- authoritarianism
- a nondemocratic form of government with centralized power and limited civil rights and liberties
- capitalism
- an economic system in which the means of producing and distributing goods are privately owned and individuals are assumed to be motivated by acquisitiveness
- civil liberties
- individual freedoms, such as free speech or freedom of religion, that are protected from governmental interference
- civil rights
- rights that governments must act to protect for individuals in certain groups (such as ethnic groups or sexual identities); for example, for voting rights to exist, the government must provide ballots in a language that the voter can understand
- communism
- an economic system in which property is collectively owned and assumed to be used for the common good
- direct democracy
- a system of government in which all decisions are made, usually by voting, through the participation of all citizens
- fake news
- stories masquerading as actual news that lack any basis in fact
- game
- a competition between participants who make strategic choices, under known rules, aiming to win
- heuristics
- a cognitive shortcut for making decisions in which simple, practical rules are substituted for more complex methods
- human rights
- the fundamental, inalienable rights individuals have by virtue of being persons
- inalienable
- that which cannot be taken, transferred, or withdrawn from a person
- irrational
- human behavior that is not devoted to maximizing individual self-interest
- libertarianism
- the political philosophy that holds that individual rights or liberties should not be restricted unless an individual’s behavior causes direct harm to others
- Marxism
- the term that is used to label the political philosophy of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, which holds that a society is just when both economic and labor contributions and needed resources are distributed properly, without discrimination
- motivated reasoning
- the human tendency to embrace ideas that we want to believe while rejecting evidence that challenges those beliefs
- public goods
- resources that benefit everyone because they cannot be withheld from anyone and are not used up when individuals benefit from them
- rational
- behavior that strategically seeks to maximize an individual’s own well-being, however the individual defines it
- representative democracy
- a system of government in which citizens elect individuals to represent their interests within a legislature
- social contract
- a hypothetical contract in which individuals collectively give up some of their freedoms in return for receiving protection
- social justice
- the equitable distribution of opportunities, resources, and rights within a community
- utilitarianism
- the political philosophy holding that the goal of society is to maximize human happiness