Nation-state
A single people (a "nation") governed by a political authority (a "state"). Similar to the modern notion of "country.
Law
A system of binding and recognized rules that regulate the actions of people pertaining to a given jurisdiction.
Citizen
A legally recognized inhabitant of a country who bears the rights and responsibilities of citizenship as defined by the state.
Noncitizens
Individuals who reside in a given jurisdiction but do not possess the same rights and privileges as the citizens who are recognized inhabitants. Sometimes referred to as residents, temporary workers, or aliens.
Welfare state
A government or country's system of providing for the financial and social well-being of its citizens, typically through government programs that provide funding or other resources to individuals who meet certain criteria.
Interest groups
Advocacy or lobby groups that utilize their organizational and social resources to influence legislation and the functioning of social institutions.
Class dominance theory
The argument that a small and concentrated group of elite or upper-class people dominate and influence societal institutions; compatible with conflict theory.
Power elite
A group of people with a disproportionately high level of influence and resources who utilize their status to influence the functioning of societal institutions.
Coercion
The threat or use of physical force in order to ensure compliance.
Traditional authority
Power based on a belief in the sanctity of long-standing traditions and the legitimate right of rulers to exercise authority in accordance with those traditions.
Rational-legal authority
Power based on a belief in the lawfulness of enacted rules (laws) and the legitimate right of leaders to exercise authority under such rules.
Charismatic authority
Power based on devotion inspired in followers by the personal qualities of a leader.
Authoritarianism
A form of governance in which ordinary members of society are denied the right to participate in government, while political power is exercised by and for the benefit of a small political elite.
Monarchy
A form of governance in which power resides in an individual or a family and is passed from one generation to the next through hereditary lines.
Dictatorship
A form of governance in which power rests in a single individual.
Totalitarianism
A form of governance that denies popular political participation in government as well as seeks to regulate and control all aspects of the public and private lives of citizens.
Democracy
A form of governance in which citizens are able to participate directly or indirectly in their own governance.
Direct democracy
A political system in which all citizens fully participate in their own governance.
Representative democracy
A political system in which citizens elect representatives to govern them.
Politics
The art or science of influencing public policy.
PACs (political action committees)
Organizations created by groups such as corporations, unions, environmentalists, and other interest groups for the purpose of gathering money and contributing to political candidates who favor the groups' interests.
Lobbyists
Paid professionals whose job it is to influence legislation.
War economy
the phenomenon of war boosting economic productivity and employment, particularly in capital and labor intensive sectors such as industrial production
Terrorism
the calculated use of violence (or threat of violence) to inculcate fear; intended to intimidate societies in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature
Cyberterrorism
hacking into government and private computer systems and crippling the military, financial, and service sectors of advanced economies
legitimate authority
a type of power that is recognized as rightful by those over whom it is exercised