealist who is interested in and motivated by concern for the broader human condition and the quality of people's lives.

Inflation

Situation in which the number of currency units in circulation is increased, measured relative to the real stuff of value out there, which reduces the value people place upon each unit of the currency.

Laissez-Faire Capitalism

An economic system allowing very little, if any, government involvement, interference, or regulation.

Means of Production

The mechanisms for transforming labor into wealth.

Monetary Policy

The collection of most-commonly used mechanisms that governments use to manage the collective resource of currency.

Privileged Group

A group that is given access to something created by a private entity, although that group did not directly contribute to its creation.

Socialism

An economic system in which society controls the means of production.

Stag Hunt

A commonly used parable that demonstrates how the interdependence of actions and choices affects collective efforts to attain a goal.

Tragedy of the Commons

A problem that demonstrates how the rational choices of individuals collide with the needs or interests of the larger community.

Aristocracy

A wealthy landowning elite

Confederal System

A system where the local governmental units have all the real power.

Democracy

Rule by the people, usually through elected representatives, under a constitution that provides protection for basic rights and majority rule.

Dictatorship

Form of government in which power is centralized in a single person or possibly a small group of people.

Federal System

Systems where the final authority for at least some aspects of government are left to the local or subnational level.

Institutions

The organizational structures through which political power is exercised.

Polity

Constitutional government that is a mixture of democracy and oligarchy.

Structures

Basic elements that governments need in order to govern, which determine, enable, and limit how the particulars of the government take shape.

Unitary System

A system in which sovereignty and authority rest quite clearly with the national government.

Checks and Balances

A system whereby each branch of government can limit the powers of the other branches.

Divine Right of Kings

The principle that earthly rulers receive their authority from God.

Electoral College

An election system in which electoral votes are divvied between the states according to population.

Head of Government

The political role of a country's president or ruler as the leader of a political party or group and chief arbiter of who gets what resources

Head of State

The apolitical, unifying role of a country's president or ruler as symbolic representative of the whole country.

Hereditary Monarchies

The most common form of monarchy; used by almost all of the world's existing monarchies. Under a hereditary monarchy, all rulers come from the same family, and the crown is passed along from one family member to another.

Matriarchy

A form of social organization in which the mother is recognized as the head of the family or tribe, and descent and kinship are traced through the mother's side.

Monarchy

An authoritarian government with power vested in a king or queen.

Oligarchy

Government by the few, especially for corrupt and selfish purposes.

Parliamentary System

A system in which there is a fusion of legislative and executive institutions.

Patriarchy

A form of social organization in which the father is recognized as the head of the family or tribe, and descent and kinship are traced through the father's side.

Presidency

An executive institution that includes all formal and informal powers—the offices, the staffs, and the historical precedents that define it.

Presidential System

A system in which there is a separation between legislative and executive institutions.

Prime Minister

A member of parliament, who, as the leader of the winning party in the parliament, exercises some of the functions of a chief executive.

Separation of Powers

A system designed so that no one branch of government can become too powerful over the others.

Bicameral Legislature

A legislature with two houses.

Cohabitation

Under the French political system, when the president is from one political party while a different political party controls the legislature.

Delegate

Representative who attempts to do exactly what his or her constituents want.

Divided Government

When one political party controls the presidency and another party controls either all or part of the legislature.

Filibuster

A delaying tactic used by a senator or a group of senators—who indefinitely talk about the bill—to frustrate the proponents of the bill and ensure defeat of the measure.

Geographic Representation

A legislature divided according to geography, in which people are represented by the area they live in.

Gerrymandering

The process of intentionally drawing districts to gain a partisan advantage.

Gridlock

When the checks and balances within the presidential system work too well so that they not only prevent one institution from overwhelming the others but also prevent anyone from doing much of anything

Ideological Representation

Representation in which people's belief is the main concern of leadership.