Governement And Politics Glossary

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Politics

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the activities associated with the governance of a country or area, especially the debate between parties having power.

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Authority

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the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience. For example the PM has influence over his civil servants

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Mandate

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an official order or commission to do something.

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Power

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the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events.

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Legitimacy

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conformity to the law or to rules.

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Democracy

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a system of government in which power is given to the people to rule directly or through elected representatives.

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E- democracy

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‘e’, which signifies the online component, and ‘democracy’, predominantly linked with liberal-individualist (who you are and your viewpoints make you rather than your culture and background) or pluralist (all cultures) approaches.

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Political Culture

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Political culture is the set of attitudes and beliefs which give order and meaning to a political process.

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Pluralism

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Where more than two sources of authority exist.

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Electorate

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all the people in a country or area who are entitled to vote in an election.

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Franchise

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privilege to vote in election of public officials

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Political Apathy

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indifference on any citizen of any country with regard to attitude towards political attitudes

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Political Hapathy

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voters may not vote as they are already happy with the way they are being governed Political Hapathy - voters may not vote as they are already happy with the way they are being governed

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Participation Crisis

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low electoral turnouts and party membership. Possible causes of participation crisis – decline in social capital; behaviour of politicians; influence of the media; consensus politics; foregone outcome.

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Power Inquiry

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A report created to see how political participation and involvement can be increased in Britain. It’s base is that a healthy democracy requires the active participation of electorates.

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Turnout

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The percentage of eligible voters who vote in a certain election eg General Elections

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Voting Behaviour

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Behaviour which determines how people vote

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Differential Turnout

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The way in which people tend to vote.They are influenced by several factors like social class, location, age and background.

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Patterns of Voting

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The patterns which can be observed through the masses of voters. For example, female voters are more likely to vote for Conservatives possibly because they have more child friendly policies.

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Mass Media

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a form of communication (tv, news, social media) that influences a large amount of people

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Partisan Alignment

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when certain social classes, religious groups or ethnic groups tend to support a party for a long time. For example the middle class has been prone to support the Conservatives for a long time

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Partisan Dealignment

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Dealignment, in political science, is a trend or process whereby a large portion of the electorate abandons its previous partisan affiliation, without developing a new one to replace it.

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Embourgeoisement

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the rapid increase in society values especially the middle class in materialism.