| authoritarian government | A political system that allows little or no participation in decision making by individuals and groups outside the upper reaches of the government.
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| authoritarianism | A type of restrictive governmental system where people are under the rule of an individual, such as a dictator or king, or a group, such as a party or military junta.
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| communism | An ideology that originated in the works of
Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx that is essentially an economic
theory. As such, it is the idea that an oppressed proletariat
class of workers would eventually organize and revolt
against those who owned the means of production, the
bourgeoisie; a political system of government applied in
China, and elsewhere, wherein the state owns the means of
production as a system to expedite Engels and Marx’s economic theory.
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| communitarianism | The concept that the welfare of the collective must be valued over any individual rights or liberties.
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| democratic government | The most basic concept describes the ideology of a body governed by and for the people; also the type of governmental system a country has, in terms of free and fair elections and levels of participation.
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| democratic peace theory | The assertion that as more countries become democratic, the likelihood that they will enter into conflict with one another decreases.
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| fascism | An ideology that advocates extreme nationalism,
with a heightened sense of national belonging or ethnic
identity.
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| individualism | The concept that rights and liberties of the individual are paramount within a society.
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| instrumental theory of government | The notion that the purpose of political units and their governments is to benefit the people who established them and that the continued legitimate existence of these organizations rests on whether and how well they perform their tasks.
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| monarchism | A political system that is organized, governed,
and defined by the idea of the divine right of kings, or the
notion that because a person is born into royalty, he or she
is meant to rule.
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| national interest | A term that is often loosely applied to mean the interests of a country or its government as defined subjectively by those in power in the country, but which more accurately means the interests of the country’s nation, its people.
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| power elite | A relatively small group of people with similar backgrounds, values, and pol¬icy prefer¬ences who occupy most of the leadership positions in govern¬ment, business, media, social, and other societal institutions and move back and forth among leadership positions in those institu¬tions.
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| procedural democracy | A form of democracy that is defined by whether or not particular procedures are followed, such as free and fair elections or following a set of laws or a constitution.
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| social contract | The implicit understanding agreed to by those who merged into a society and created a government. The social contract details the proper functions of and prohibitions on government.
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| sovereignty | The most essential characteristic of an international
state. The term strongly implies political independence
from any higher authority and also suggests at least
theoretical equality.
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| state of nature | A theoretical time in human history when people lived independently or in family groups and there were no societies of nonrelated individuals or governments.
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| substantive democracy | A form of democracy that is defined by whether qualities of democracy, such as equality, justice, or self-rule, are evident.
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| theocracy | A political system that is organized, governed, and defined by spiritual leaders and their religious beliefs.
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