Questions about political terminology, including established definitions and appropriate usage, and subjects directly related to it.
Questions tagged [terminology]
287 questions
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What is the difference between a nation and a state?
These terms seem to be used interchangably - what is the difference between them?
Additionally, why is it that a "state" appears to be just an entity of a federal government in certain contexts - e.g., "the United States?"
Affable Geek
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Is there a technical term for "knee jerk law"?
A rough definition of a "knee jerk law" would be:
Something bad happens
An outrage is raised by the media
A law is passed banning/changing/attacking the bad thing while the outrage is ongoing
An example of a "knee jerk law" would be the…
JonathanReez
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What exactly do political aides do?
Whenever you read about the history of any recent politician (or at least, American politicians) it says "They were an aide in the Clinton administration" or something similar. What exactly do these aides do? Clearly it's some sort of progression…
corsiKa
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What is "politology"?
I have seen this word "politology" twice recently on politics.SE [here and here]. What does it mean? Judging by the context it seems to be similar to political science.
I googled it, but only got some fairly useless results:
The mostly…
indigochild
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Is there any political terminology for the leaders who behave like the agents of a bigger power?
I am not talking about viceroys such as in Canada and New Zealand. I am also not talking about Paul Bremer.
I am talking about people like Viktor Yanukovich or Sheikh Hasina who stay in power with either the direct help from a bigger power in…
user366312
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What is the political system where there is a 'friendly' dictatorship
Is there a word for a kind of government where leadership is not elected, but the rulers are not harsh or violent? I am thinking of a 'just dictatorship', if you will.
Wulfinite
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What is 'post truth', and why do I hear it all the time?
Some are pushing this idea that somehow there is something to the media environment, that does not allow for truth. The Oxford definition of it goes
relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are
less influential in shaping…
user10244
7
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3 answers
What is "Absolute Majority"?
What is an absolute majority? Two definitions seems to contradict each other.
The first is that an absolute majority is a majority of all the possible votes, including votes of electors not present or declining to vote.
The second is that an…
Timst
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What is the relationship between Regulatory Capture and Karl Marx?
I recently read the Wikipedia entry for Regulatory Capture. There was the following:
The general economic concept where interest groups with disproportionate amounts of power shape public policy traces its roots back to the writings of Karl…
Lindsay Morsillo
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Where did this quote come from? Perfect propaganda makes people believe without knowing how it got into their heads
I heard somewhere that the best kind of propaganda is when people believe something without realizing how they came to believe it.
Have you seen this quote before?
Keith McClary
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What would be the terminology for a state that has democracy but is also totalitarian?
Suppose, a country has democracy, i.e., people can properly vote and elect their leader.
However, because of some reason, like populism or inherent hate toward a minority group, the country consistently elects authoritarian leaders and hence the…
user366312
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Why did "third world" fall out of favor?
When I was younger, there were "first world" (i.e. rich) and "third world" (i.e poor) countries. This was a relic of cold war theory, but I never really heard about "second world" as a normal term.
Nowadays, the terms "emerging economies" and…
Affable Geek
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4
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3 answers
What exactly is "hyper-partisanship"?
Though I'm not a native English speaker I've still a rough idea what hyper-partisanship is. But that's not good enough: I'm looking for some kind of definition - and not only a primitive dictionary definition.
Background: In public and the media…
Regis May
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When should one use "Indo-Pacific" vs "Asia-Pacific"?
I have seen the two terms being used variously by different people.
I would assume that:
The "Asia Pacific" relates to that part of Asia which lies in the
Pacific Ocean. It includes regions from Russia's Pacific coast to
ASEAN and Oceania.
The…
whoisit
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What is the name of the tactic that politicians use to bury people with torrent of words?
Some people write bloated books and long essays with skilful use of hooks, e.g. Jared Diamond; some others speak in long-drawn sentences with torrents of words, e.g. Noam Chomsky. It reminds me of a tactic politicians use to waste people's time. I…
George Chen
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