Political concepts 

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Concepts are the 'tools' with which we think, criticize, argue, explain and analyze. Political concepts are nothing less than the building-blocks of political understanding: the political world means what our concepts tell us it means. But political concepts are notoriously slippery and subject to controversy. Indeed, political debate is often a debate about the correct use of political terms. "Basic concepts" consider core concepts that deal with the nature of politics and the parameters of political analysis.

• Authority
• Governance
• Government
• Power

Authority

Authority can most simply be defined as ‘legitimate power’. Whereas power is the ability to influence the behaviour of others, authority is the right to do so. Authority is therefore based on an acknowledged duty to obey rather than on any form of coercion or manipulation. In this sense, authority is power cloaked in legitimacy or rightfulness.

Governance

Governance is a broader term than government. Although it still has no settled or agreed definition, it refers in its widest sense to the various ways through which social life is co-ordinated. Government can therefore be seen as one of the institutions involved in governance; it is possible to have ‘governance without government’ (Rhodes 1996). The principal modes of governance are markets, hierarchies and networks. The wider use of the term reflects a blurring of the state/society distinction, resulting from changes such as the development of new forms of public management, the growth of public-private partnerships, the increasing importance of policy networks, and the greater impact of both supernational and subnational organizations (‘multi-level governance’). While some associate governance with a shift away from command and control mechanisms to a reliance on consultation and bargaining, others argue that it implies a preference for ‘less government’ and the free market.

Government

In its broadest sense, to govern means to rule or control others. Government can therefore be taken to include any mechanism through which ordered rule is maintained, its central features being the ability to make collective decisions and the capacity to enforce them. A form of government can thus be identified in almost all social institutions: families, schools, businesses, trade unions and so on. However, ‘government’, as opposed to ‘ governance ’ is more commonly understood to refer to the formal and institutional processes that operate at the national level to maintain public order and facilitate collective action. The core functions of government are thus to make law (legislation), implement law (execution) and interpret law (adjudication). In some cases, the political executive alone is referred to as ‘the government’, making it equivalent to ‘the Administration’ in presidential systems.

Power

Power, in its broadest sense, is the ability to achieve a desired outcome, and it is sometimes referred to in terms of the ‘power to’ do something. This includes everything from the ability to keep oneself alive to the ability of government to promote economic growth. In politics, however, power is usually thought of as a relationship: that is, as the ability to influence the behaviour of others in a manner not of their choosing. It is referred to in terms of having ‘power over’ people. More narrowly, power may be associated with the ability to punish or reward, bringing it close to force or manipulation, in contrast to ‘influence’ which also encompasses rational persuasion.

These definitions have been taken from Key Concepts in Politics by Andrew Heywood