POLITICAL DICTIONARY

A

Abdication: voluntary resignation from office by a queen or king. The most famous abdication in recent history came in 1936, when Britain's Edward VIII abdicated the throne because the British establishment would not permit him to marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee.

Absolutism: theory of absolute government. Power can be vested in an individual (as a dictator), an office (as a monarchy), a party, or a government administration. The government is not restricted legally by any other government agency. Thus absolute government can lead to absolute power vested in one individual e.g. a dictatorship.

Academic freedom:  the right of a professor at a university to pursue his research and publish his findings, whether popular or controversial, without political or any other kind of pressure being put on him or her.

Acculturation: the process by which people adapt to or adopt a culture that is not their own.

Administration: the management of institutional or governmental affairs; a term for the government itself and its policy-makers; as in the Clinton administration; the period in which a government holds office; as in the Persian Gulf war took place during President Bush's administration.

Affirmative action: the giving of preferential treatment to women and minorities in business and education to redress the effects of past discrimination. Affirmative action began in the 1960s; it has benefited hundreds of thousands of minorities and helped in the creation of an African-American middle-class. The number of women in professional and managerial jobs has also increased considerably as a result of affirmative action. However, during the 1990s affirmative action has become a contentious issue. While the bulk of minorities and civil rights leaders still support it, many conservatives claim that it amounts to "reverse discrimination." Supreme Court decisions in 1995 limited the scope of affirmative action programs in business and education. In 1997, California banned preferential treatment for minorities or women in state hiring practices.

Agenda: things to be done. Often used to describe political platforms, as in the Republican (or Democratic) agenda, meaning the policies each party hopes to pursue and enact.

Aggregate demand: the total demand for goods and services in an economy, incuding demands for consumer goods and investment goods, the demands of local and central government, and of other countries for exports.

Aggregate supply: the total supply of goods and services in an economy, including imports and exports, that is available to meet aggregate demand.

Agitation: in a political sense, refers to keeping an issue or a debate constantly before the public; as in there was considerable agitation for political reform in China in the late 1980s. Usually used to refer to opposition to the status quo (in communist countries, those who campaigned for human rights would often be referred to as agitators by the government.)

Alliance: joining together in pursuit of mutual interests; as, the alliance of the U.S., Britain, and the Soviet Union defeated the Nazis in World War II. The term can also refer to domestic politics, as an alliance of liberal interest groups is fighting to preserve afirmative action policies against conservative opposition.

Altruism: unselfish, concern for the welfare of others.

Amnesty: an act by which the state pardons political or other offenders, usually as a group. In 1977, for example, President Carter granted an amnesty to all Vietnam draft evaders. Amnesties are often used as a gesture of political reconciliation. In 1990, the ruling Sandinistas in Nicaragua declared an amnesty for over a thousand political prisoners as a prelude to a general election. Amnesties also sometimes occur after a change of government or regime.

Anarchism: a doctrine that advocates the abolition of organized authority. Anarchists believe that all governments are corrupt and evil. Anarchism was a force in nineteenth century Russia, associated with Prince Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921) and Mikhail Bakunin (1814-76). Types of anarchism range from pacifism to violent revolution. Anarchists assassinated American President William McKinley in 1901. However, anarchism has in general not been a prominent force in American political history. Anarchists believe that not only are all governments corrupt and evil, but also that any institution based on hierarchy or power is equally corrupt (e.g., religion, the family, etc.) Anarchist theory was developed in 19th century Europe, largely by the Russians Prince Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921) and Mikhail Bakunin (1841-76) and the Frenchman Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. (1809-1865).

Annexation: the act by which one state takes possession of another state or territory, usually a smaller one, without the consent of the party being taken over. For example, in 1938 German troops invaded Austria and annexed it. The citizens of Austria thereby became subjects of Germany, or e.g. annexation of Eastern Balochistan by Pakistan in1948.

Anti-clericalism: opposition to the influence of organized religion in state affairs. The term was applied particularly to the influence of the Catholic religion in political affairs.

Anti-communism: opposition to communism. Anti-communism was the defining mark of U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War, which sought to check Soviet expansion around the globe. In domestic politics, being seen as "tough on communism" was often a litmus test for American politicians; anything less was to court electoral disaster. Anti-communism reached an extreme during the McCarthy era, in the early 1950s, when Senator Joseph McCarthy led an unscrupulous witch hunt to root out alleged communist sympathizers in U.S. government service.

Anti-Semitism: hostility towards Jews. Anti-Semitism is as old as Christian civilization. Jews were despised because, according to Christian belief, they had rejected Christ and continued to practice a religion that was not the true one. During the nineteenth century anti-Semitism became racial rather than religious. Jews were persecuted for being Jews, not for practicing a particular religion. Anti-Semitism was found throughout nineteenth century Europe, particularly in Russia, Germany, and France. Russian anti-Semitism reached a peak in the period 1905-09, with an estimated 50,000 victims. But anti-Semitism reached its peak in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. Jews were held to be inferior to what Nazis described as the Aryan master race. Jews were held as the scapegoat for all the ills suffered by the Germans. They were deprived of all their civil rights, banned from trades and professions; their property was confiscated. The persecution culminated in Adolf Hitler's "final solution," which was the attempted destruction of the entire Jewish race. Six million Jews were slaughtered in concentration camps during World War II. This was more than one-third of the Jewish population of the world. After the war anti-Semitism continued in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, although not with anything like the intensity that it had had in Nazi Germany. See also Holocaust.

Apolitical:  not concerned with politics. The term might be used to describe someone who does not care to vote, or to a nonpartisan organization. Fast Times is an apolitical newsmagazine, in that it is not affiliated with any political party. Ahistorical, in a similar way means unrelated to history.

Apologetics: a branch of theology that deals with the reasoned defense of Christianity. Apologist means, someone who writes or speaks in defense of a belief, faith, doctrine. If someone wrote in defense of the Vietnam War, for example, he would be an apologist for that war.

Appropriation: money used to pay for government-approved expenditures.

Aristocracy: a government that is controlled by a small ruling class. Also refers to that class itself, sometimes called simply the upper class. The aristocracy may owe its position to wealth, social position, or military power, or another form of influence or training. These attributes are usually inherited.

Arms control: any international agreement that limits the type and number of weapons or armed forces. Arms control played a major role in superpower politics during the 1970s and 1980s, and a number of nuclear arms control agreements were signed by the United States and the Soviet Union. These were the Anti-ballistic Missile Treaty (1972) the First Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (1972), the Second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (1979), the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (1987), the First Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (1991) and the Second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (1993). In 1994, the U.S. had about 14,900 nuclear weapons, down from the record number of 30,000 in 1967, and the Russians had about 29,000. See also disarmament.

Austerity: a situation in which only things that are essential to life are available.  Austerity means severity or harshness. Often used to describe economic conditions; as, the Polish people are undergoing a period of austerity as the economy makes a transition from communism to capitalism.

Autarchy: political self-rule; complete independence, particularly economic self-sufficiency, in which through government controls a nation's economy (or a group of nations) is isolated from the rest of the world. During the Cold War the Soviet bloc practiced economic autarchy, trading only within itself.

Authoritarian: a form of government in which a large amount of authority is invested in the state, at the expense of individual rights. Often power in authoritarian systems is centered on a small group of autocratic leaders usually used in a negative sense.

Autocracy: a government in which almost all power rests with the ruler. The Soviet Union under Stalin, Iraq under Saddam Hussein, are examples of autocracies.

Autonomy: a limited form of self-government. In the U.S. states have a certain autonomy, which allows them to make their own laws regarding local matters. In international affairs, the Palestinians have been promised autonomy in Gaza, formerly occupied by Israel. Autonomy does not usually extend to control over foreign affairs.

Source: these political terms or terminology are copied and pasted from http://www.thevoter.org/glossary.php?letter=a. In few cases, to political terms, I have added some more examples, like in the case of “Austerity” or “Annexation”.