Outline of political science

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

Comparative politics
* Democratization
* Polarization
* Politicization
* Multi-level governance
* see and
Development studies
Geopolitics and political geography
* Area studies
* Globalization studies
Gender and politics
Institutional theory
* New institutionalism
International relations
* Security studies
** Critical security studies
** Copenhagen School
** Paris school
** Welsh school
Nationalism studies
* Banal nationalism
* Diaspora politics
* Irredentism
* Nationalism and gender
* Nationalist historiography
* Postnationalism
* Revanchism
Political behavior
* Political activism
** Political movement
Political economy
Political fiction
* Political satire
Political research methodology
Political sociology
Political theory and philosophy
* Political spectrum
** Left–right political spectrum
Positive political theory
* Game theory
Postcolonialism
Psephology – study of elections
* Voting theory
* see
Policy analysis and Policy studies
* Foreign policy analysis
* Public administration and local government studies
* Public law
Strategic studies

Related disciplines

Decision-making

Political institutions

Government

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
* 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.

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
** President
* Head of government, the person 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]

Political behavior

[Theories of political behaviour]

Political culture
* Civic political culture
* Parochial political culture
* Patrimonialism, a political culture which sees no difference between personal and political power.
** Neopatrimonialism
** Prebendalism
Peace and conflict studies
* Aggressionism
* Greed versus grievance
Political psychology
* Impressionable years hypothesis
* Postmaterialism
* Right-Wing Authoritarianism
* Social Dominance Orientation
* System Justification Theory

[Political strategy]

[Voting behavior]

Political dysfunction

Types of polities and forms of government

By level of social organisation

Traditional authority, political society which has not gone through state formation.
* Band society
* Big man
* Chiefdom
* Empire.
Local government
Unitary state
* City-state
* Nation state
Federalism
* Confederation
* Federation
Regional integration
* Intergovernmental organization
* Supranational union
** European Union
* Trade bloc
Global governance
* World state

By formal power structure

By source of power

Autocracy, the source of power is the leader.
Democracy, the source of power are the people through popular sovereignty.
Ethnocracy, the source of power is ethnicity.
Meritocracy, the source of power is talent.
* Noocracy, talent is measured by wisdom.
* Technocracy, talent is measured by expertise.
Stratocracy, the source of power is the military.
* Military dictatorship
* Military junta
Theocracy, the source of power is God.
* Christian republic
* Halachic state
* Hindu nation
* Islamic state
Oligarchy, the source of power is the elite.
* Aristocracy, the elite are hereditary.
* Gerontocracy, the elite are the elderly.
Plutocracy, the source of power is wealth.

Political ideologies and philosophies

Authoritarianism
* Absolutism
* Totalitarianism
Left-wing politics, usually focused on increasing egalitarianism.
* Far-left politics
** Anarchism
** Communism
***Autonomism
***Dengism
***Leninism
***Maoism
***Marxism–Leninism
***Stalinism
***Titoism
***Trotskyism
* Socialism
** Agrarian socialism
** Democratic socialism
** Liberal socialism
** Libertarian socialism
** Market socialism
** Marxist socialism
** Religious socialism
** Scientific socialism
** Social democracy
* Centre-left politics
** Gradualism
** Progressivism
** Reformism
* Green politics
** Green anarchism
** Ecofeminism
** Eco-socialism
Centrism, usually defined by highly pragmatic politics.
* Radical centrism
* Syncretic politics
* Third Position
* Third Way
Liberalism, defined by high valuing of liberty.
* Classical liberalism
* Conservative liberalism
* Neoliberalism
* Social liberalism
* Modern liberalism
Right-libertarianism, often defined as high valuation of private property
* Paleolibertarianism
* Minarchism
* Anarcho-capitalism
Right-wing politics, often defined by opposition to social change, and a veneration of tradition.
* Centre-right politics
** Christian democracy
** Compassionate conservatism
** Liberal conservatism
** One-nation conservatism
** Progressive conservatism
* Conservatism
** Fiscal conservatism
** Fusionism
** Libertarian conservatism
** National conservatism
** Neoconservatism
** Paleoconservatism
** Social conservatism
** Traditional conservatism
* Far-right politics, political ideas which are described as reactionary, ultranationalist, chauvinistic, xenophobic or racist.
** Alt-right
** Fascism
** Nazism
Identity politics, political ideologies concerned with the interests of the members of a specific group.
* Black power
* Feminism
* Gay pride
* Indigenism
* Islamism
* Nationalism, based on the centrality of the nation.
** Civic nationalism
** Ethnic nationalism
** Expansionist nationalism
** Irredentism
** Pan-nationalism
** Racial nationalism
** Left-wing nationalism
** Liberal nationalism
** Territorial nationalism
** Secessionism
* Zionism
Environmentalism

Political issues and policies

[Rights]

Animal rights
Civil and political rights, usually related to topics of negative liberty.
* Freedom of assembly
* Freedom of association
* Right to asylum
* Freedom from discrimination
* Freedom of education
* Freedom of information
* Freedom of movement
* Freedom of speech
* Freedom of the press
* Freedom of thought
* Right to petition
* Right to protest
* Right to property
* Freedom of religion
* Right to life
Economic, social and cultural rights, usually cover issues of positive liberty.
* Digital rights
* Labor rights
** Equal pay for equal work
* Right to an adequate standard of living
* Right to clothing
* Right to development
* Right to education
* Right to food
* Right to health
* Right to housing
* Right to Internet access
* Right to science and culture
* Right to social security
* Right to water
* Right to work
LGBT rights
Minority rights
* Affirmative action
Women's rights
* Abortion law

[Economic policy]

Foreign">Foreign policy">Foreign and [security policy]

[Social policy]

History of politics

Political scholars

Influential literature

The Art of War - by Sun Tsu History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides The Republic and Laws - by Plato The Politics and Nicomachean Ethics - Aristotle Arthashastra - [Chanakya|] Meditations - Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor 161–180 CEThe Prince - by Niccolò Machiavelli The Book of Five Rings - Miyamoto Musashi Leviathan - Thomas Hobbes The Wealth of Nations - by Adam Smith On War - by Carl von Clausewitz The Communist Manifesto - by Karl Marx A Theory of Justice - by John Rawls