A government's legitimate use of power.

Members of a political community, having both rights and duties associated with that membership.

Legal rights held by all citizens in a given national community.

The realm of activity that lies between the state and the market, including the family, schools, community associations, and noneconomic institutions. Civil society, or civic culture, is essential to vibrant democratic societies.

Action undertaken in a relatively spontaneous way by a large number of people assembled together.

Kings or queens who are largely figureheads. Real power rests in the hands of other political leaders.

A political system that allows the citizens to participate in political decision making or to elect representatives to government bodies.

A theory of the limits of democracy, which holds that in large-scale societies democratic participation is necessarily limited to the regular election of political leaders.

A form of participatory democracy that allows citizens to vote directly on laws and policies.

The arena within which social movements interact with established organizations, the ideas and outlook of the members of both often becoming modified as a result.

The use of an understanding of history as a basis for trying to change history-that is, producing informed processes of social change.

A group organized to pursue specific interests in the political arena, operating primarily by lobbying the members of legislative bodies.

The failure of a political order to generate a sufficient level of commitment and involvement on the part of its citizens to be able to govern properly.

Systems of democracy based on parliamentary institutions, coupled to the free-market system in the area of economic production.

The beliefs that communities that share a cultural identity should have political autonomy, even within smaller units of a nation-states.

A situation in which there is no single sovereign power in a society.

A set of beliefs and symbols expressing identification with a national community.

Particular types of states, characteristic of the modern world, in which governments have sovereign power within defined territorial areas, and populations are citizens who know themselves to be part of single nations. Nation-states are closely associated with the rise of nationalism, although nationalist loyalties do not always conform to the boundaries of specific states. Nation-states developed as part of an emerging nation-state system, originating in Europe; in current times, they span the whole globe.

Instances in which the members of a nation lack political sovereignty over the area they claim as their own.

A set of social movements that have arisen in Western societies since the 1960s in response to the changing risks facing human societies. New social movements such as feminism, environmentalism, the antinuclear movement, protests against genetically modified food, and antiglobalization demonstrations differ from earlier social movements in that they are single- issue campaigns oriented to nonmaterial ends and draw support from across class lines.

A system of democracy in which all members of a group or community participate collectively in making major decisions.

Rights of political participation, such as the right to vote in local and national elections, held by citizens of a national community.

The ability of individuals or the members of a group to achieve aims or further the interests they hold. Power is a pervasive element in all human relationships. Many conflicts in society are struggles over power, because how much power an individual or group is able to achieve governs how far they are able to put their wishes into practice.

Small networks of individuals who, according to C. Wright Mills, hold concentrated power in modern societies.

Feelings of deprivation a person feels by comparing himself with a group.

A process of political change, involving the mobilizing of a mass social movement, which by the use of violence successfully overthrows an existing regime and forms a new government.

Large groups of people who seek to accomplish, or to block, a process of social change. Social movements normally exist in conflict with organizations, whose objectives and outlook they oppose. However, movements that successfully challenge power, once they become institutionalized, can develop into organizations.

Rights of social and welfare provision held by all citizens in a national community, including, for example, the right to claim unemployment benefits and sickness payments provided by the state.

The undisputed political rule of a state over a given territorial area.

A political apparatus (government institutions plus civil service officials) ruling over a given territorial order, whose authority is backed by law and the ability to use force. Not all societies are characterized by the existence of a state. Hunting and gathering societies and smaller agrarian societies lack state institutions. The emergence of the state marked a distinctive transition in human history, because the centralization of political power involved in state formation introduced new dynamics into processes of social change.

A theory that holds that modern states face major difficulties as a result of being overburdened with complex administrative decisions.

Tensions that produce conflicting interests within societies.

A political system that provides a wide range of welfare benefits for its citizens.