Outline of political science

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to politics and political science:

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show Policy Public policy (doctrine) Domestic policy Foreign policy Civil society Public interest
show Branches of government Separation of powers Legislature Executive Judiciary Election commission
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Politics – the exercise of power; process by which groups of people make collective decisions. Politics is the art or science of running governmental or state affairs (including behavior within civil governments), institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the corporate, academic, and religious segments of society.

Political science – the field concerning the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behavior.

Fields of study of political science[]

Related disciplines[]

Political theory[]

Decision-making[]

Voting is a key form of decision-making in politics. A female journalist displays her inked finger after casting her vote in Afghanistan's western Herat province.

Election[]

Order of succession[]

• Primogeniture

Sortition[]

• Citizens' assembly

Political institutions[]

Institutions are often the framework within which politics happens. Pictured is the Supreme Court of the United States.

Branches of government[]

The separation of powers is typically set in the constitution or basic law in order to achieve checks and balances within government. The typical model has three branches, and is referred to as the trias politica.

• Legislature, deliberates and passes laws.
  • Unicameralism
  • Bicameralism
    • Upper house
    • Lower house
  • Tricameralism
  • Tetracameralism
  • Multicameralism
• Executive, executes laws.
  • Head of state, formal, often symbolic, leader of state. Sometimes has veto power over proposed legislation.
    • Monarch
    • Supreme leader
    • President
  • Head of government, the person(s) in charge of day-to-day affairs of the state. Usually heads a cabinet, a Council of Ministers or a Council of State.
    • Chancellor
    • Chief executive
    • Chief minister
    • First minister
    • Premier
    • Prime minister
• Judiciary, often involved in politics through judicial review.
  • Supreme court
  • Constitutional court

Political parties, and their number, are important aspects of representative systems. The number of political parties in the Hellenic Parliament of Greece has varied across time.

Political parties[]

• Party systems
  • Nonpartisan democracy
  • One-party state
  • Dominant-party system
  • Two-party system
  • Multi-party system
• Party coalition governments
  • Hung parliament
  • Confidence and supply
  • Minority government
  • Rainbow coalition
  • Grand coalition
  • National unity government
  • Majority government

Political behavior[]

Theories of political behaviour[]

Political strategy[]

Voting behavior[]

Political dysfunction[]

Types of polities and forms of government[]

By level of social organisation[]

By formal power structure[]

By source of power[]

Political ideologies and philosophies[]

Governments of the world[]

Political issues and policies[]

Rights[]

Economic policy[]

Foreign and security policy[]

Social policy[]

Politics by continent[]

Foreign relations by continents[]

Political parties by continent[]

History of politics[]

• History of political science
• History of political thinking
• Political history
  • List of years in politics

Political scholars[]

• List of political scientists
• List of political philosophers
  • List of social and political philosophers
• List of political theorists

Influential literature[]

• The Art of War – by Sun Tsu (c. 544–496 BC)
• History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides (c. 460 – c. 400 BC)
• The Republic and Laws – by Plato (427–347 BC)
• The Politics and Nicomachean Ethics – Aristotle (384–322 BC)
• Arthashastra – Chāṇakya^[4] (c. 350–283 BC)
• Meditations – Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor 161–180 CE
• The Prince – by Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527)
• The Book of Five Rings – Miyamoto Musashi (c. 1584––1645)
• Leviathan – Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679)
• The Wealth of Nations – by Adam Smith (1723–1790)
• On War – by Carl von Clausewitz (1780–1831)
• The Communist Manifesto – by Karl Marx (1818-1883)

See also[]

Further reading[]

• Roskin, M.; Cord, R. L.; Medeiros, J. A.; Jones, W. S. (2007). Political Science: An Introduction. 10th ed. New York: Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-242575-9 (10). ISBN 978-0-13-242575-9 (13).
• Tausch, A.; Prager, F. (1993). Towards a Socio-Liberal Theory of World Development. Basingstoke: Macmillan; New York: St. Martin's Press.
• Oxford Handbooks of Political Science – ten-volume set covering the political science topics political methodology, public policy, political theory, political economy, comparative politics, , international relations, Law and Politics, political behavior, and political institutions. The general editor of the series is Robert E. Goodin.^[5][6]

References[]

From plato

External links[]

• American Political Science Association
• European Consortium for Political Research
• International Political Science Association
• Political Studies Association of the UK
• PROL: Political Science Research Online (prepublished research)
• Truman State University Political Science Research Design Handbook
• A New Nation Votes: American Elections Returns 1787-1825
• Political links resource