Political terms Political terms * Anarchism — a philosophy that opposes all forms of government and coercion. A synonym for anti-statism. ...more on Wikipedia about "Anarcho-capitalist terminology and symbolism"
Apportionment, or reapportionment, is the process of determining representation in politics within a legislative body by creating constituencies. This is typically done in proportion to the population in the individual sectors. The United States, for instance, delimits the House of Representatives seats proportionally between states, who then create districts for House members to run in. ...more on Wikipedia about "Apportionment (politics)"
An apportionment paradox exists when the rules for apportionment in a political system produce results which are unexpected or seem to violate common sense. ...more on Wikipedia about "Apportionment paradox"
In American politics and advertising, the term astroturfing describes formal public relations projects which deliberately seek to engineer the impression of spontaneous, grassroots behavior. The goal is the appearance of independent public reaction to a politician, political group, product, service, event, etc., by centrally orchestrating the behavior of many diverse and geographically distributed individuals. ...more on Wikipedia about "Astroturfing"
Attack poodle is a political epithet or pejorative that typically denotes a vociferous but utterly servile defender of a given political leader, party, or faction. It gained popular currency in 2002 when a member of the British Parliament who ran afoul of the Labour party Chief Whip charged that Prime Minister Tony Blair was setting out "one of his attack poodles" to bring him or her into line. It is a partly facetious expression that has been used in British and American politics, equivalent in meaning to a party hack. ...more on Wikipedia about "Attack poodle"
The Bjelkemander was the term given to the zonal system of electorates in the Australian State of Queensland, used by State Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen to consolidate his hold on executive power in the 1970s and 1980s. Under this system, electorates were allocated to zones such as rural or metropolitan and electoral boundaries drawn so that rural electorates had about half as many voters as metropolitan, a system greatly favouring political parties deriving their support from rural areas. ...more on Wikipedia about "Bjelkemander"
A Blairite is someone who supports the policies and approach of Tony Blair, leader of the British Labour Party and, arguably, the centre of the most influental current in social democracy since Willy Brandt's ostpolitik. ...more on Wikipedia about "Blairite"
Cabinet collective responsibility is constitutional convention in the states that use the Westminster System. It means that members of the Cabinet must publicly support all governmental decisions made in Cabinet, even if they do not privately agree with them. ...more on Wikipedia about "Cabinet collective responsibility"
Client Politics is the type of politics when an organized minority or interest group benefits at the expense of the public. This is particularly common in a pluralist system, such as in the United States, where minorities can have considerable power shaping public policy. ...more on Wikipedia about "Client politics"
The coattail effect is the tendency for a popular political party leader to attract votes for other candidates of the same party in an election. For example, in the United States, the party of a victorious presidential candidate will often win many seats in Congress as well; these congressmen are voted into office “on the coattails” of the president. ...more on Wikipedia about "Coattail effect"
Cultural conservatism is conservatism with respect to culture. This term is increasingly used in political debate, but is rather ill-defined. ...more on Wikipedia about "Cultural conservatism"
A dark horse candidate is one who is nominated unexpectedly, without previously having been discussed or considered as a likely choice. Often a dark horse is selected as a compromise when other, more prominent candidates' factions cannot come to an agreement. This metaphoric expression originally alluded to an unknown horse winning a race and was so used in a novel by Benjamin Disraeli (The Young Duke, 1831). ...more on Wikipedia about "Dark horse"
Democratic centralism is the name given to the principles of internal organization used by Leninist political parties, and the term is sometimes used as a synonym for any Leninist policy inside a political party. The democratic aspect of this organizational method describes the freedom of members of the political party to discuss and debate matters of policy and direction, but once the decision of the party is made by majority vote, all members are expected to follow that decision in public. This latter aspect represents the centralism. As Lenin described it, democratic centralism consisted of "freedom of discussion and criticism, unity of action". ...more on Wikipedia about "Democratic centralism"
Democratization is the transition from authoritarian or semi-authoritarian systems to democratic political systems, where democratic systems are taken to be those approximating to universal suffrage, regular elections, a civil society, the rule of law, and an independent judiciary. ...more on Wikipedia about "Democratization"
Division of the house is a parliamentary mechanism which calls for a rising vote, wherein the members of the house literally divide into groups indicating a vote in favor of or in opposition to a motion on the floor. This was the method used to decide motions in the Roman Senate (and was occasionally used in democratic Athens), and the appropriate motion for a division of the house under Robert's Rules of Order is to "call for a division". ...more on Wikipedia about "Division of the house"
Entryism (or entrism or enterism) is a political tactic by which an organisation encourages members to infiltrate another organisation in an attempt to gain recruits, or take over entirely. ...more on Wikipedia about "Entryism"
An Executive Agency is a British public institution that carries out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Executive, Welsh Assembly and Northern Ireland Executive. ...more on Wikipedia about "Executive Agency"
A faith-based community is a community where its residents all believe in the same religious concepts, or at least they did when it was founded. Many faith-based communities are communes, although this is not a requirement. An example of faith-based communities is Amish country in the US. Also, in 1846-1847, many Mormons migrated westward to establish a faith-based community in Utah. Some people include Israel and Iran as faith-based communities, but both cases bear closer resemblance to a theocracy (the latter more prominently; both Israeli and Iranian law are based on tenets of respective faiths, but there is less of a coercive element in the former and more in the latter). Many fundamentalist Christians would like to create a faith-based community (that is a state in the US) where their beliefs will be protected more strongly. ...more on Wikipedia about "Faith-based community"
Family values is a political buzzword first used in the United States in 1966 to describe a set of moral guidelines for defining the "proper" structure and role of a family and its members, supported by appeals to tradition. Most often, the term connotes a conservative ideology that supports what they consider to be traditional Christian morality or Christian values. ...more on Wikipedia about "Family values"
(Family-friendliness) The concept of "family friendly" entertainment or information, or of the media carrying them being so, is an aspect of the family values controversy in American political and social discourse. The moral connotations the concept and terms are used with varies greatly with speaker, and a single speaker may often use them differently privately and publicly. ...more on Wikipedia about "Family-friendliness"
Favorite son is a political term that can refer to two different types of politicians: ...more on Wikipedia about "Favorite son"
A "flip-flop" (used mostly in the United States) or a U-turn (used in the United Kingdom) is a sudden real or apparent change of policy or opinion. Usually it will occur during the period prior to an election in order to maximize the candidate's popularity. ...more on Wikipedia about "Flip-flop (politics)"
A form of government (also referred to as a system of government) is a social institution composed of various people, institutions craxand their relations in regard to the governance (or government) of a state. Different forms of government have different political systems—a term which is generally considered to be a separate but related concept. ...more on Wikipedia about "Form of government"
Fourth Reich is used by neo-Nazi and Nazi mystic groups who believe or hope that a "Fourth Reich", a resurrection of the Third Reich will one day be established. The more secular neo-Nazis believe it will be established through political means; some Nazi mystics believe that Hitler is still alive and has gone to another dimension or is hiding in the center of the Earth, and will return aboard UFOs to conquer the world, in a move akin to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. ...more on Wikipedia about "Fourth Reich"
Grassroots democracy is a tendency towards designing political processes where as much decision-making authority as is practical to the organization's lowest geographic level of organization. To cite a specific hypothetical example, a grassroots national organization, such as an NGO, would place as much decision-making power as possible in the hands of a local chapter instead of the head office. The principle is that for democratic power to be best exercised it must be vested in a local community instead of isolated, atomized individuals. As such, grassroots organizations exist in contrast to so-called participatory systems, which tend to allow individuals equal access to decision-making irrespective of their standing in a local community, and, which particular community they reside. As well, grassroots systems also differ from representative systems that allow local communities or national memberships to elect representatives who then go on to make decisions. ...more on Wikipedia about "Grassroots democracy" Evergreen http://www.shortopedia.com!!! shortopedia
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