Elections in the context of "Political organisation"

Liberal democracy, also called Western-style democracy, or substantive democracy, is a form of government that combines the organization of a democracy with ideas of liberal political philosophy. Common elements within a liberal democracy are: elections between or among multiple distinct political parties; a separation of powers into different branches of government; the rule of law in everyday life as part of an open society; a market economy with private property; universal suffrage; and the equal protection of human rights, civil rights, civil liberties, and political freedoms for all citizens. Substantive democracy refers to substantive rights and substantive laws, which can include substantive equality, the equality of outcome for subgroups in society. Liberal democracy emphasizes the separation of powers, an independent judiciary, and a system of checks and balances between branches of government. Multi-party systems with at least two persistent, viable political parties are characteristic of liberal democracies.

Governmental authority is legitimately exercised only in accordance with written, publicly disclosed laws adopted and enforced in accordance with established procedure. To define the system in practice, liberal democracies often draw upon a constitution, either codified or uncodified, to delineate the powers of government and enshrine the social contract. A liberal democracy may take various and mixed constitutional forms: it may be a constitutional monarchy or a republic. It may have a parliamentary system, presidential system, or semi-presidential system. Liberal democracies are contrasted with illiberal democracies and dictatorships. Some liberal democracies, especially those with large populations, use federalism (also known as vertical separation of powers) in order to prevent abuse and increase public input by dividing governing powers between municipal, provincial and national governments. The characteristics of liberal democracies are correlated with increased political stability, lower corruption, better management of resources, and better health indicators such as life expectancy and infant mortality.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (Portuguese: Ministério da Administração Interna or MAI), is the Portuguese government ministry responsible for public security, civil defense, electoral administration, road traffic safety, and immigration and refugee affairs.

The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (c. 41) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that sets out how political parties, elections and referendums are to be regulated in the United Kingdom. It formed an important part of the constitutional reform programme implemented by the 1997 Labour Government, building on the Registration of Political Parties Act 1998 (c. 48) which was passed two years earlier.

A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a very few countries) or a secretary of justice. In some countries, the head of the department may be called the attorney general, for example in the United States.

Depending on the country, specific duties may relate to organizing the justice system, overseeing the public prosecutor and national investigative agencies (e.g. the American Federal Bureau of Investigation), and maintaining the legal system and public order. Some ministries have additional responsibilities in related policy areas such as overseeing elections, directing the police, law reform, and administration of the immigration and citizenship services. Some nations separate the duties of the ministry of justice from responsibility for the prosecution of criminal cases, such that the duties of an attorney general or similar officer reside in a separate office. Sometimes the prison system is separated into another government department called Corrective Services.

Formal theory, also known as positive political theory, is the subfield of political science that uses formal methods such as social choice theory, game theory, and statistical analysis to deductively study political phenomena. It seeks to construct and use mathematical models to represent strategic choices in political contexts, such as in elections, legislative policymaking, and international politics. These models can either be tested empirically or used to elucidate real-world political phenomena by highlighting relevant incentives or causal mechanisms.

In political analyses using formal theory, social choice theoretic methods are often used to describe and axiomatically analyze the performance of rules or institutions. The outcomes of the rules or institutions described are then analyzed through game theoretic methods, where the individuals or parties or nations involved in a given interaction are modeled as rational agents playing a game, guided by self-interest. Based on this assumption, the outcome of the interactions can be predicted as an equilibrium or equilibria of the game. Many of the tools used in formal theory—such as game theory, bounded and instrumental rationality, utility functions, deductive logic, and modeling—were imported from neoclassical economics.