Outline of political science

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

Politics – the exercise of power; process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the corporate, academic, and religious segments of society.

Essence of political science[edit]

Main articles: Political science and Politics

Unsorted:

Political systems[edit]

State[edit]

Main articles: State (polity) and Sovereign state

Forms of government[edit]

Main article: Government

Basics[edit]

Power structure
Type of control
Power source
- Aristocratic
  - Popular
    - Monarchy
    - Oligarchy
  - Constitutional
    - Constitutional monarchy
    - Technocracy
- Democratic
  - Direct
  - Indirect
- Theocratic
  - Fundamentalism
  - Canonical
  - Ecclesiastical
  - Divine right

Legal system
- Authoritarian regime
- Republic
  - Parliamentary
  - Presidential

Political alignment
- Radical
- Left-wing
- Centrist
- Right-wing

Advanced[edit]

Democracy[edit]

Main article: Democracy

Direct democracy –
Indirect democracy –
- Parliamentary system –
  - Consensus government –
  - Westminster system –
- Polyarchy –
- Presidential system –
- Semi-presidential system –
Ethnic democracy –
Consensus democracy –
Consociationalism –
Deliberative democracy –
Democratic socialism –
Totalitarian democracy –
- Dictatorship of the proletariat –
- Guided democracy –
- Managed democracy –
Egalitarianism –
Futarchy –
Industrial democracy –
Open source governance –
Participatory democracy –
People's democracy –
Pure democracy –
Democratic republic –

Other[edit]

Androcracy –
Anarchy –
Aristocracy – a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule.
Bureaucracy – an organization of elected officials of a government or organization who implement the rules, laws, and functions of their institution, and are occasionally characterized by officialism and red tape.
Communist state –
- Collective leadership –
Confederation – an association of sovereign states or communities.
Corporatocracy –
- Corporatism –
Consociationalism –
Demarchy –
Autocracy – a system of government in which supreme political power to direct all the activities of the state is concentrated in the hands of one person, whose decisions are subject to neither external legal restraints nor regularized mechanisms of popular control (except perhaps for the implicit threat of coup d'état or mass insurrection).
- Dictatorship – an autocratic form of government in which the government is ruled by an individual, the dictator.
- Despotism – a form of government in which a single entity rules with absolute power. That entity may be an individual, as in an autocracy, or it may be a group, as in an oligarchy.
- Enlightened absolutism –
- Military dictatorship –
  - Military junta –
- Nazism –
- Right-wing –
- Stratocracy –
- Authoritarianism –
  - Totalitarianism –
Empire –
Ethnocracy –
Fascism –
- Corporative state –
Federalism – a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant (Latin: foedus, covenant) with a governing representative head. The term "federalism" is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units (like states or provinces). Federalism is a system based upon democratic rules and institutions in which the power to govern is shared between national and provincial/state governments, creating what is often called a federation.
Feudalism –
Garrison state –
Gerontocracy –
Green state –
Hierocracy –
Isocracy –
Interregnum –
- Caretaker government –
- Interrex –
- Provisional government –
- Regent –
- Transitional government –
Kakistocracy –
Kratocracy –
Kleptocracy –
Kritarchy –
Kritocracy –
Kyriarchy –
Logocracy –
Matriarchy –
- Gynaecocracy –
- Gynarchy –
- Gynocracy –
Mediocracy –
Meritocracy –
Minarchism –
- Night watchman state –
Monarchy –
- Absolute monarchy –
- Constitutional monarchy –
- Duchy –
- Grand Duchy –
- Diarchy –
- Enlightened absolutism –
- Elective monarchy –
- Hereditary monarchy –
- Non-Sovereign Monarchy –
- Popular monarchy –
- Principality –
- New Monarchs –
- Self-proclaimed monarchy –
Nanny state –
Nation-state –
Monocracy –
Nomocracy –
Noocracy –
Ochlocracy –
- Mobocracy –
Oligarchy –
Panarchism –
Pantisocracy –
Paparchy –
- Pornocracy –
- Saeculum obscurum –
Parliamentary –
Patriarchy –
Plutocracy –
- Plutarchy –
Police state –
Polyarchy –
- Triarchy –
- Tetrarchy –
- Pentarchy –
- Heptarchy –
Presidential –
Puppet state –
Republic –
- Crowned –
- Capitalist –
- Constitutional –
- Single Party –
- Federal –
- Parliamentary –
  - Federal –
Slave state –
- Slavocracy –
Socialist state –
Sociocracy –
Squirearchy –
Stratocracy –
Sultanism –
Superpower –
- Hyperpower –
- Inverted totalitarianism –
Supranational union –
Synarchy –
Technocracy –
Thalassocracy –
Theocracy –
- Islamic state –
- Theodemocracy –
Timocracy –
Tribal –
- Chiefdom –
Tyranny –
Unitary state –
Welfare state –

Governments of the world[edit]

Elections[edit]

Main article: Election

Political parties[edit]

Main article: Political party

Political parties by region[edit]

Law[edit]

Main article: Law

Political strategies and tactics[edit]

Main articles: Political strategy and Political tactic

Political issues[edit]

Politics by region[edit]

Foreign relations by region[edit]

History of politics[edit]

Political science[edit]

Main article: Political science

Political science is 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[edit]

Area studies
Coalition studies
Comparative politics
Development studies
Electoral systems and voting theory
Foreign policy analysis
Game theory
Geopolitics and political geography
Globalization studies
Ideology studies
Institutional studies
International relations
Nationalism studies
Policy analysis and Policy studies
Political behaviour
Political economy
Political party analysis
Political psychology
Political theory and philosophy
Political research methodology
Political sociology
Political systems
Psephology – statistical analysis of voting systems and electoral behavior
Public administration and local government studies
Public policy studies
Public administration
Public law
Security studies
Strategic studies

Related disciplines[edit]

Political theory[edit]

Main article: Political theory

Political scholars[edit]

Influential literature[edit]

The Art of War – by Sun Tsu (c. 544–496 BC)
The Republic – by Plato (427–347 BC)
Laws – by Plato (427–347 BC)
The Politics – Aristotle (384–322 BC)
Nicomachean Ethics – Aristotle (384–322 BC)
Arthashastra – Chāṇakya^[1]

(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)
The Wealth of Nations – by Adam Smith (1723–1790)
On War – by Carl von Clausewitz (1780–1831)
Leviathan – Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679)

References[edit]

^ Mabbett 1964 "References to the work in other Sanskrit literature attribute it variously to Viṣṇugupta, Cāṇakya and Kauṭilya. The same individual is meant in each case. The Pańcatantra explicitly identifies Chanakya with Viṣṇugupta."
^ Oxford Handbook Of Political Theory
^ Contemporary Political Theory

External links[edit]

Find more about Political science at Wikipedia's sister projects
	Definitions and translations from Wiktionary
	Media from Commons
	Learning resources from Wikiversity
	News stories from Wikinews
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource
	Textbooks from Wikibooks

[1] Mabbett 1964 "References to the work in other Sanskrit literature attribute it variously to Viṣṇugupta, Cāṇakya and Kauṭilya. The same individual is meant in each case. The Pańcatantra explicitly identifies Chanakya with Viṣṇugupta."

[2] Oxford Handbook Of Political Theory

[3] Contemporary Political Theory

[1]

[2]

[3]