Politics:  The process by which we select our governmental leaders and what policies these leaders pursue. Politics produces authoritative decisions about public issues.

Government: the institution that make/create public policy in a society 

Policymaking Institutions:  The branches of government charged with taking action on political issues. The U.S. Constitution established three policymaking institutions - the Congress, the presidency, and the courts. Today, the power of the bureaucracy is so great that most political scientists consider it a fourth policymaking institution

Political Participation:  All the activities used by citizens to influence the selection of political leaders or the policies they pursue. The most common, but the only, means of political participation in a democracy is voting. Other means include protest and civil disobedience.

Political Efficacy:  The citizens' faith and trust in government and their belief that they can understand and influence political affairs

Representative Democracy:  a system of government in which all eligible citizens to vote on representatives to make public policy for them ; can take several forms including the following models: i. Participatory democracy, ii. Pluralist democracy, iii. Elite democracy

Participatory Democracy:  emphasizes broad participation in politics and civil society

Pluralist democracy:  emphasizes group-based activism by nongovernmental interests striving for impact on political decision making

Elite democracy:  emphasizes limited participation in politics and civil society

Hyperpluralism Theory:  A theory of government and politics contending that groups are so strong that government is weakened. Hyperpluralism is an extreme, exaggerated, or perverted form of pluralism.

Class View or Theory: The government is dominated by capitalists

Democracy:  a system of government in which power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or through freely elected representatives (representative democracy or republic)