Government and Politics: Definitions and Core Concepts

Government is the institutional system that makes and enforces laws, maintains order, provides public services, and defends the state.

Politics is the process by which societies allocate power and resources through negotiation, competition, and collective decision-making.

Core Concepts

• Authority – Recognized right to govern.
• Legitimacy – Public belief in government's right to rule.
• Sovereignty – Supreme authority within a territory.
• Democracy – Power derives from the people (direct or representative).
• Autocracy/Oligarchy – Power concentrated in one/few.
• Bureaucracy – Administrative apparatus implementing policy.
• Public Policy – Government decisions on resource/power allocation.

Political science studies these structures, processes, and behaviors to understand how societies govern themselves.