CHSE Odisha Elective Political Science key terms

The supreme and final authority of a state to make and enforce laws within its territory, without being answerable to any higher outside power.

A political association occupying a defined territory, with a permanent population, an organised government, and the capacity to enter relations with other states.

A community of people who feel bound together by shared history, culture, language or common political aspiration, whether or not they have their own state.

A political sentiment or doctrine holding that a people sharing common identity should form or control a state, and that loyalty to the nation is a primary political value.

The principle that a people has the right to freely choose its own political status and form of government, including independence or union with another state.

A theory explaining political obligation as arising from an implicit or historical agreement among people to create and obey a governing authority for mutual security.

A thought experiment describing human life before political society, used by contract theorists to argue why people would consent to establish a government.

Rights said to belong to all human beings by virtue of their humanity rather than by grant of any government, often cited as life, liberty and property.

The doctrine that ultimate political authority rests with the people, who may delegate it to rulers but can also withdraw or reshape it.

A political tradition valuing individual liberty, limited government, rule of law, consent, and tolerance, while accepting that authority must be justified to the governed.

A body of thought holding that economic resources should be socially owned or controlled and that equality and cooperation should temper market competition and private profit.

The theory of Marx and Engels explaining politics and the state through class conflict rooted in the ownership of the means of production, and predicting eventual classless society.

In Marxist analysis, the conflict between groups with opposing economic interests, especially owners of capital and wage labourers, seen as the engine of historical change.

In Marxist usage, the social class that owns the means of production and employs wage labour, and whose interests the capitalist state is said to protect.

In Marxist usage, the class of people who must sell their labour power to survive and who, owning no means of production, are seen as the potential agents of revolution.

An authoritarian nationalist ideology exalting the nation and its leader above individual rights, rejecting liberal democracy and often glorifying struggle, hierarchy and violence.

A form of rule in which a single party or leader seeks total control over public and private life through ideology, propaganda, surveillance and organised coercion.

A mode of government in which power is concentrated in a leader or small group, accountability to citizens is weak, and opposition is restricted or suppressed.

A system of government in which rulers derive authority from the consent of adult citizens, who participate through elections, representation and open public debate.

The right of all adult citizens to vote regardless of sex, wealth, caste, religion or literacy, a defining feature of modern democratic elections.

The principle that everyone, including officials, is subject to publicly known laws applied equally and through impartial courts, rather than to arbitrary personal commands.

The body of fundamental rules that establishes a state's main institutions, distributes powers among them, and sets limits on how that power may be exercised.

A formal change to a constitution carried out by a prescribed special procedure, such as a supermajority in the legislature or a referendum.

The judicial principle, developed in India, that Parliament cannot amend the constitution so as to destroy its essential features such as supremacy of law or judicial review.

The power of courts to examine laws and executive actions and declare them invalid when they exceed or violate the constitution.

The arrangement of distributing legislative, executive and judicial functions to distinct bodies so that each checks the others and no single body dominates.

The mutual restraints built into a constitutional system, such as a legislature confirming ministers or courts striking down unconstitutional statutes, to prevent misuse of power.

A form of government in which the executive is drawn from and accountable to the legislature, usually headed by a prime minister who must retain majority support.

A form of government in which a directly elected president heads the executive, serves a fixed term, and is not removable by the legislature through a vote of confidence.

The convention that all ministers stand together for government policy and must resign as a body if the legislature withdraws confidence from the council of ministers.

A system in which power is constitutionally divided between a central government and regional units, each exercising authority directly over citizens in its own sphere.

A constitutional arrangement in which a single central government holds supreme authority and any regional bodies exercise only powers that the centre grants or devolves.

An independent constitutional body charged with conducting elections, preparing electoral rolls, recognising parties and enforcing fair conduct in campaigns and voting.

The official register of persons entitled to vote in a constituency, which must be kept accurate and updated so that only eligible electors cast ballots.

The aggregate of views and attitudes that citizens hold on political issues, shaped by family, school, media, parties and social interaction, and expressed through debate and voting.

The lifelong process through which people acquire political knowledge, values and habits, beginning in childhood and continuing through school, media and adult experience.

The pattern of beliefs, attitudes and norms that people in a society share about politics, which shapes how they participate and how institutions actually function.

An organised body that seeks to influence government policy for a particular interest without itself contesting elections to form a government.

An organised group that seeks to win public office through elections in order to carry out a shared programme of policies and compete for governmental power.

The characteristic pattern of parties competing in a country, such as one-party, two-party or multi-party, which strongly influences how governments form and are held accountable.