- Bureaucracy: government administrators
- Civil Society: a complex network of voluntary associations, economic groups, religious organizations, and many other kinds of groups that exist independent of government
- Constituent: a person whom a member of Congress has been elected to represent
- Democracy: a general description of a government in which the people rule
- Diplomacy: the art and practice of conducting negotiations between nations without arousing hostility
- Due Process of Law: principle in the 5th Amendment stating that the government must follow proper constitutional procedures in trials and in other actions it takes against individuals
- Federalism: a system in which power is divided between the national and state governments
- Government: the institution through which the state maintains social order, provides public services, and enforces binding decisions on citizens
- Ideology: a set of basic beliefs about life, culture, government, and society
- Incumbent: elected official that is already in office
- Interest Group: a group of people with common goals who organize to influence government
- Judicial Review: the power of the Supreme Court to declare laws and actions of local, state, or national governments unconstitutional
- Jurisdiction: the authority, power, or right of a court to interpret or apply the law on certain cases
- Lobbying: direct contact made by an interest group representative in order to persuade government officials to support the policies their interest group favors
- Naturalization: the legal process by which a person is granted citizenship
- Patronage: the practice of granting favors to reward party loyalty
- Political Party: a group of individuals with broad common interests who organize to nominate candidates for office, win elections, conduct government, and determine public policy
- Politics: the effort to control or influence the conduct and policies of government
- Republic: a specific description of a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them
- Sovereignty: the supreme and absolute authority within territorial boundaries