Political Economy

Socialism:

Socialism is a philosophy that encompasses various theories of economic organization which

advocate either public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production
and allocation of resources.

Capitalism:

Capitalism is an economic system where capital and land, the non-labor factors of production
(also known as the means of production), are privately owned; labor, goods and resources are
traded in markets; and profit, is distributed to the owners invested in technologies and industries.
The pervasiveness of wage labor is another important feature of capitalism, which depends on
non-labor income derived from property not intended for the owner’s personal use. Also see rise
of financial capitalism, which controls all other forms of capitalism.

Democracy:

Democracy is a political government carried out either directly by the people (direct democracy)
or by means of elected representatives of the people (Representative democracy). The definition
includes: equality and freedom. These principles are reflected in all citizens being equal before
the law and having equal access to power. And the freedom of its citizens is secured by
legitimized rights and liberties which are generally protected by a constitution.

Communism:

Communism is a social structure in which classes are abolished and property is commonly
controlled, as well as a political philosophy and social movement that advocates and aims to
create such a society.

Pure communism in the Marxian sense refers to a classless, stateless and oppression-free society
where decisions on what to produce and what policies to pursue are made democratically,
allowing every member of society to participate in the decision-making process in both the
political and economic spheres of life.

Communist State:

A communist state is a sovereign state with a form of government characterized by single-party

rule or dominant-party rule of a communist party and a professed allegiance to a communist
ideology as the guiding principle of the state.
Theocracy:

Theocracy is a form of government in which a god or deity is recognized as the state’s supreme
civil ruler, or in a higher sense, a form of government in which a state is governed by immediate
divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided.

In politics, right-wing and the Right are generally used to describe support for social
stratification, the preservation of social order, and upholding traditional values.

Collectivism:

Collectivism is a term used to describe any moral, political, or social outlook that emphasizes
the interdependence of every human in some collective group and the priority of group goals
over individual goals. Collectivists focus on community and society, and seek to give priority to
group rights over individual rights.

Individualism:

Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses
"the moral worth of the individual". Individualists promote the exercise of one’s goals and
desires and so independence and self-reliance while opposing most external interference upon
one’s own interests, whether by society, or any other group or institution.

Market-Economy:

A market economy is economy based on the power of division of labor in which the prices of
goods and services are determined in a free price system set by supply and demand.

Planned Economy:

Planned economy (or command economy) is an economic system in which the state or workers’
councils manage the economy. It is an economic system in which the central government makes
all decisions on the production and consumption of goods and services. Its most extensive form
is referred to as a command economy, centrally planned economy, or command and control
economy. In such economies, central economic planning by the state or government controls all
major sectors of the economy and formulates all decisions about the use of resources and the
distribution of output. Planners decide what should be produced and direct lower-level
enterprises to produce those goods in accordance with national and social objectives.

Mixed Economy:

A mixed economy is an economic system that includes a variety of private and government
control, or a mixture of capitalism and socialism. It includes: a degree of private economic
freedom (including privately owned industry) intermingled with centralized economic planning
and government regulation (which may include regulation of the market for environmental
concerns, social welfare or efficiency, or state ownership and management of some of the means
of production for national or social objectives).

Common Law:

Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals (also
called case law), rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action. A "common
law system" is a legal system that gives great precedential weight to common law, on the
principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different occasions. The body of
precedent is called "common law" and it binds future decisions. In cases where the parties
disagree on what the law is, an idealized common law court looks to past precedential decisions
of relevant courts. If a similar dispute has been resolved in the past, the court is bound to follow
the reasoning used in the prior decision (this principle is known as stare decisis). If, however, the
court finds that the current dispute is fundamentally distinct from all previous cases (called a
"matter of first impression"), judges have the authority and duty to make law by creating
precedent. Thereafter, the new decision becomes precedent, and will bind future courts.

Civil Law:

Civil law is a legal system inspired by Roman law, the primary feature of which is that laws are
written into a collection, codified, and not (as in common law) determined by judges. The
principle of civil law is to provide all citizens with an accessible and written collection of the
laws which apply to them and which judges must follow. It is the most prevalent and oldest
surviving legal system in the world.