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| Political Apathy | the indifference on the part of any citizen(s) with regard to their attitude towards governmental activities. |
| Government | The system created and controlled by a group of people to make decisions for and regulate a society, and it's members. |
| Collective Goods | These are goods which cannot be withheld from one individual consumer without withholding them from all and for which the marginal cost of an additional person consuming them, once they have been produced, is zero |
| Politics | activities that relate to influencing the actions and policies of a government or getting and keeping power in a government |
| Political Participation | those actions of private citizens by which they seek to influence or to support government and politics |
| Single-issue Groups | advocacy groups comprised of members who are passionate about one particular issue. |
| Policymaking System | The process, institutions, and people who control the making of laws and standards for a government. |
| Interest Groups | An organization that tries to influence the government to adopt certain policies or measures. |
| Linkage Institutions | The structure within a society that connects the people to the government or centralized authority. |
| Policy Agenda | The set of issues, problems, or subjects, that gets attention from people who want to influence governmental actions. |
| Political Issue | controversies debated within the political system |
| Policymaking Institutions | The branches of government charged with taking action on political issues. Today the power of the bureaucracy is so great that most political scientists consider it a fourth policymaking institution. |
| Public Policy | what government (any public official who influences or determines public policy, including school officials, city council members, county supervisors, etc.) does or does not do about a problem that comes before them for consideration and possible action. |
| Policy Impacts | The effect that government policy and its administrative practices can have on something. |
| Congressional Statute | A written law enacted by the United States Congress. |
| Presidential Action | An activity the president undertakes to influence Congress or public policy. |
| Court Decision | A conclusion reached after an evaluation of facts and law. Decisions made by the US Supreme Court are binding on all other courts. |
| Budgetary Choices | Prioritizing issues and policy choices based on the limited fiscal resources of a government. |
| Regulation | A principle, rule, or law designed to control or govern conduct. A governmental order having the force of law. |
| Democracy | a system of government in which the people rule, typically through elected representatives. |
| Majority Rule | a political principle providing that fifty percent plus one of an organized group will have the power to make decisions binding upon the whole. |
| Minority Rights | While we believe that the majority should rule, equally as important we believe the majority cannot be allowed to abuse use its power to violate the basic and inalienable rights of the minority. |
| Representation | The action of speaking or acting on behalf of someone. |
| Pluralism | A theory by Robert Dahl of who holds power in a government. Political power is held by many different groups, both governmental and non-governmental (interest groups). Additionally, the groups vary depending on the issue. |
| Elitism | Theories of political power which hold that power is held by a small select group of people. |
| Marxist Theory of Government | A theory by Karl Marx of who holds power in a government. Political power is held by the capitalists (business owners). |
| The Power Elite | A theory by C. Wright Mills of who holds power in a government. Political power is held by elite group of political, military, and business leaders. |
| Hyperpluralism | A belief that the diverse interest groups that influence policy (pluralism) are so diverse and powerful that the government can no longer take action on some (many) issues. |
| Policy Gridlock | A situation in which there is difficulty passing laws that satisfy the needs of the people because of a political stalemate. See Hyperpluralism. |
| Bureaucratic Management | A theory by Max Weber of who holds power in an organization, or government. Elected leaders come and go, but the bureaucracy, those who work in all the various governmental departments and agencies do not change, and they truly control the government. It is in their self-interest to see that change is not done swiftly. |
| Political Culture | A set of attitudes and practices held by a people that shapes their political behavior. It includes moral judgments, political myths, beliefs, and ideas about what makes for a good society. |
| Egalitarianism | The principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities. |
| Individualism | The principle that stresses human independence and the importance of individual self-reliance and liberty. It opposes outside interference with an individual's choices, whether by society or the state. |
| Laissez-faire | The belief that there should be a minimum of governmental interference in the economic affairs of individuals and society. |
| Populism | A belief in the power of regular people, and in their right to have control over their government rather than a small group of political insiders or a wealthy elite. |
| GDP | Gross Domestic Product is the measure of a nation's total economic activity. It represents the monetary value of all goods and services produced within a nation's geographic borders over a specified period of time. |
| Authoritarian | a way of governing that values order and control over personal freedom. The government is run by one person or a small group, but the people have no control of the government. |
| Totalitarianism | A government in which the political authority exercises absolute, centralized control over all aspects of life, the individual is subordinated to the state, and opposing political and cultural expression is suppressed. |
| Dictatorship | A government in which all power is held by one person. |
| Absolute Monarchy | A government in which the monarch, hereditary ruler, has absolute power among his or her people. Absolute monarchs wields unrestricted political power over the country and its people. |
| Constitutional Monarchy | A government in which the monarch's power is restrained by a legislature, by custom, and or by law (a constitution). Generally, these monarchs are ceremonial rulers only. |
| Fascism | a political philosophy that puts a nation and often race above the individual. A fascist state has a centralized autocratic government with severe economic and social control, and forcible suppression of opposition. |
| Oligarchy | A government, institution controlled by a small group of people. |
| Theocracy | A government controlled by religious authority. Usually, the laws are said to come from God. |
| Military Junta | A authoritarian government, often an oligarchy, but possibly a dictatorship, is controlled by the military. |
| Direct Democracy | All the people govern themselves by discussing and voting on all issues individually as citizens. They do not elect representatives. |
| Representative Democracy | A government in which the people rule by freely electing people to pass laws for them. Representative democracies are by definition republics. |
| Republic | A government in which the people rule by freely electing people to pass laws for them. Republics are by definition representative democracies |
| Parliamentary Democracy | a form of representative democracy in which voters only elect the legislature. The legislature chooses one its members as the chief executive (prime minister). |
| Presidential Democracy | a form of government in which the executive branch is elected separately from the legislative branch. |
| Capitalism | an economic system based on private ownership of the businesses and their operation for profit. Goods are bought and sold in an open and free market. |
| Communism | an economic theory calling for a classless society and the abolition of private property. All property is owned by all, everyone shares the burden of labor, and everyone shares the profits of that labor. |
| Socialism | an economic theory calling for the government to own, at least some, businesses and control the distribution of those goods. |
