LC Politics & Society cheat sheet

Separation of powers divides legislative, executive and judicial functions; fusion of powers (e.g. UK) merges executive and legislature through the cabinet drawn from parliament.

Unitary states concentrate sovereignty centrally and may devolve powers; federal states constitutionally share sovereignty between central government and constituent units (e.g. US, Germany, India).

Bicameral legislatures have two chambers; upper houses typically represent territories (US Senate), regions (German Bundesrat) or hereditary/appointed elites (UK Lords).

Presidential systems: the head of state and government is directly elected and serves a fixed term; parliamentary systems: the executive is drawn from and accountable to the legislature via confidence votes.

First-past-the-post (single-member plurality) tends to produce two-party systems and manufactured majorities; proportional representation tends to produce multiparty coalitions (Duverger's law).

Judicial review lets courts strike down legislation as unconstitutional where a written constitution or bill of rights permits; parliamentary sovereignty denies courts that power.

Electoral systems translate votes into seats: majoritarian (FPTP, runoff), proportional (list PR, STV) and mixed (MMP, parallel) are the main families.

Referendums are direct votes on a specific question; they can be advisory or binding and are a device of direct rather than representative democracy.

Weber's three types of legitimate authority: traditional (custom, heredity), charismatic (personal appeal) and legal-rational (rules, office, bureaucracy).

Lukes' three faces of power: decision-making, non-decision-making (agenda setting) and thought control (shaping preferences); the third face is the most contested.

Dahl's 'who governs?' pluralist view: power is dispersed among competing groups and no single elite dominates all decisions.

Legitimacy is the belief that a ruler's power is rightfully held; it differs from legality (conformity to law) and from mere coercion.

Sovereignty is supreme authority within a territory; it can be internal (supremacy over other domestic bodies) or external (recognition by other states).

Coercion, inducement, persuasion and authority are distinct mechanisms of power; authority rests on the target's acceptance rather than on force.

Elite theory (Mosca, Pareto, Michels) holds that organised minorities rule; Michels' 'iron law of oligarchy' claims even democratic organisations become oligarchic.

Hegemony (Gramsci) is rule through consent and cultural leadership, not only coercion; the state and civil society both transmit dominant ideas.

Procedural definitions (Schumpeter, Dahl) focus on competitive elections and contestation; substantive definitions add civil liberties, equality and effective participation.

Dahl's polyarchy criteria: elected officials, free and fair elections, inclusive suffrage, right to run for office, freedom of expression, alternative information and associational autonomy.

Liberal (representative) democracy limits state power through rights, rule of law and checks; direct democracy uses referendums and citizens' assemblies.

Majoritarian vs consensual democracy (Lijphart): majoritarian concentrates power in bare majorities; consensual shares power via coalitions, PR and federalism.

A 'democratic deficit' describes a gap between decision-makers and those affected, common in international organisations and the EU.

Democratic backsliding is the incremental erosion of accountability, checks and civil liberties by elected leaders, often legally (competitive authoritarianism).

Conditions often linked to stable democracy: civic culture (Almond and Verba), economic development (Lipset) and cross-cutting cleavages (Dahl, pluralism).

Deliberative democracy emphasises reasoned public debate and justification rather than mere aggregation of votes.

Forms of political participation: voting, party membership, campaigning, contacting officials, protest, consumer activism and digital engagement.

Turnout is shaped by registration rules, compulsory voting, electoral salience, socioeconomic status and age; older and wealthier citizens vote more.

Mandate theory: representatives should follow the platform on which they were elected; trustee theory: they should exercise independent judgement.

Descriptive representation concerns shared characteristics (gender, ethnicity, class); substantive representation concerns acting for a group's interests.

Duverger's law: single-member plurality favours two parties; PR systems lower the effective threshold and favour multiparty competition.

Gerrymandering is the manipulation of constituency boundaries for partisan advantage; malapportionment is unequal district population size.

Social movements use contentious politics (protest, strikes, boycotts) outside conventional channels; new social movements focus on identity, environment and rights.

Interest groups and lobbyists influence policy through insider access or outsider pressure; pluralist and corporatist models describe different state-group relations.

Liberalism: individual liberty, consent, rule of law and limited government; classical liberalism stresses markets, modern liberalism stresses welfare and positive freedom.

Conservatism: scepticism of abstract reform, respect for tradition, order and organic change (Burke); one-nation conservatism accepts limited welfare.

Socialism: collective or social ownership and equality; revolutionary Marxism versus social democracy's reformist, electoral route.

Marxism: historical materialism, class struggle, base/superstructure, surplus value and the eventual withering of the state.

Fascism: ultranationalism, leader cult, rejection of liberal democracy, glorification of struggle and the subordination of the individual to the nation.

Feminism: liberal, socialist and radical strands analyse patriarchy and gender inequality through different accounts of its causes.

Nationalism: civic nationalism defines the nation by shared citizenship and institutions; ethnic nationalism defines it by descent, language or culture.

Anarchism rejects state authority in favour of voluntary cooperation; it differs from Marxism in opposing a transitional state altogether.

Marx's class model: relationship to the means of production (bourgeoisie vs proletariat); Weber adds status (honour) and party (power) as separate dimensions.

Social mobility is movement between class positions: intragenerational (within a lifetime) or intergenerational (across generations); absolute vs relative mobility differ.

The Gini coefficient measures income inequality from 0 (perfect equality) to 1 (perfect inequality); the 90/10 ratio compares top and bottom deciles.

The functionalist view (Davis and Moore) sees stratification as necessary for allocating scarce talent; conflict theory sees it as reproducing advantage.

The underclass and social exclusion debates concern groups outside mainstream labour markets; critics argue such labels are stigmatising.

Intersectionality (Crenshaw) holds that class, race, gender and other inequalities interact rather than simply add together.

Wealth inequality is more concentrated than income inequality because assets accumulate and are transmitted across generations.

Poverty measures: absolute (fixed basket), relative (share of median income) and multidimensional (health, education, living standards).

Social identity theory (Tajfel): group membership shapes self-concept and produces in-group favouritism and out-group bias.

Primordialist views treat identity as ancient and fixed; constructivist views treat it as socially produced and changeable; instrumentalist views stress elite manipulation.

Multiculturalism recognises group difference in public policy; assimilation demands absorption into a dominant culture; integration is a middle path.

Citizenship models: liberal (rights-bearing individual), republican (active civic participation) and multicultural (group-differentiated rights, Kymlicka).

National identity can be built through education, language policy, symbols and media ('imagined communities', Anderson).

Culture is learned and shared, not inherited; ethnocentrism judges other cultures by one's own standards, cultural relativism suspends that judgement.

Recognition (Taylor, Honneth) holds that misrecognition harms; redistribution debates concern material inequality versus cultural recognition.

Secularism separates religion from state institutions; models range from strict separation (France) to established churches (UK, Denmark).

State functions: maintaining order, defending territory, providing public goods, regulating markets, redistributing income and legitimating the social order.

Welfare regimes (Esping-Andersen): liberal (means-tested, market-led), conservative-corporatist (status-linked insurance) and social-democratic (universal).

Keynesianism uses public spending and demand management to counter recession; monetarism targets money supply and inflation instead.

Public goods are non-excludable and non-rival (defence, street lighting); merit goods are subsidised because individuals under-consume them.

The policy cycle: agenda setting, formulation, adoption, implementation and evaluation; implementation gaps arise between statute and delivery.

Regulatory vs developmental vs predatory states describe differing state orientations toward markets and industrial policy.

Taxation instruments: progressive (higher rates on higher incomes), proportional (flat rate) and regressive (heavier relative burden on the poor, e.g. VAT).

Fiscal policy concerns taxation and spending; monetary policy concerns interest rates and money supply, usually delegated to an independent central bank.

Civil society is the sphere of voluntary associations between family and state: charities, unions, faith groups, NGOs and community organisations.

Social capital (Putnam) denotes trust and networks that enable cooperation; bonding capital within groups, bridging capital across groups.

Tocqueville argued voluntary associations school citizens in democracy; Putnam's 'bowling alone' thesis tracks declining civic engagement.

Resource mobilisation theory explains movement success by access to money, members, skills and infrastructure; political opportunity structure explains timing.

Framing (Snow and Benford) is the strategic construction of grievances; diagnostic, prognostic and motivational frames mobilise supporters.

Media functions: informing, agenda setting, framing, watchdog scrutiny and socialising audiences; ownership concentration affects pluralism.

The 'public sphere' (Habermas) is a space of reasoned public debate; commercialisation and echo chambers are said to distort it.

Freedom of the press is limited by libel law, official secrecy, ownership and, in some states, censorship and surveillance.

Realism: states are unitary rational actors in an anarchic system, pursuing power and security; balance of power and self-help are central.

Liberalism (IR): institutions, trade and interdependence can mitigate anarchy; democratic peace theory links shared democracy to less war.

Constructivism: interests and identities are socially constructed; norms and ideas shape state behaviour (e.g. human rights regimes).

Globalisation is the intensification of cross-border flows of goods, capital, people and information; economic, cultural and political dimensions differ.

Intergovernmental organisations (UN, WTO) are composed of states; supranational bodies (EU institutions) can bind member states by majority.

Comparative advantage (Ricardo) predicts mutual gains from trade; protectionism uses tariffs, quotas and subsidies to shield domestic producers.

Dependency and world-systems theories (Wallerstein) argue core-periphery structures reproduce global inequality.

Global governance addresses problems beyond single states: climate, migration, pandemics and financial stability, often through regimes and treaties.

Max Weber's ideal types of legitimate domination are traditional, charismatic and legal-rational; modern bureaucracies exemplify the third.

Hannah Arendt distinguishes power (acting in concert) from violence (instrumental coercion); violence destroys power rather than creating it.

Steven Lukes' three dimensions: visible decision-making, non-decision-making and the shaping of perceptions and preferences.

Legitimacy differs from legality: a law may be legal but illegitimate, and a ruler may be legitimate without holding formal office.

Political obligation theories: social contract (Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau), fair play, natural duty and consent-based accounts.

Civil disobedience (Thoreau, Rawls) is public, non-violent and conscientious law-breaking aimed at injustice, accepting punishment.

Authority types in organisations: bureaucratic (office-based), professional (expertise-based) and charismatic (personal).

The state's monopoly of legitimate violence (Weber) distinguishes it from other associations that may use force.

Electoral systems: plurality (FPTP), majoritarian (two-round, AV), proportional (list, STV) and mixed (MMP, parallel).

Effective number of parties (Laakso-Taagepera) measures party system fragmentation from seat or vote shares.

Compulsory voting raises turnout but can increase informal ballots; voluntary systems show class and age skews in turnout.

Quotas (gender, ethnic) aim at descriptive representation; their critics argue they compromise merit or voter choice.

Deliberative mini-publics (citizens' assemblies, juries) combine random selection with structured deliberation.

Recall, initiative and referendum are direct-democracy devices; their use varies widely between jurisdictions.

Party systems: dominant-party, two-party, multiparty and fragmented; cleavage structures (Lipset and Rokkan) explain their origins.

Voter behaviour models: sociological (class, religion), party identification (Michigan model) and rational choice (issue and economy voting).

The political spectrum: left/right on economic redistribution; authoritarian/libertarian on state coercion; the two axes are independent (Nolan chart).

Social contract theorists: Hobbes (security), Locke (property and consent), Rousseau (general will).

Rawls' justice as fairness: original position, veil of ignorance and the difference principle permitting inequalities that benefit the worst-off.

Nozick's entitlement theory: justice in acquisition, transfer and rectification; taxation beyond minimal state functions is unjust.

Mill's harm principle: interference with liberty is justified only to prevent harm to others.

Marx's concepts: alienation, false consciousness, commodity fetishism and the dictatorship of the proletariat.

Communitarianism (Sandel, MacIntyre) critiques liberal individualism for ignoring embedded social ties and the common good.

Green political thought: sustainability, limits to growth, ecological citizenship and critique of anthropocentrism.

Occupational class schemes: the Goldthorpe (EGP) schema and NS-SEC classify by employment relations and occupation.

Bourdieu's capitals: economic, cultural and social; habitus and field explain how advantage is reproduced through taste and dispositions.

The Matthew effect: accumulated advantage means early gains produce further gains, widening inequality over time.

Social reproduction theory examines how unpaid care work and domestic labour sustain class and gender inequality.

Absolute poverty is measured against a fixed threshold; relative poverty against median income; both differ from deprivation indices.

Intergenerational elasticity measures how strongly parents' income predicts children's income; higher values mean lower mobility.

Cultural explanations of poverty (culture of poverty) are criticised for blaming the poor; structural explanations stress labour markets and policy.

Affirmative action and quota policies aim to correct structural disadvantage; debates turn on equality of opportunity versus outcome.

Race is a social construct with no biological basis; ethnicity refers to shared descent, culture, language or history.

Gender is socially constructed roles and expectations; sex refers to biological characteristics; both are distinct from sexual orientation.

Multiculturalism models: mosaic (Canada), republican assimilation (France) and interculturalism (Quebec, parts of Europe).

Huntington's 'clash of civilisations' thesis is widely criticised for treating civilisations as monolithic and for weak empirical support.

Religious pluralism and secularisation: the secularisation thesis predicts declining religiosity with modernity; it is contested by global data.

Language policy can be assimilationist, bilingual or multilingual; it shapes access to education and public services.

Hate speech regulation balances free expression against protection from harm; the US and European legal traditions differ sharply.

Diversity management in organisations focuses on inclusion and equity rather than mere numerical representation.

Public policy instruments: regulation, taxation, subsidies, public provision, information campaigns and nudges.

Market failure types: externalities, public goods, monopoly power, information asymmetry and merit/demerit goods.

The state's roles: regulator, provider, employer, redistributor and macroeconomic manager.

Privatisation transfers ownership from state to private actors; nationalisation reverses it; both have contested efficiency effects.

Austerity reduces public spending to cut deficits; critics argue it deepens recessions via reduced demand.

Universal basic income is an unconditional cash transfer; debates concern cost, work incentives and replacement of targeted welfare.

Cost-benefit analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis guide policy appraisal; discount rates affect long-term projects such as climate policy.

Regulatory capture occurs when an agency serves the industry it regulates rather than the public interest.

New social movements (environmental, feminist, peace) emphasise identity and quality of life over class-based distribution.

Tilly's repertoire of contention: strikes, demonstrations, petitions, boycotts and occupations vary by historical period.

Political opportunity structure: access to institutions, elite divisions and repression levels shape movement success.

Digital activism lowers coordination costs but raises slacktivism concerns and enables surveillance.

Media agenda-setting (first level) and framing (second level) shape what audiences think about and how.

Public service broadcasting aims to inform and educate universally; commercial media depend on advertising and audience share.

NGOs provide services, advocate and monitor; accountability and legitimacy concerns arise when they influence policy without election.

Censorship and self-censorship vary by regime type; media freedom indices measure legal, political and economic constraints.

The Bretton Woods institutions: IMF (balance-of-payments support), World Bank (development finance) and WTO (trade rules).

The UN Security Council has five permanent members with veto power; the General Assembly has one state, one vote.

The EU's institutions: Commission (executive), Council of the EU (member-state ministers), European Parliament (directly elected) and Court of Justice.

Sovereignty and intervention: the responsibility to protect (R2P) justifies intervention against mass atrocities, contested in practice.

Trade blocs: free trade areas, customs unions, common markets and monetary unions differ in depth of integration.

Global inequality measures: between-country versus within-country inequality; the latter has risen in many rich states.

Climate governance: the UNFCCC, Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement rely on nationally determined contributions rather than binding targets.

Migration governance: push-pull models, asylum law (1951 Refugee Convention) and remittances as development finance.

Head of state vs head of government: in constitutional monarchies and parliamentary republics these roles are separate; in presidential systems they usually combine.

Federalism types: coming-together (US, Switzerland) versus holding-together (India, Nigeria); symmetric versus asymmetric federalism.

Electoral thresholds (e.g. 5% in Germany) reduce party fragmentation; their absence favours small parties.

Judicial independence is secured by tenure, appointment procedures and salary protection; executive control undermines it.

Constitutional rigidity: entrenched constitutions require supermajorities or referendums to amend; flexible ones change by ordinary law.

Devolution transfers powers without transferring sovereignty; federalism constitutionally entrenches regional powers.

Bureaucratic models: Weberian hierarchy versus New Public Management's market-style reforms and performance targets.

Corporatism (tripartite bargaining among state, employers and unions) contrasts with pluralist interest intermediation.

Classical versus modern liberalism: negative liberty (non-interference) versus positive liberty (capacity to act).

Berlin's two concepts of liberty and the risk that positive liberty can justify paternalism.

Conservatism's strands: traditionalist, one-nation, New Right (Thatcher/Reagan) combining markets with strong state authority.

Social democracy accepts capitalism with redistribution; democratic socialism seeks broader social ownership.

Anarchism's strands: individualist, mutualist, collectivist and anarcho-syndicalist.

Populism is a thin ideology dividing society into 'the pure people' and 'the corrupt elite'; it can attach to left or right.

Communitarianism versus liberalism: the unencumbered self (Sandel's critique of Rawls) versus embedded identity.

Cosmopolitanism extends moral concern beyond borders; communitarian critics stress partial obligations to fellow citizens.

Esping-Andersen's decommodification measures how far welfare allows people to live without selling labour.

Liberal welfare states rely on means-testing and private markets; social-democratic ones on universal benefits and high taxation.

Gender regimes: male-breadwinner, modified breadwinner and dual-earner models shape care policy and labour participation.

Child poverty rates track benefit generosity, employment quality and childcare provision.

Housing inequality: tenure (owner-occupied, social rented, private rented) shapes wealth and security.

Health inequalities follow a social gradient (Marmot); universal health systems reduce but do not eliminate them.

Education and social mobility: selective schooling versus comprehensive systems; private tutoring can widen gaps.

Policy evaluation: randomised controlled trials, natural experiments and quasi-experimental designs (difference-in-differences).

Citizenship regimes: jus soli (birthplace) versus jus sanguinis (descent); naturalisation rules vary in residence and language requirements.

Indigenous rights: land title, self-determination and free, prior and informed consent (UNDRIP).

Disability models: medical (deficit) versus social (barriers created by society).

LGBT+ rights vary by decriminalisation, anti-discrimination law, partnership and marriage recognition.

Affirmative action in the US: strict scrutiny and the 2023 Supreme Court ruling limiting race-conscious admissions.

Secularism models: French laïcité (strict separation), US non-establishment, UK establishment with toleration.

Minority language rights: territorial (official in a region) versus personal (individual) language rights.

Recognition and redistribution: Fraser's dilemma of whether cultural recognition displaces economic justice.

Varieties of capitalism (Hall and Soskice): liberal market economies versus coordinated market economies.

Developmental state (East Asia): state-led industrial policy, export orientation and strategic credit allocation.

Neoliberalism: deregulation, privatisation, liberalisation and fiscal discipline (Washington Consensus).

Global value chains distribute production across borders; lead firms capture most value.

Financialisation: the growing role of financial motives and markets in the economy and everyday life.

Trade policy instruments: tariffs, quotas, export subsidies, anti-dumping duties and rules of origin.

Austerity versus stimulus debates turn on multiplier effects and debt sustainability.

Tax havens and profit shifting erode the tax base; OECD BEPS reforms aim to address it.

Media systems (Hallin and Mancini): liberal, democratic-corporatist and polarised-pluralist models.

Press freedom indices (RSF, Freedom House) score legal, political and economic constraints.

Public service media funding: licence fee, direct taxation or mixed; independence depends on governance arrangements.

Social media platforms act as gatekeepers; algorithmic curation shapes exposure and polarisation.

Disinformation versus misinformation: the former is deliberate, the latter unintentional.

Civil society legal environments: registration rules, foreign funding restrictions and assembly rights.

Union density and collective bargaining coverage measure labour movement strength.

Social movement outcomes: policy change, cultural change, and unintended consequences.

Levels of analysis (Waltz): individual, state and international system.

Balance of power versus bandwagoning: states balance against threats or align with the stronger side.

Deterrence versus compellence: preventing action versus forcing it.

Security dilemma: defensive measures by one state appear threatening to others, triggering arms races.

Regime theory: international regimes are principles, norms, rules and decision-making procedures around which expectations converge (Krasner).

Soft power (Nye): attraction through culture, values and policy legitimacy rather than coercion.

International law sources: treaties, custom, general principles, judicial decisions and scholarly writing.

Humanitarian intervention and R2P: sovereignty as responsibility versus non-intervention norms.

Veto players (Tsebelis): more veto players make policy change harder and more incremental.

Consensus democracy (Lijphart): power-sharing, PR, federalism, coalition cabinets and strong parliaments.

Majoritarian democracy: single-party cabinets, two-party competition, flexible constitutions and centralised power.

Coalition formation theories: minimum winning coalitions, minimal connected winning and policy proximity.

Electoral accountability: clarity of responsibility is higher in single-party majoritarian systems.

Constitutional courts: strong-form judicial review (US) versus weak-form (UK, New Zealand).

Federalism and policy innovation: laboratories of democracy versus coordination problems.

Direct democracy mechanisms: initiative, referendum and recall differ in who triggers them.

Party identification (Michigan model) is a stable psychological attachment shaping vote choice.

Economic voting: retrospective and prospective, egotropic (personal) and sociotropic (national) evaluations.

Cleavage voting (Lipset and Rokkan): class, religion, region and urban-rural divides structure party systems.

Volatility measures change in party vote shares between elections; high volatility signals dealignment.

Protest participation: unconventional politics is more common among younger and more educated citizens.

Political efficacy: internal (belief in one's competence) versus external (belief in responsiveness).

Voter suppression mechanisms: ID requirements, purges and polling-place access.

Deliberative polling measures opinion change after informed discussion.

Rawls: original position, veil of ignorance, two principles of justice (equal liberty and difference principle).

Nozick: minimal state, entitlement theory, and critique of patterned distribution.

Sen and Nussbaum: capabilities approach measures well-being by what people can do and be.

Fraser: recognition and redistribution as two distinct dimensions of justice.

Walzer: spheres of justice, pluralism of distributive criteria across social goods.

Kymlicka: group-differentiated rights for minority cultures within liberal frameworks.

Pettit: republicanism as non-domination, distinct from non-interference.

Arendt: natality, the public realm and the 'right to have rights' for stateless people.

Class mobility: absolute versus relative rates; relative rates indicate openness.

Social reproduction: education systems transmit cultural capital (Bourdieu).

The Great Gatsby curve: higher income inequality correlates with lower intergenerational mobility.

Precariat (Standing): insecure, low-paid work with little occupational identity or rights.

Middle-class squeeze: stagnant wages, housing costs and insecure employment.

Elite reproduction: private schooling, networks and inheritance sustain top positions.

Occupational segregation by gender contributes to the pay gap.

Intersectional inequality: compounded disadvantage across race, class and gender.

Nationalism types: civic, ethnic, cultural and banal (everyday flagging of nationhood, Billig).

Imagined communities (Anderson): nations are socially constructed through print capitalism and shared narratives.

Multicultural citizenship (Kymlicka): minority rights within liberal states.

Secularisation versus desecularisation: religion's public role varies globally.

Cultural backlash thesis (Inglehart): traditional values react against progressive change.

Cosmopolitanism versus communitarianism: global versus local obligations.

Hate speech and free expression: US First Amendment versus European hate speech laws.

Diversity and representation: symbolic versus substantive presence in institutions.

Hegemonic stability theory: a dominant power underwrites open economic order.

Embedded liberalism (Ruggie): post-war compromise between markets and social protection.

Washington Consensus: fiscal discipline, privatisation, liberalisation and deregulation.

Global financial governance: IMF surveillance, G20 coordination and Basel banking standards.

Climate finance: developed-country commitments, green bonds and just transition funds.

Trade and labour/environment standards: linkage debates in WTO and preferential trade agreements.

Digital governance: data protection (GDPR), platform regulation and cross-border data flows.

Global tax cooperation: OECD two-pillar solution and minimum corporate tax.

Social movement cycles: protest waves rise and decline (Tarrow).

Framing processes: diagnostic, prognostic and motivational frames.

Resource mobilisation: money, members, skills and infrastructure determine capacity.

Political opportunity: institutional access, elite divisions and repression shape strategy.

Digital repertoires: hashtag campaigns, online petitions and platform-based organising.

NGO accountability: downward to beneficiaries versus upward to donors.

Civil society and democratisation: strong associational life can support or undermine democracy.

Media effects: agenda-setting, framing and priming shape public opinion.