Political Science Notebook - Terms Allocation of Resources: The distribution of a society's wealth among its members. Allocation can be done forcefully (by the government) or by the workings of the free market system.Authoritarianism: A system of government in which the leaders are not accountable to the citizens.Behavioralism: An approach to political reasearch that focuses on observation of individual political behavior - in contrast to the study of political documents and laws.Democracy: A system of govenment in which the government is ultimately accountable to the citizens. The United States is a good example of a "democracy within a republic".Formal-legal Analysis: An approach to political theory that applies mathimatical reasoning to the interactions among individuals and institutions.Government: The persons or organizations that make, enforce, and implement political decisions for a society.Government Functions: The basic tasks that governments perform in healthy, developed political systems. Human Rights: The principle that all humans, regardless of their culture, level of economic development, or typ of political system in which they live have "certain inanalienable rights". Income Distribution: A measure of how the wealth of a society is shared among its members (generally in terms equality or inequality). Interest Articulation: The process of expressing concerns and problems as demands for governmental action.Majority Rule: The majority of citizens in agreement on any given topic "rule" - provided there is respect for the basic rights of the minority.Political Development: The idea that nations become "modern" by aquiring certain (political) capacities and capabilities. Political Economy: The study of the impact of government on economic conditions, including analisis of alternative public policies and differnet systems of government. Political Socialization: The process of creating a shared political culture among the memb...
