LC Politics & Society key terms

The supreme legal authority within a territory, meaning the body that can make final binding decisions without appeal to a higher power. It can be held by a monarch, a parliament, or a people.

The division of state authority among legislature, executive and judiciary so that each can check the others. Associated with Montesquieu and with constitutional designs intended to prevent tyranny.

A system in which power is constitutionally divided between a central government and regional units, each with its own guaranteed competences. Contrasts with unitary states where subnational bodies are creatures of the centre.

The transfer of powers from a central government to regional or local bodies while ultimate sovereignty stays at the centre. Unlike federalism, the transferred powers can be withdrawn by the national legislature.

The principle that government power should be limited and defined by a constitution, whether written or unwritten. It stresses restraints on rulers rather than merely describing how institutions are arranged.

The power of courts to declare acts of the legislature or executive invalid because they breach the constitution or higher law. Its scope varies greatly between legal systems.

The belief among those subject to a power that it is entitled to rule and ought to be obeyed. Legitimacy is distinct from mere coercion, which can secure compliance without any sense of obligation.

The recognised right to give commands and have them obeyed, as opposed to power based only on force or incentives. Weber distinguished traditional, charismatic and legal-rational types.

Rule justified by the perceived exceptional qualities of a leader rather than by custom or office. It tends to be unstable because it depends on continuing proof of those qualities.

The use or threat of force to make people act against their preferences. It secures obedience without generating legitimacy, though states may combine coercion with accepted authority.

Weber's criterion of the modern state: the claim to be the only body within a territory entitled to use physical force legitimately. Other groups may use force only as the state permits.

A political system in which rulers are accountable to the governed through free, competitive elections and protected rights of opposition. Rule by the people, exercised mainly through representation in large states.

Dahl's term for actually existing democracy: high but imperfect levels of participation and public contestation. It offers a measurable benchmark rather than an ideal of full popular rule.

The obligation of rulers to answer for their actions and face consequences from those they govern. Vertical accountability runs through elections; horizontal accountability runs through courts, auditors and legislatures.

The principle that everyone, including officials, is subject to publicly known and impartially applied law. It requires legal certainty, independent courts and limits on arbitrary discretion.

The right of all adult citizens to vote, regardless of sex, wealth, ethnicity or literacy. Its achievement was a central demand of suffrage movements in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Any voluntary activity by citizens aimed at influencing government, from voting and campaigning to protesting and contacting officials. Conventional and unconventional forms are often distinguished.

An electoral family in which seats are allocated roughly in line with each party's share of the vote. It tends to favour multiparty systems and coalition government.

A plurality system in single-member districts where the candidate with the most votes wins, even without a majority. It usually produces two dominant parties and single-party governments.

The tendency of plurality, single-member elections to favour two major parties, while proportional systems tend to allow more. It is a tendency, not an iron law, and has exceptions.

A more or less coherent set of ideas about how society should be organised and governed. It links descriptions of the world to prescriptions for action and is held by groups, not only individuals.

A tradition emphasising individual liberty, limited government, private property and rule of law. It divides into strands stressing economic freedom and strands stressing social and welfare rights.

A family of doctrines holding that economic production should be socially owned or controlled to reduce inequality and exploitation. It ranges from democratic reformism to revolutionary communism.

An outlook sceptical of rapid change that values tradition, order and established institutions. Its content varies by country, often defending property and hierarchy against egalitarian reform.

A policy paradigm favouring markets, privatisation, deregulation and fiscal restraint over state provision. It became dominant in many economies from the late 1970s onward.

The idea that political obligation derives from an agreement among people to form a governed society. Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau used different versions to justify very different states.

A grouping based on economic position, especially relation to the means of production or to labour markets. Class shapes life chances, and its political salience varies between societies.

The layered ranking of groups by unequal access to valued resources such as income, status and power. It may rest on class, caste, gender, ethnicity or a combination.

Movement of individuals or families between social positions over time. Intergenerational mobility measures how far children's status departs from their parents'.

The idea that overlapping identities such as race, gender and class produce disadvantages that cannot be understood by examining each separately. Coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw.

Political mobilisation organised around shared identity such as ethnicity, religion, gender or sexuality. It seeks recognition and redress for group-specific injustices.

A policy orientation that recognises cultural diversity and supports minority groups in maintaining their identities. It is debated as a challenge to, or extension of, liberal citizenship.

The willingness to permit beliefs and practices one disapproves of, within limits set by law. A core liberal virtue, it raises questions about where those limits should lie.

A set of state institutions that protect citizens against risks such as unemployment, illness and old age. Models differ in whether benefits are universal, insurance-based or means-tested.

The decisions and non-decisions of government, including the goals pursued and the instruments chosen to pursue them. Analysis covers agenda-setting, formulation, implementation and evaluation.

Government use of taxation and spending to influence the economy and redistribute resources. It is distinguished from monetary policy, which concerns money supply and interest rates.

The sphere of voluntary associations, charities, unions and informal groups between the state and the market. It can foster participation, deliver services and hold power to account.

A sustained collective effort by loosely connected people to promote or resist change, often outside formal institutions. Examples include labour, feminist and environmental movements.

The networks, norms and trust that enable people to cooperate for mutual benefit. Putnam argues that declining associational life weakens civic engagement and democracy.

The process by which movements and media select and emphasise certain aspects of an issue to shape how audiences understand it. Frames diagnose problems and suggest remedies.

The process determining which issues receive public and political attention. Media and elites can shape what audiences consider important without telling them what to think.

The growing interconnectedness of economies, societies and politics across national borders. It involves flows of trade, capital, people and information, and is uneven in its effects.

The model of international order built on territorially sovereign states formally equal and non-interfering. Named after the 1648 peace settlements, it is an ideal type rather than a description.

The set of institutions that govern a territory through law, taxation and enforcement. It is distinguished from government, which is the temporary office-holding group, and from nation, a cultural community.

The moral duty of citizens to obey the state's laws. Theories ground it in consent, fairness, gratitude or natural duty, and each struggles with cases of unjust law.