Key Terms

Throughout the lecture series we are introduced to a wide range of key terms. In order to be able to fully digest the content of the lectures, it is useful to be familiar with the vocabulary.

Although many of the key terms are explained within the lectures or Q&A, not all have written definitions in the lecture slides, making it difficult to access definitions quickly if you are looking back at the content.

Therefore for those concepts that do not have a written definition in the slides, you can find definitions below! Head back to the lectures and further reading

Alternative media – media sources that differ from the mainstream

Assembly – the action of gathering together as a group for a common purpose

Boycott – withdrawing from commercial or social involvement as a form of punishment

Bureaucratic – relating to a system of government where most of the decisions are made by state officials, not elected representatives

Chartists/Chartist movement – working class male suffrage movement for political reform in Britain from 1838 – 1857

Colonialism – a practice of domination, which involves the subjugation of one people (or country) to another, with the purpose of economic domination

Constitution – an aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that make the legal basis of an organisation or society

Dark money – reference to political spending by non-profit organisations

Deindustrialisation – the reduction of industrial activity or capacity in a place over time

Democratic confederalism – a concept theorised by the Kuridstan Workers Party, a system of democratic self organisation with the basic principles of autonomy, direct democracy, environmentalism, feminism, multiculturalism, self governance and a sharing economy

Eco-capitalism – the view that capital (financial wealth) exists in nature as ‘natural capital’

Elites – a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionately large share of wealth, privilege and power

Feudalism – mostly popular in Medieval Europe, feudalism was a way of structuring society around the holding of land in exchange for labor

Grassroots – using people in a local area as the basis for a political movement

Individualism – a social theory favouring freedom of action for individuals over collective or state control

Inflation – general rise in price level in an economy over time

Institutions – a stable, valued and recurring pattern of behaviour, often seen in the form of a religious, education, professional or economic organisation, law or practice

Liberal – supporter of policies that are socially progressive

Marxism – a social, political and economic philosophy developed by Karl Marx examining the effect of capitalism on labour, productivity and economic development

Populism/reactionary-populism – reference to a range of political stances that emphasise the idea of ‘the people’ over ‘the elite’/a form of poplulism that is anti-liberal in terms of identity politics

Proportional representation – where the distribution of seats corresponds closely with the number of actual votes cast for each party

QUANGO – a semi-public administrative body outside of civil service but receiving state funding (‘quasi-NGO’)

Radical flank effect – the effect that radical activists have on moderate activists of the same cause

Sovereign – a title applied to the highest leader

Suffrage – the right to vote in political elections

Trade union – an organisation of workers to achieve common goals Head back to the lectures and further reading Join the Green Party