Need To Know Terms for AP Comp Gov Exam

Anarchism

A political ideology which believes in eliminating the state as a whole

Citizenship

An individuals relationship to the state where they swear allegiance to the state and the state in return is obligated to provide rights to said citizens

Communism

A political-economic system in where all wealth and property are shared to eliminate exploitation

Conservatives

A political attitude that supports the current order and is resistant to change

Culture

Basic institutions that define a society

Ethnic Conflict

A conflict where different ethnic groups struggle to achieve certain political or economic goals at each other's defense

Ethnic Identity

Specific attributes and societal ideals that make one group of people culturally different from another

Fascism

A political ideology that supports superiority of one group of people and inferiority of another ex: Hitler

Fundamentalism

A view of religion as absolute that should be legally enforced by making faith the sovereign authority

Liberal Democracy

A political system that supports participation, competition and liberty where emphasizes humans equality and freedom ex: American gov

Liberals

Those with a political attitude that favors evolutionary change and that existing governments can be instruments of positive change

Nation

A group that desires self-government through an independent state

National Conflict

A conflict in where one or more groups within a country develop clear aspirations for political independence, clashing with others as a result

Political Attitude

Description of one's views regarding the speed and methods with which political changes should take place

Political Culture

A population’s values and beliefs about the role of government, the rights of the individual, and the extent and role of citizens in controlling government policymaking

Political Ideology

The basic values held by an individual on the fundamental goals of politics or the balance between freedom and equality

International Relations

How countries interact with one another ex: foreign policy, war, trade

Institutions

Organizations or activities put in place that serve value to exist

Politics

The struggle in any group for power that will give person(s) power over a larger majority

Power

The ability to influence or impose upon other's free will

Comparative Method

The means by which socialists make comparisons across countries

Inductive Reasoning

Uses cases(countries) to generate hypotheses about political history

Deductive Reasoning

Tests hypotheses on cases

Correlation

An apparent association between certain factors or variables

Casual Relationship (Causation)

This happens because this did that (cause + effect) ex: You hit him in the nose so it bled

Selection Bias

An issue comparative researchers face in which the sample is not representative of the population being studied, so that some opinions are over- or underrepresented

Qualitative Method

Study type that uses few meaningful cases over numerous cases

Quantitative Method

Study type that uses numerous numbers from many cases

Formal Institution

An institution based on officially sanctioned and written rules ex: electoral systems

Informal Institution

An institution based on unwritten, unofficial rules ex: morals

Equality

A material standard of living shared by individuals within a population

State

A monopoly of force and a set of political institutions that secure the population and generate policy

Sovereignty

Ability of a state to govern its territory free from control of its internal rivals or external actors

Regime

The fundamental political system and norms of a country, defining how power is exercised and how the government interacts with society.

Government

The leadership that runs the state

Country

The combined political entities: state, regime, government, population

Legitimacy

A value of someone or something is recognized as right and proper

3 types of legitimacy

Rational-legal legitimacy, traditional legitimacy, charismatic legitimacy

Traditional Legitimacy

Built by habit + custom over time, stressing history and being strongly institutionalized ex: monarchies

Rational-legal legitimacy

Built on rules and procedures and the offices that create and enforce those rules, strongly institutionalized

Charismatic Legitimacy

Built on the force of ideas and the presence of the leader, weakly institutionalized ex: Hitler

Federalism

Powers such as taxation, lawmaking and security are devolved down to smaller regional legislatures which are protected in the constitution ex: US, providences in Canada

Asymmetric Federalism

Power is divided unevenly amongst regional bodies ex: Canada's providences

Unitary

Power concentrated at the national level and local authority is limited

Devolution

Separating power farther from the bstate and closer to the people

Failed State

States that are not able to fulfill basic tasks: defend their territory, manage economy usually have corruption or war

Capacity

The ability of the state to wield power in order to carry out the basic tasks of providing security + reconciling freedom and equality.

Autonomy

The ability of a state to wield its power independently of the public or international actors

Symmetric federalism

All regions have the same powers ex: US states

Political Economy

The study of interaction between states and markets

Markets

The interaction between the forces of supply and demand that allocates resources. The medium through which buyers and sellers exchange goods.

Property

Goods or services that are owned by a individual or group, privately or publicly

Public Goods

Goods, provided or secured by the state, available to society, and which no private person or organization can own

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The total market value of all goods and services produced by a country over a period of one year

Central Bank

The state institution that determines how much money is flowing through the economy, as well as how much it costs to borrow money

Inflation

An outstripping of supply by demand, resulting in an increase in the general price level of goods & services and the resulting loss of value in a country's currency

Deflation

A period of falling prices and value goods, services, investments and wages due to less money circulating

Monopoly

A single producer that is able to dominate the market for a good or service without competition

Tariffs

A tax on imported foreign goods

Quotas

A nontariff barrier that limits the quantity of a good that may be imported into a country

Liberalism

Political system that favors a limited state role in society and economy and laces a high priority on individual political and economic freedom

ex. United Arab Emirates, United States, United Kingdom

Capitalism

A system of production based on private property and free markets

Social Democracy

Political-economic system in which freedom and equality are balanced through state control of the economy and social expenditures

ex. Sweden, has free trade but but government owned and affiliated businesses. Lots of public goods are provided to the public through high taxation

Communism

Political-economic system in which all wealth & property are shared to prevent exploitation

ex. China, gov owns everything

Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)

A statistical tool that attempts to estimate the buying power of income across different countries by using prices in the USA as a benchmark

Gini Index

A statistical formula that measures the amount of inequality in a society; its scale ranges from 0-100, where 0 corresponds to perfect equality and 100 to perfect inequality

Human Development Index (HDI)

A statistical tool that attempts to evaluate the overall wealth, health, acknowledgement of a country's people

Economic Liberalization

Changes consistent with liberalism that aim to limit the power of the state & increase the power of the market and private property

Revolution

Public seizure of the state in order to overturn the existing government & regime

Terrorism

The use of violence by non-state actors against civilians in order to achieve a political goal, can be ideological based

Guerrilla War

A conflict where by non-state combatants who largely abide by the rules of war target the state

Mercantilism

A political-economic system with the goal to increase state power by maximizing wealth

ex. Japan 50-80's, England's colonies

Interests rates + banks

High interest: less loans, more money saved = less money circulating through economy (can cause deflation)

Low interest: more loans, less money saved = more money circulating through the economy (can cause inflation)

Nontariff regulatory barriers

Health, packaging or other regulations use to limit imports of foreign goods besides taxing and quotas

Gross Domestic Product Per capita (GDP)

This divides the GDP by total population which gives a measure of the average person's contribution to generating a country's wealth in a year.

Direct Democracy

Public participates directly in governance and policy making; historically found in small communities such as ancient Athen's

Indirect Democracy

Public participates indirectly through its elected representatives; the prevalent form of democracy in the modern age

Civil Society

Any non-governmental organization outside of the state that help people define and advance their own interests

ex. book club, girl scouts, sports team

Executive branch

The branch of government that carries out the laws and policies of a state

Head of State

The executive role that symbolizes and represents the people both nationally and internationally

ex. Monarch, Prime Minister or in some places the President

Head of Government

The executive role that deals with the everyday tasks of running the states such as formulating and executing policy

Legislature

The branch of government changed with making laws

Bicameral System

A political system in which the legislature comprises of two houses

Unicameral System

A political system in which the legislature comprises of one house

Rule of Law

A system in which all individuals and groups, including those in government, are subject to law, irrespective of their power or authority

Constitutional Court

The highest judicial body in a political system that decides whether laws and policies violate the constitution

Judicial Review

The mechanism by which courts can review the actions of government and overturn those that violate the constitution

Parliamentary System

A political system in which the roles of head of state and head of government are assigned to separate executive offices & the roles of the legislative branch and executive branch are fused into one branch.

"Vote of No Confidence"

A vote taken by legislature as to whether its members can continue to support the current prime minister. Depending on the country, the vote can force resignation of prime minster or lead to new parliament elections. (Legislature gives the vote and the party removal is an internal party decision)

In Parliamentary systems people vote for...

The party they want and the party that wins the majority send their head of party to be the prime minister. If no majority wins the largest minority party usually names the prime minister in a coalition government

3 types of gov. with Prime Ministers

1. Constitutional Monarchy

2. Parliamentary Republic

3. Semi-Presidential

Constitutional Monarchy

The head of state is a monarch while the head of government resides as the democratically elected prime minister

ex. UK, Denmark, Japan

Parliamentary Republic

Prime minister is head of gov. while President is the head of state

Semi-presidential

An executive sysytem that divides power between two strong executives, prime minister and president. President helps set policy while prime minister executes it.

ex. Russia, South Korea, France

2 types of semi-presidential systems of government

1. President-parliamentary system

2. Premier-presidential system

President-parliamentary system

President is head of gov. and picks their own cabinet and prime minister. Prime minister and cabinet also report to parliament which can dismiss them with a vote of no confidence. The president can also remove these officials without cooperation from parliament

Premier-presidential system

A president may intially appoint a cabinet and a prime minister. Those officials report to parliament and only parliament can remove them from office.

Presidential system

A political system in which the roles of head of state and head of government are combined in one executive office. The president directs the cabinet and formulates legislation and international and domestic policies. President serves for a fixed term and can not be easily removed.

Electoral systems

A set of rules that divides how votes are cast, counted, and translated into seats in legislature

Constituencies

A geographical area that the area's elected officials represent