Write Like A Political Scientist

Writing Frames

• 30-Mark Source Questions (Paper 1 - Question 1a or 1b / Paper 2 - Question 1a or 1b):

• 30-Mark Essay Questions (Paper 1 - Question 2a or 2b / Paper 2 - Question 2a or 2b / Paper 3 - Question 3a or 3b or 3c):

• 24-Mark Political Ideas Questions (Paper 1 - Question 3a or 3b / Paper 2 - Question 3a or 3b):

• 12-Mark Comparative Questions (Paper 3 - Question 1a or 1b):

• 12-Mark Comparative Theory Questions (Paper 3 - Question 2):

Evaluative Phrases

• “This is a strong argument because...”
• “This is a weak argument because…”
• “This claim can be effectively countered by…”
• “This claim can be countered, but rather poorly, by…”
• “This point stands up to scrutiny as…”
• “This point fails to stand up to scrutiny as…”
• “The underlying assumption behind this reason is a convincing one…”
• “The underlying assumption behind this reason is doubtful…”
• “The two assertions are equally balanced…”
• “It is difficult to choose between the evidence here…”

Useful Conjunctions

• Addition:
  • again
  • also
  • and
  • another
  • as well as
  • furthermore
  • in addition
  • moreover
  • too
  • what is more

• Cause and effect:
  • as a consequence
  • as a result
  • as long as
  • because
  • consequently
  • depending upon
  • inevitably
  • since
  • therefore
  • whenever

• Comparison:
  • by the same token
  • comparatively
  • congruently
  • correspondingly
  • equally
  • equivalently
  • in the same way
  • just as
  • likewise
  • similarly

• Concession:
  • admittedly
  • despite this
  • in any case
  • in spite of
  • nevertheless
  • notwithstanding
  • on the other hand
  • regardless
  • still
  • while it is true that

• Contrast:
  • alternatively
  • although
  • despite this
  • however
  • in contrast
  • on the contrary
  • on the other hand
  • otherwise
  • whereas
  • yet

• Emphasis:
  • above all
  • especially
  • in fact
  • in particular
  • indeed
  • more important(ly)
  • notably
  • significantly
  • specifically
  • undoubtedly

• Illustration:
  • essentially
  • for example
  • for instance
  • in actual fact
  • it became clear that
  • such as
  • this means that
  • this shows that
  • thus
  • to illustrate

• Summary and conclusion:
  • after all
  • finally
  • in conclusion
  • in short
  • in the end
  • on the whole
  • overall
  • throughout
  • to summarise
  • ultimately

Punctuation

• Colon:
  • Appearance: ":"
  • Use: a colon is used to list, join two clauses when the second cannot stand alone, and before a quotation or direct speech.
  • Examples:
    • You will need: a calculator, ruler and pen.
    • I knew what to do: admit I had no book.
    • Sir said: “Mark is a very able statistician.”

• Semi-Colon:
  • Appearance: ";"
  • Use: a semi-colon is used in between two equal clauses, which are closely related but could stand alone.
  • Examples:
    • Lizzie went to town; I stayed at home.
    • Terry hates spiders; he finds them creepy.
    • I love dogs; however, I dislike their smell.

Key Terms - Paper 1

Spellings and use of capital letters ought to be noted.

• Democracy & Participation:
  • Democratic deficit: A flaw in the democratic process where decisions are taken by people who lack legitimacy, not having been appointed with sufficient democratic input or subject to accountability.
  • Direct democracy: All individuals express their opinions themselves and not through representatives acting on their behalf. This type of democracy emerged in Athens in classical times and direct democracy can be seen today in referendums.
  • Franchise/suffrage: Franchise and suffrage both refer to the ability/right to vote in public elections. Suffragettes were women campaigning for the right to vote on the same terms as men.
  • Legitmacy: The rightful use of power in accordance with pre-set criteria or widely-held agreements, such as a government’s right to rule following an election or a monarch’s succession based on the agreed rules.
  • Participation crisis: A lack of engagement by a significant number of citizens to relate to the political process either by choosing not to vote or to join or become members of political parties or to offer themselves for public office.
  • Lobbyist: A lobbyist is paid by clients to try to influence the government and/or MPs and members of the House of Lords to act in their clients’ interests, particularly when legislation is under consideration.
  • Pluralist democracy: A type of democracy in which a government makes decisions as a result of the interplay of various ideas and contrasting arguments from competing groups and organisations.
  • Representative democracy: A more modern form of democracy through which an individual selects a person (and/or political party) to act on their behalf to exercise political choice.
  • Think tanks: A body of experts brought together to collectively focus on a certain topic(s) – to investigate and offer solutions to often complicated and seemingly intractable economic, social or political issues.

• Political Parties:
  • Old Labour (social democracy): Key Labour principles embodying nationalisation, redistribution of wealth from rich to poor and the provision of continually improving welfare and state services, which largely rejected Thatcherite/free-market reforms or a Blairite approach.
  • New Labour(Third Way): A revision of the traditional Labour values and ideals represented by Old Labour. Influenced by Anthony Giddens, the ‘Third Way’ saw Labour shift in emphasis from a heavy focus on the working class to a wider class base, and a less robust alliance with the trade unions.
  • One Nation Conservatism: A paternalistic approach adopted by Conservatives under the leadership of Benjamin Disraeli in the 19th century and continued by David Cameron and Theresa May in the 21st century, that the rich have an obligation to help the poor.
  • New Right Conservatism: There are two elements – (i) the neo (or new) Conservatives who want the state to take a more authoritarian approach to morality and law and order and (ii) the neo-liberals who endorsed the freemarket approach and the rolling back of the state in people’s lives and businesses.
  • Classical Liberals: Classical liberalism is a philosophy developed by early liberals who believed that individual freedom would best be achieved with the state playing a minimal role.
  • Modern Liberals: Modern liberalism emerged as a reaction against free-market capitalism, believing this had led to many individuals not being free. Freedom could no longer simply be defined as ‘being left alone’.
  • Party Systems: The way or manner in which the political parties in a political system are grouped and structured. There are several variants that could apply to the UK, these include one-party dominant, two-party, two-and-a-half party and multi-party systems.
  • Left Wing: A widely-used term for those who desire change, reform and alteration to the way in which society operates. Often this involves radical criticisms of the capitalism made by liberal and socialist parties.
  • Right Wing: This term reflects support for the status quo, little or no change, stressing the need for order, stability and hierarchy – generally relates to Conservative parties.

• Electoral Systems:
  • First-past-the-post (FPTP): An electoral system where the person with the most number of votes is elected. Victory is achieved by having one more vote than other contenders – it is also called a plurality system.
  • Additional Member System (AMS): A hybrid electoral system that has two components or elements. The voter makes two choices. Firstly, the voter selects a representative on a simple plurality (FPTP) system then a second vote is apportioned to a party list for a second or ‘additional’ representative.
  • Single Transferable Vote (STV): This system allows voters to rank their voting preferences in numerical order rather than simply having one voting choice. In order to obtain a seat, a candidate must obtain a quota. After the votes are cast, those with the least votes are eliminated and their votes transferred and those candidates with excess votes above the quota also have their votes transferred.
  • Supplementary Vote(SV): This is a majoritarian system. The voter makes two choices (hence the term ‘supplementary’). If one candidate obtains over 50% on the first vote then the contest is complete, if no candidate attains this level, all but the top two candidates remain. Then the supplementary choices are re-distributed and whoever gets most votes from the remaining two, wins the seat.
  • Safe seat: A seat in which the incumbent has a considerable majority over the closest rival and which is largely immune from swings in voting choice. The same political party retains the seat from election to election. A majority of seats in UK Westminster constituencies are safe seats.
  • Marginal seat: A seat held by the incumbent with a small majority. There is no precise percentage or winning margin to which this aligns but a 10% margin would need only a swing of 5% to the rival party to take it. Marginal seats are important as they are where the outcomes of elections are decided. Only a minority of seats in UK Westminster constituencies are marginal.
  • Minority government: A government that enters office but which does not have a majority of seats in the legislature (Parliament). This makes passing legislation very difficult.
  • Coalition Government: A government that is formed of more than one political party. It is normally accompanied by an agreement over policy options and office of state, as was the Conservative-Liberal-Democrat coalition from 2010–2015.

• Voting Behaviour & the Media:
  • Class dealignment: The process where individuals no longer identify themselves as belonging to a certain class and for political purposes fail to make a class connection with their voting pattern.
  • Partisan dealignment: The process where individuals no longer identify themselves on a long-term basis by being associated with a certain political party.
  • Governing competency: The perceived ability of the governing party in office to manage the affairs of the state well and effectively. It can also be a potential view of opposition parties and their perceived governing competency if they were to secure office.
  • Disillusion & apathy: A process of disengagement with politics and political activity. Having no confident in politics and politicians as being able to solve issues and make a difference. Manifested in low turnout at elections and poor awareness of contemporary events.
  • Manifesto: In its manifesto, a political party will spell out in detail what actions and programmes it would like to put in place if it is successful in the next election – a set of promises for future action.
  • Mandate: The successful party following an election claims it has the authority (mandate) to implement its manifesto promises and also a general permission to govern as new issues arise.

• Conservatism:
  • Hierarchy: The Conservative belief that society is naturally organised in fixed tiers, where one’s position is not based on individual ability.
  • Authority: For Conservatives, this is the idea that people in higher positions in society are best able to make decisions in the interests of the whole society; authority thus comes from above.
  • Change to conserve: That society should adapt to changing circumstances rather than reject change outright and risk rebellion and/or revolution.
  • Atomism: That society is made up of self-interested and self-sufficient individuals (also known as egoistical individualism).
  • Noblesse oblige: The duty of the wealthy and privileged to look after those less fortunate.
  • Anti-permissiveness: A rejection of permissiveness, which is the belief that people should make their own moral choices, suggesting there is no objective right and wrong.
  • Radical: Belief whose ideas favour drastic political, economic and social change.
  • Human imperfection: The traditional conservative belief that humans are flawed in a number of ways which makes them incapable of making good decisions for themselves.
  • Laissez-faire: A preference towards minimal government intervention in business and the state.
  • Empiricism: The idea that knowledge comes from real experience and not from abstract theories.

• Liberalism:
  • Foundational equality: Rights that all humans have by virtue of being born which cannot be taken away (also known as natural rights and inalienable rights).
  • Formal equality: The idea that all individuals have the same legal and political rights in society.
  • Equality of opportunity: The idea that all individuals should have equal chances in life to rise and fall.
  • Social contract: The idea that the state/society is set up with agreement from the people to respect its laws which serve to protect them.
  • Meritocracy: A society organised on the basis that success is based on ability and hard work.
  • Mechanistic theory: The idea that the state was created by ‘man’ to serve the people and act in their interests.
  • Tolerance: A willingness to respect values, customs and beliefs with which one disagrees.
  • Limited government: The role of government is limited by checks and balances, and a separation of powers because of the corrupting nature of power.
  • Egoistical individualism: The idea that individual freedom is associated with self-interest and self-reliance (see also atomism).
  • Developmental individualism: The idea that individual freedom is linked to human flourishing.
  • Negative freedom: The absence of external constraints in society as well as no interference in the private sphere.
  • Positive freedom: The idea that freedom is about personal fulfilment and realisation of potential.
  • Laissez-faire capitalism: An economic system, organised by the market, where goods are produced for exchange and profit, and wealth is privately owned.
  • Keynesianism: An economic system that requires government involvement to stimulate the economy to achieve full employment and price stability.
  • Harm principle: The idea that individuals should be free to do anything except harm other individuals.
  • Minimal state: The idea that the role of the state must be restricted in order to preserve individual liberty.
  • Enabling state: A larger state that helps individuals to achieve their potential and be free.

• Socialism:
  • Fraternity: The bonds of comradeship between human beings. Co-operation Working collectively to achieve mutual benefits.
  • Capitalism: An economic system, organised by the market, where goods are produced for profit and wealth is privately owned.
  • Common ownership: Is the common ownership of the means of production so that all are able to benefit from the wealth of society and to participate in its running.
  • Communism: The communal organisation of social existence based on the common ownership of wealth.
  • Evolutionary socialism: A parliamentary route, which would deliver a long-term, radical transformation in a gradual, piecemeal way through legal and peaceful means, via the state.
  • Marxism: An ideological system, within socialism, that drew on the writings of Marx and Engels and has at its core a philosophy of history that explains why it is inevitable that capitalism will be replaced by communism.
  • Revisionism: A move to re-define socialism that involves a less radical view of capitalism and a reformed view of socialism.
  • Social justice: A distribution of wealth that is morally justifiable and implies a desire to limit inequality.
  • Class consciousness: The self-understanding of social class that is a historical phenomenon, created out of collective struggle.
  • Historical materialism: Marxist theory that the economic base (the economic system) forms the superstructure (culture, politics, law, ideology, religion, art and social consciousness).
  • Dialectic: A process of development that occurs through the conflict between two opposing forces. In Marxism, class conflict creates internal contradictions within society, which drives historical change.
  • Keynesian economics: Government intervention – can stabilise the economy and aims to deliver full employment and price stability.

Key Terms - Paper 2

Spellings and use of capital letters ought to be noted.

• The Constitution:
  • Constitution: A set of rules determining where sovereignty lies in a political system, and establishing the relationship between the government and the governed.
  • Entrenched constitution: A constitution with a special procedure for amendment.
  • Unentrenched constitution: A constitution with no special procedure for amendment.
  • Codified constitution: A constitution contained in a single written document.
  • Uncodified constitution: A constitution not contained in a single written document.
  • Federal state: A political system where legal sovereignty is shared between various political entitites, usually nationaly and regionally.
  • Unitary state: A political system where all legal sovereignty is contained in a single place.
  • Parliamentary sovereignty: The principle that Parliament can make, amend or unmake any law, and cannot bind its successors or be bound by its predecessors.
  • The rule of law: The principle that all people and bodies, including government, must follow the law and can be held to account if they do not.
  • Statue law: Laws passed by Parliament.
  • Common law: Laws made by judges where the law does not cover the issue or is unclear.
  • Conventions: Traditions not contained in law but influential in the operation of a political system.
  • Authoritative works: Works written by experts describing how a political system is run, they are not legally binding but are taken as significant guides.
  • Treaties: Formal agreements with other countries, usually ratified by Parliament.
  • Devolution: The dispersal of power, but not sovereignty, within a political system.

• Parliament:
  • Parliament: The British legislature made up of the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the monarch.
  • House of Commons: The primary chamber of the UK legislature, directly elected by voters.
  • House of Lords: The second chamber of the UK legislature, not directly elected by voters.
  • Confidence and supply: The rights to remove the government and to grant or withhold funding. Also used to describe a type of informal coalition agreement where the minority partner agrees to provide these things in exchange for policy concessions.
  • Salisbury Convention: The convention whereby the House of Lords does not delay or block legislation that was included in a government’s manifesto.
  • Parliamentary privilege: The right of MPs or Lords to make certain statements within Parliament without being subject to outside influence, including law.
  • Legislative bills: Proposed laws passing through Parliament.
  • Public bill committees: Committees responsible for looking at bills in detail.
  • Backbenchers: MPs or Lords who do not hold any government office.
  • Select committees: Committee responsible for scrutinising the work of government, particularly of individual government departments.
  • Opposition: The MPs and Lords who are not member of the governing party or parties.

• The Prime Minister & the Executive:
  • Executive: The collective group of Prime Minister, Cabinet and junior ministers, sometimes known as ‘The Government’.
  • Cabinet: The Prime Minister and senior ministers, most of whom lead a particular government department.
  • Minister: An MP or member of the House of Lords appointed to a position in the government, usually exercising specific responsibilities in a department.
  • Government department: A part of the executive, usually with specific responsibility over an area such as education, health or defence. Royal prerogative A set of powers and privileges belonging to the monarch but normally exercised by the Prime Minister or Cabinet, such as the granting of honours or of legal pardons.
  • Secondary legislation: Powers given to the Executive by Parliament to make changes to the law within certain specific rules.
  • Individual responsibility: The principle by which ministers are responsible for their personal conduct and for their departments.
  • Collective responsibility: Principle by which ministers must support Cabinet decisions or leave the Executive.
  • Presidential government: An executive dominated by one individual, this may be a President but is also used to describe a strong, dominant Prime Minister.

• The Relationship between the Branches of the Government:
  • Supreme Court: The highest court in the UK political system.
  • Judicial neutrality: The principle that judges should not be influenced by their personal political opinions and should remain outside of party politics.
  • Judicial independence: The principle that judges should not be influenced by other branches of government, particularly the Executive.
  • Judicial review: The power of the judiciary to review, and sometimes reverse, actions by other branches of government that breach the law or that are incompatible with the Human Rights Act.
  • Elective dictatorship: A government that dominates Parliament, usually due to a large majority, and therefore has few limits on its power.
  • European Union (EU): A political and economic union of a group of European countries.
  • Four freedoms (EU): The principle of free movement of goods, services, capital and people within the EU’s single market.
  • Legal sovereignty:cThe legal right to exercise sovereignty – i.e. sovereignty in theory.
  • Political sovereignty: The political ability to exercise sovereignty – i.e. sovereignty in practice.
  • Ultra vires: Literally ‘beyond the powers’. An action that is taken without legal authority when it requires it.

• Anarchism:
  • Power: From the anarchist viewpoint, power is the means or instruments such as the law, the police and the use of ideology, by which the state and other social institutions secure their authority.
  • Authority: From the anarchist perspective, authority is the right of one person or institution to influence the behaviour of others and is seen as commanding, controlling and corrupting.
  • Government: From an anarchist perspective, government is a particular system of rule, from monarchism to dictatorship to liberal democracy, based on deceit and violence.
  • State: From an anarchist perspective, the state is seen as a sovereign body that exerts total authority over all individuals and groups living within its defined geographical limits.
  • Altruism: Concern for the interest and welfare of others based on rational self-interest or a belief that humans are social beings with a capacity for social solidarity.
  • Autonomy: A form of self-government or legislation, a combination of freedom and responsibility, in which the individual is not subject to the will of the state or any other person.
  • Direct action: A whole range of political actions from non-violent to violent actions taken outside of the legal and constitutional framework.
  • Syndicalism: Revolutionary trade unionism that uses direct action and the mass strike as an expression of working-class power to inspire popular revolt.
  • Direct democracy: From an anarchist perspective, citizens making law and policy decisions in person rather than through elected representatives in a form of popular, self-government.
  • Solidarity: From an anarchist perspective, a relationship of sympathy, cooperation and harmony between people, which means that they have no need to be regulated by the state and any regulation makes solidarity impossible.
  • Mutualism: A system of equitable exchange between self-governing producers, organised individually or in association and small-scale private property based on use or possession.
  • Collectivisation: The abolition of private property and its replacement by a system of common ownership.
  • Mutual aid: The most successful species are those that employ solidarity and cooperation rather than individualistic competition.
  • Insurrection: Is not synonymous with revolution but is rather egoistic, not a political or social act, that allows individuals to elevate themselves above the established institutions, leaving the establishment to decay and die.

Key Terms - Paper 3

Spellings and use of capital letters ought to be noted.

• The Constitution:
  • Bipartisanship: Attempts within the structure of the US Congress to try and ensure that the two main parties must work together in order to fulfil Congressional functions.
  • Checks and balances: The division of power between the three branches of government where each branch has a direct ability to prevent action from another branch.
  • Codification: A constitution that is written down in one document.
  • Constitution: A set of rules determining where sovereignty lies in a political system, and establishing the precise relationship between the government and the governed.
  • Entrenchment: A system by which the US Constitution is protected from change by law; in this case, by the Amendment Process of Article V.
  • Enumerated powers: Such powers are stated explicitly in the US Constitution – for example Article 1, Section 8 provides a list of Congressional powers.
  • Federalism: The US system in which sovereignty is shared between a central government (federal government) and the individual states, with each having their own specific rights.
  • Limited government: The power of the US federal government over its states and citizens is subjects to limitations as laid out in the Constitution.
  • ‘Principle’: A fundamental and ‘organising’ idea that runs throughout the US Constitution, e.g. democracy or accountability.
  • Separation of powers: The three key bodies of government, legislature, executive and judiciary each have their own powers, personnel and buildings.

• Congress:
  • Congressional caucuses: These are groups of legislators who share special interests and meet to pursue common legislative objectives, e.g. black caucus, women’s caucus, Hispanic caucus.
  • Divided government: When the House of Representatives, Senate and presidency are not all controlled by one party.
  • Filibuster: When a senator gives a prolonged speech on the floor of the Senate in order to obstruct legislative progress of a bill or confirmation of appointments to the Executive or judiciary.
  • Gridlock: A situation in US politics where the president and Congress are equally powerful, constantly preventing each other from acting, resulting in difficulty passing legislation.
  • Incumbency: The current holder of a political office re House or Senate seat or presidency.
  • Mid-term elections: Congressional elections held mid-way through a President’s four year term.
  • Oversight: The ability of one branch of government to supervise the work of another.
  • Partisanship: A situation in which Congressmen/women are incredibly loyal to their party, even when it means that the result is gridlock.
  • Unanimous consent: A senator or Congressman/woman may request unanimous consent on the floor to set aside a specified rule of procedure so as to expedite proceedings.

• The Presidency:
  • Domestic politics: Issues within the USA that directly concern citizens, e.g. healthcare, gun control, racial issues.
  • Electoral mandate: An electoral mandate is the permission granted to a political leader or winning party to govern and act on their behalf, e.g. to President Obama in 2008 and 2012. The mandate is more or less in effect for as long as the government is in power.
  • Executive branch: The executive branch, headed by the president, is one of the three branches of government; the other two are the legislative branch (headed by Congress) and the judiciary (headed by the Supreme Court).
  • Executive orders: A direction to the federal bureaucracy on how the president would like a piece of legislation to be implemented.
  • Imperial presidency: A dominant presidency with ineffective checks and balances from the other branches.
  • Imperilled presidency: This is the contrasting theory to that of an imperial presidency – it is claimed that the president does not have enough power to be effective.
  • Informal powers: Powers of the president not listed in the Constitution but taken anyway.
  • Powers of persuasion: This is an informal power of the president in which they can use the prestige of their job, and other bargaining methods in order to get people to do as they wish.
  • Unified government: Where both Houses of Congress and the presidency are controlled by people from the same political party.

• The Supreme Court & Civil Rights:
  • Conservative justice: A Justice with a strong belief in stare decisis, with a more narrow view of the Constitution, more likely to believe in a literal interpretation of the wording and believing in a generally smaller government.
  • Imperial judiciary: A judiciary that is all powerful and on which checks and balances are weak and ineffective.
  • Judicial activism: An approach to judicial decision making that holds that a Justice should use their position to promote desirable social ends.
  • Judicial restraint: An approach to judicial decision making that holds that a Justice should defer to the executive and legislative branches, which are politically accountable to the people, and should put great stress on the principle established in previous court decisions.
  • Judicial review: The ability of the Supreme Court to declare acts of Congress, and acts or actions of the presidency, unconstitutional and therefore null and void.
  • Liberal Justice: A Justice who interprets the Constitution more broadly in order to give the people more freedom and bring about social change.
  • Living Constitution: The idea that the Constitution is an evolutionary document that can change over time through re-interpretation by the Supreme Court (linked to loose constructionism).
  • Originalism: The idea that the meaning of the US Constitution is fixed and should not be subject to interpretation.
  • Public policy: Legislation and judicial decisions made on any policy that affect the whole of the US population.
  • Stare decisis: This doctrine is built on the idea of standing by decided cases, upholding precedents and maintaining former adjudications – thus tends to favour status quo – this is the opposite of the ‘living Constitution’ approach.
  • Strict/loose constructionist: ‘Loose construction’ is a legal philosophy that favours a broad interpretation of a document's language. This term is often used to contrast with strict construction, a philosophy that favours looking solely at the written text of the law.
  • Swing Justice: An informal name for the Justice on the Supreme Court who falls ideologically in the centre of the nine current Justices.
  • Constitutional rights: The rights specifically outlined for citizens within the US Constitution, Bill of Rights and subsequent Amendments.
  • Racial equality: Racial equality is an equal regard to all races. It can refer to a belief in biological equality of all human races and to social equality for people of different races. In the USA, there remain calls for desegregation and voter registration in the south, and better jobs, housing and school integration in the north.
  • Affirmative action: A policy of favouring historically disadvantaged members of a community.

• Democracy & Participation:
  • Campaign finance: Campaign finance refers to all funds raised to promote candidates, political parties or policy initiatives and their agendas during an election.
  • Factions: The groups (factions) that make up political parties – ideological wings, particular age and occupation groups, citizens concerned about particular issues – are now a feature of modern politics.
  • Invisible primary: This is the period between when a candidate announces their bid for public office and when the actual primaries take place. It is also sometimes called the ‘money primary’ since candidates spend most of their time during this period raising money in an effort to show political strength.
  • Political Action Committee (PACs): This raises and spends money in order to elect/defeat electoral candidates, with a donation limit of $5,000 per candidate per election.
  • Party system: The number of parties that have a realistic chance of forming government within a political system.
  • Policy group: A group that attempts to influence a whole policy area, e.g. American Israeli PAC (AIPAC).
  • Professional group: A group that represents the economic interests of its members, e.g. American Medical Association (AMA), American Bar Association (ABA).
  • Single interest group: A group that advocates policy surrounding a small specific issue, e.g. National Rifle Association (NRA).
  • Soft/hard money: When cash is contributed directly to a political candidate, it is ‘hard money’, which may come only from an individual or a political action committee. When cash is contributed to a political party with no limits attached to the amount that can be received, this is a ‘soft money’ contribution.
  • Super PACs A Super-Political Action Committee (Super PAC): raises and spends unlimited amounts of money to support or oppose political candidates but without directly donating or co-ordinating with these candidates (a result of Citizens United vs FEC 2010).
  • Religious right: The movement, which generally gives support to the Republican Party, is an ultraconservative religious response to the sexual revolution and an attempt to translate this into public policy, promoting family values, opposing abortion and the 1973 Roe v Wade judgment, opposing same-sex marriage, civil partnerships and non-discrimination laws.

Return to "Politics"

• Politics