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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Primary topics Outline of political science Index of politics articles Politics by country Politics by subdivision Political economy Political history Political history of the world Political philosophy
Political systems Anarchy City-state Collective leadership Confessional system Democracy Dictatorship Directorial Federacy Feudalism Hybrid regime Meritocracy Monarchy Parliamentary Presidential Republic Semi-parliamentary Semi-presidential Theocracy
Academic disciplines Political science (political scientists) International relations (theory) Comparative politics Election science Political analysis Political theory Policy studies Political psychology Political sociology
Public administration Bureaucracy (street-level) Technocracy Adhocracy Service (Public / Civil)
Policy Public policy (doctrine) Domestic policy Foreign policy Civil society Public interest
Government branches Separation of powers Legislature Executive Judiciary Election commission
Related topics Sovereignty Polity / State / Country Biology and political orientation Critique of political economy Political censorship Political organisations Theories of political behavior
Subseries Electoral systems Elections voting Unitarism Federalism Government (forms / Governance) Ideology Culture Political campaigning Political parties
Politics portal
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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.

• Primogeniture

• Citizens' assembly

• Government
• Legitimacy
• Authority
  • Tripartite classification of authority
    • Traditional authority
    • Charismatic authority
    • Rational-legal authority
• Rule of law
• Constitution
• State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory.
  • Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country.
    • Microstate, a sovereign state having a very small population or land area, usually both.
    • Multinational state, sovereign entity that comprises two or more nations or states.
  • Nation state, a state where the majority identify with a single nation (with shared culture or ethnic group)
  • Constituent state, a political subdivision of a state.
  • Federated state, constituent states part of a federation.
  • Fragile state, characterized by weak state capacity or weak state legitimacy leaving citizens vulnerable.
  • Failed state, a state which has lost its ability to fulfill fundamental security and development functions, lacking effective control over its territory and borders.
  • Vassal state, any state that has a mutual obligation to a superior state or empire.
  • Buffer state, a country geographically lying between two rival or potentially hostile great powers.
  • Stateless nation, an ethnic group or nation that does not possess its own sovereign state.

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
    • 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

• Party systems
  • Nonpartisan democracy
  • One-party state
  • Dominant-party system
  • Two-party system
  • Multi-party system
  • Effective number of parties
  • Party discipline
  • Political factions
• Party coalition governments
  • Hung parliament
  • Confidence and supply
  • Minority government
  • Rainbow coalition
  • Grand coalition
  • National unity government
  • Majority government

]

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

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

• 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)

• 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, contextual political analysis, international relations, Law and Politics, political behavior, and political institutions. The general editor of the series is Robert E. Goodin.^[5][6]

• 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 Election Returns, 1787 - 1825". American Antiquarian Society -- Election Records Project. 13 November 2006. Archived from the original on Dec 8, 2006.
• "POLITICAL Domain Links IV". Hodges' Health Career Model. Archived from the original on Oct 20, 2014.