The cynical, real-world practice in governance where politicians and bureaucrats selectively enforce laws, award contracts, or direct resources not by objective criteria, but to reward allies, punish opponents, and secure future political advantage. It's the application of bias as a tool of state power, turning public policy into a mechanism for maintaining private political capital.
Example: A city government fast-tracks building permits for developers who are major campaign donors, while "losing" the permits of developers who support the opposition. This Political Picking uses the neutral machinery of administration to perform partisan favoritism, creating a shadow system of rewards and punishments.
by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 4, 2026
Get the Political Picking mug.A political theory analyzing power through the value of the last, most incremental political action, promise, or unit of authority (the marginal political unit). It suggests that political capital, like any resource, has diminishing returns. A government's first actions in a crisis (e.g., disaster relief) have high utility and build legitimacy (cohesion). But the 10th micro-managing decree or broken campaign promise has low utility. It's often seen as purely about expanding control (coercion), eroding public trust. It asks: when does more politics become counterproductive?
Political Marginalism Example: During a pandemic, initial public health orders (like banning large gatherings) had high political marginal utility—they were broadly accepted as necessary for cohesion. But when the government then issues a highly specific, poorly justified order about the type of exercise allowed alone in a park, that last political unit is subjectively valued as low-utility coercion. According to political marginalism, this overreach weakens compliance with all orders, damaging the state's political cohesion.
by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 7, 2026
Get the Political Marginalism mug.A political theory analyzing power through the value of the last, most incremental political action, promise, or unit of authority (the marginal political unit). It suggests that political capital, like any resource, has diminishing returns. A government's first actions in a crisis (e.g., disaster relief) have high utility and build legitimacy (cohesion). But the 10th micro-managing decree or broken campaign promise has low utility. It's often seen as purely about expanding control (coercion), eroding public trust. It asks: when does more politics become counterproductive?
Political Marginalism Example: During a pandemic, initial public health orders (like banning large gatherings) had high political marginal utility—they were broadly accepted as necessary for cohesion. But when the government then issues a highly specific, poorly justified order about the type of exercise allowed alone in a park, that last political unit is subjectively valued as low-utility coercion. According to political marginalism, this overreach weakens compliance with all orders, damaging the state's political cohesion.
by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 7, 2026
Get the Political Marginalism mug.The art of cutting, polishing, and setting political narratives so they sparkle just long enough to distract the electorate from their lack of substance. It’s the strategic deployment of shiny policy proposals—often as artificial as a cubic zirconia—to deflect attention from deeper, structural "inclusions" (like corruption or economic inequality). A skilled political gemologist knows exactly how to hold a rough, unpopular truth up to the light and rotate it until it catches the public eye as a glittering promise, even if it’s fundamentally just a lump of coal.
Example: "The mayor's new infrastructure plan is a masterclass in political gemology. He's managed to make a single repaired pothole look like the Hope Diamond of public works, and everyone's so dazzled they forgot he just raised their taxes to pay for it."
by Dumu The Void February 14, 2026
Get the Political Gemology mug.Similar to a polycule but consisting of politicians and those in power. The members can consist of elected officials, appointed officials, or those with the means or connections to influence such officials.
by Ædthryth March 1, 2026
Get the Politicule mug.The use of political language, concepts, and frameworks to defend positions that serve power rather than justice. Political Sophism invokes "freedom" to defend exploitation, "security" to justify oppression, "democracy" to mask oligarchy. It's sophistry in service of the state, using political ideals to obscure political realities.
"They called it freedom while cutting healthcare, education, and food assistance. Political Sophism: using liberation's language to justify deprivation. Freedom became a word for abandoning the vulnerable. The sophistry is in the naming: call it freedom, and you can get away with anything."
by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal March 7, 2026
Get the Political Sophism mug.The application of postmodern insights to politics—the recognition that political categories, identities, and ideologies are constructed, contingent, and always involve power. Political Postmodernism critiques the grand narratives of political progress (liberalism, socialism, conservatism) as totalizing stories that erase difference and impose unity. It emphasizes the politics of identity, the multiplicity of subject positions, and the impossibility of a single political truth. Political Postmodernism is the philosophy of coalition politics, of intersectionality, of the recognition that no single movement can speak for all. It's postmodernism in the streets, at the ballot box, in the movement.
Example: "The old left told a grand story: workers of the world unite. Political Postmodernism showed what that story erased: differences of race, gender, sexuality, culture. Unity wasn't possible; coalition was. Politics wasn't about finding one truth; it was about negotiating among many."
by Dumu The Void March 8, 2026
Get the Political Postmodernism mug.