SY3 Understanding Politics Flashcards
Politics
The battles or struggles for power between different social groups and individuals
Power
The capacity to get your own way in society.
Counter power
Term used to describe attempts to socially resist powerful groups. (Manuel Castells)
Coercion
Power arising from force or the threat of force. (Weber)
Authority
Legitimate power based on consent, where people voluntarily submit to the will of others. (Weber)
Legitimacy
Where power becomes authority. People see existing power structures as right and acceptable
Charismatic authority
Authority derived from the power of the personality and persuasiveness of leaders. (Weber)
Traditional authority
Authority derived from a belief in long-standing customs. (Weber)
Legal rational authority
Authority based on laws, rules and regulations
Decision making
The power to make, influence and implement decisions which affect other people (Lukes)
Agenda management
The power to set agendas and therefore limit what’s being discussed. Also called ‘non-decision making’ (Lukes)
Wish manipulation
The power to shape people’s minds i.e. ‘ideological power’ (Lukes)
Democracy
Government or rule by the people.
Direct democracy
A form of democracy where all citizens or members of a community make the decisions themselves (‘participatory democracy’).
Referendums
Where the government allows the public a vote on a question about a particular issue or policy. (e.g. membership of the EU)
Representative democracy
An indirect form of democracy where the people regularly elect representatives in free and fair elections
Liberal democracy
A special form of representative democracy associated with respect for diversity and civil liberties
Civil liberties
Personal and social freedoms which are guaranteed by law e.g. ‘freedom of speech’
Authoritarian states
Countries where the people’s participation in political affairs is denied or severely restricted (i.e. the opposite of democracy)
Dictatorship
Rule by a single individual or political entity (e.g. Hitler’s Third Reich)
Monarchical absolutism
A society where the Royal Family rule (e.g. Saudi Arabia)
Junta
Rule by the military (e.g. Burma)
Theocracy
Rule by religious leaders (e.g. Iran)
Totalitarianism
A term used to describe the most extreme forms of authoritarian government that rule through all encompassing propaganda, brutality and terror (e.g. North Korea)