32. A Glossary of Political Vocabulary

A Glossary of Political Vocabulary

Absolutism (absolute) the holding and exercising of total political (legislative, executive, judicial) power by one individual.

Arbitrary the taking of action or a position without being limited by rules or guidelines; unrestricted

Aristocracy (aristocrat, aristocratic) The traditional upper class of feudal titled land-holders whose right to title, power, and privilege is hereditary. Aristocracy is used interchangeably with nobility.

(Titles of aristocracy include duke, duchess, earl, baron, marquis, among others. Aristocrats / nobles are often generically identified as lords.)

Autonomy (autonomous) self-government (self-governing)

Bourgeoisie (bourgeois) the middle class: merchants, artisans, manufacturers, and professionals - doctors, lawyers, scholars, journalists (In the Marxist context, bourgeoisie identifies the class that owns the wealth of industrial capitalism.)

Center (centrist) (See Political Spectrum below.)

Centralization the concentration of all political power over a state in the central government

Clergy (cleric, clerical) priests: that body of persons ordained for religious purposes

Coalition the joining together of states or other political groups for a common purpose; alliance

Commoner (commons) those persons lacking titles of nobility.

Conservative (See Political Spectrum below.)

Constitution that body of law, custom, tradition by which a state is governed.

Crown royal government; monarch

Despot (despotism, despotic) an absolute ruler (usually applied to tyrants or rulers who abused their power)

Diet term sometimes used to identify a meeting or assembly of officials: a parliament, a synod (meeting of clergy).

Divine Right the belief that the holding of political power is by God’s will

Duchy a princely state ruled by a hereditary duke or duchess

Ecclesiastical of or pertaining to the church

Elector one who is appointed or otherwise chosen to cast a vote. In the Holy Roman Empire, Elector was a

hereditary title of a princely ruler whose prerogatives included the election of the Holy Roman Emperor.

Executive the administrative power of government

Franchise the right to vote; traditionally the franchise was based on wealth or property qualifications

Hegemony the predominating influence of one state over another or other states

Hierarchy a system in which authority is arranged in ranks one above the other.

Holy See the papacy or papal court (from Latin, sedere – “sit,” the area under the authority of a bishop or archbishop)

Judicial (judiciary) the power of government to exercise justice.

Junta (Spanish, pronounced hoonta) a council or committee for political or governmental purposes;

especially : a group of persons controlling a government especially after a revolutionary seizure of power

Kakistocracy rule by the worst, derived from the Greek kakistos (worst) and kratos (rule).

Legislative (legislation, legislator, legislature) the law-making power of government

Left (leftist, left-winger) (See Political Spectrum below.)

Liberal (See Political Spectrum below.)

Lord generic term for a member of the aristocracy / nobility

Machiavellianism (Machiavellian) The exercise of policy or decision-making in relation to the overall good of the state

as based on ends-means considerations without regard for moral or ethical implications .

Moderate (See Political Spectrum page)

Monarchy (monarch) the ruling of a kingdom by one individual by virtue of heredity or other claim to power.

Nobility (See aristocracy)

Oligarchy (oligarch) government / rule by a few persons (usually commoners)

Peasantry (peasants) the traditional agricultural lower class; farmers - may be free peasants or serfs (peasants bound to the land by feudal contract)

Pluralism (pluralistic) a form of society in which members of minority groups retain their independent cultural identity

and traditions. The Holy Roman Empire was politically pluralistic.

Plutocracy (plutocrat) government / rule by the wealthy (usually commoners)

Political Nation Those persons who have an actual role or “voice” in the making of law and policy. In modern

democracies, the political nation is those who have the right to vote. In traditional societies, the

political nation might be the monarch alone, or the monarch and the aristocracy.

Political Spectrum (See Political Spectrum below.)

Prince the hereditary or ecclesiastical ruler of a small state; any male member of a reigning royal family

Principality a state ruled by a prince of a hereditary royal or ducal family

Proletariat term often used to identify the urban working class produced by the Industrial Revolution; from Latin proles,

that class that was so poor that it sold its children into slavery. (In the Marxist context, proletariat identifies

that class that produces the wealth of industrial capitalism.)

Protocol The code or standards of proper forms and procedures upon which negotiations or ceremonial events take place

Radical (See Political Spectrum below.)

Raison d’état (French) reason of state; a Machiavellian justification of policy

Reactionary (See Political Spectrum below.)

Regent one appointed to administer a kingdom in the name of the crown in the minority, absence, or illness of a monarch

Republic a state that is ruled by a government (theoretically or actually) representative of the public (not people, but of

the public as a whole -from Latin: res publica “thing of the public”)

Revenues sources of funding, most commonly taxes but also loans, fees, fines, and wealth derived from the operation of

state-owned lands or businesses

Right (rightist, right-winger) (See Political Spectrum below.)

Serf (See peasantry)

Sovereignty (sovereign) independence; the highest governing authority;

A state that is sovereign is one that is fully self-governing free of any other state or outside

influence.

A ruler / government that is sovereign recognizes no higher authority and exercises undivided

power.

(Of the terms autonomy and sovereignty, both can mean self-governing, but sovereignty is stronger reflecting independent national power).

State an autonomous or sovereign political community organized under one government.

Theocracy (theocratic) a government controlled by a priest or a religious hierarchical system; As the Pope was the ruler of

the Papal States (today Vatican City), his government was (is) a theocracy.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Political Spectrum

Where do you stand on an issue? Are you liberal or conservative? Radical or reactionary? Or, are you a moderate? What does it mean when one is called a leftist or when one is said to be right of center in one's political thinking? The terms liberal, moderate, conservative, radical, reactionary, left, right, and center - all so frequently used today to indicate differing political attitudes, acquired their political meaning during the French Revolution, 1789 - 1799.

Conservative - favoring preservation of existing conditions, institutions, etc., but willing to accept gradual change (rather than abrupt change) to bring about improvement of economic, social, or political conditions. Location on the spectrum: right.

Other political applications of conservative: traditional, conventional, cautious, temperate

Liberal - favoring the freedom of the individual, parliamentary and constitutional systems of government; legal and non-violent change in political, social, and economic institutions to assure unrestricted development in all areas of human endeavor; government guarantees of individual rights and freedoms. Location on the spectrum: left.

Other political applications of liberal: open, fair, broad-minded, general, unselfish, free, flexible, progressive, lenient, loose, humanist

Moderate - favoring the keeping within reasonable or proper limits; not extreme, excessive, or intense; opposed to extreme views and actions. Location on the spectrum: center.

Other political applications of moderate: mainstream, middle-of-the-road, centrist

Radical - favoring fundamental political, economic, or social reforms by direct and often uncompromising methods; extremist liberal thinking; revolutionary use of illegal or violent means to achieve ends. Location on the spectrum: far left.

Other political applications of radical: extremist, revolutionary, militant

Reactionary - an attitude of extreme political conservatism; favoring the use of revolutionary, illegal, or violent means to prevent liberal reform; favoring return to a previously existing position ("setting back the clock"). Location on the spectrum: far right.

Other political applications of reactionary: ultraconservative, extremist, militant

The Political Left, Right, and Center

The terms left, center, and right first acquired political meaning during the French Revolution in the 1790s. The revolutionary politicians identified themselves as groups by sitting in differing locations in the assembly hall. Those of one political view sat in one location; those of an opposing view sat in the location opposite; those of no defined view sat in between. In the Legislative Assembly that first met in 1791, radicals and liberals sat on the left side of the presiding officer. Conservative and reactionary politicians sat on the right side of the presiding officer. Moderates sat in the center. In time this practice became commonplace in parliamentary assemblies throughout continental Europe, and the terms left, right, and center became part of our political vocabulary.

left / leftist - radical or liberal

center / centrist - moderate

right / rightist - conservative or reactionary