THE STATE: institutions and agencies of the central government, bureaucracy and associated organizations. The Weberian definition: monopoly over the legitimate use of violence over a specified territory.

CIVIL SOCIETY: social groupings, classes, and political organizations that exist outside of the state.

POLITICAL SOCIETY: arena in which civil society contests for state power.

REGIME: institutions and norms governing the relationship between the governed and those that govern.

GOVERNMENT: elite actors that form the governing body of the state apparatus.