Introducing Comparative Politics (2nd Ed.) - Drogus & Orvis

Political Development

How and why did specific countries and entities become they way they are today?

Modernization

The transformation of poor agrarian societies into wealthy industrial societies.

Regime

A governing body whether democracy or dictatorship.

Democracy

Citizens have basic rights of open association and expression and the ability to change the govt. through some sort of electoral process.

Authoritative Regime

A regime lacking democratic values and characteristics (fascist regime-->Nazi Party).

Civil Society

A sphere of organizations-not associated with govt.-but who adhere to non-violent activities, and are larger than a single firm.

Political Economy

The study of the interaction b/w political and economic phenomena.

Comparativists

Political scientists who study comparative politics.

Comparative Politics

A subfield of Political Science.

Political Science

The systematic study of politics.

The First Dimension of Power

The ability of one person or group to get another person or group to do something it otherwise would not do.

The Second Dimension of Power

An idea thought by Bachrach and Baratz, that power was not only the ability to get a person or group to DO something, but also to KEEP them from doing something.

The Third Dimension of Power

Contributed by Lukes-the ability to shape or determine individual or group political demands by causing people to think about political issues in ways that are contrary to their own interests.

International Relations

Politics beyond one single country's borders.

Theory

An abstract argument that provides systematic explanations about some phenomena.

Empirical Theory

An argument that explains what actually occurred. (i.e. evolution-->no ideas of good or bad argued by evolutionists)

Normative Theory

An argument that explains what ought to have occurred.

Research Methods

Systematic processes used to ensure that the study of a specific item is as objective and unbiased as possible.

Single Case Study

Examines a particular political phenomena in only one country or community.

Comparative Method

Examines several cases, trying to mimic lab conditions by selecting cases carefully.

Most Similar Systems Design

Looks at countries who differ in many ways and try to see the similarities in politics or political outcomes.

Quantitive Statistical Techniques

When evidence is so large that is is reduced to sets of numbers or statistical measures to be systematically measured.

Political Actor

Any person associated with politics can be motivated by a variety of factors.

Rational Choice Theory

Assumes that people are motivated-in politics-by their personal preferences.

Psychological Theories

Focus on individual Motivation. Describe political behavior at the bases of experiences.

Political Culture

A set of widely held attitudes, values, beliefs, and symbols about politics.

Political Socialization

The process by which people-especially young people-learn about politics and are taught society's common values.

Modernists

Believe that clear attitudes, values, and beliefs can be identified w/i any particular political culture.

Typology

List of different types of political cultures.

Civic Culture

Dominated primarily by one political culture and therefore remaining more stable. (i.e. Great Britain and USA)

Subcultures

Groups that hold partially different beliefs and values from the mail political culture of a country.

Postmaterialist

A set of values in a society in which most citizens are economically secure enough to move beyond immediate economic (materialistic) concerns to "quality of life" issues like human rights, civil rights, environmentalism, and moral values.

Postmodernist

An approach that sees cultures not as sets of fixed and clearly defined valus but rather as sets of symbols subject to interpretation.

Political Discourse

The ways in which people speak and write about politics; postmodern theorists argue that political discourse influences political attitudes, identity, and actions.

Political Ideology

A systematic set of beliefs about how a political system ought to be structured.

Ideological Hegemony

The ruling class's ability to spread a set of ideas justifying and perpetuating its political dominance.

Structuralism

Approach to explaining politics that argues that political behavior is at least influenced and limited, and perhaps even determined, by broader structures in a society such as class divisions or enduring institutions.

Marxism

Structuralist argument that says that economic structures largely determine political behavior; the philosophical underpinning of communism.

Social Classes

In Marxist theory, groups of people with the same relationship to the means of production; more generally, groups of people w/ similar occupations, wealth, or income.

Bourgeoisie

The class that own capitalism; in Marxism "the ruling elite" in all capitalist societies.

Proletariat

Marxist term for the class of free wage laborers who own no capital and must sell their labor to survive; communist parties claim to work on the Proletariat's behalf.

Institutionalism

An approach to explaining politics that argues that political institutions are crucial to understanding political behavior.

Political Institutions

A set of rules, norms, or standard operating procedures that is widely recognized and accepted by the society and the structures and contrains political actions.

Rational Choice Institutionalists

Follow the assumptions of rational choice theory and argue that institutions are the products of interaction and bargaining of rational actors.

Historical Institutionalists

Believe that institutions explain political behavior and shape individuals' political preferences and their perceptions of self-interests and that institutions evolve historically in particular countries and change relatively slowly.

Pluralist Theory

Explanation of who has power that argues that society is divided into various political groups and that power is dispersed among these groups so that no group has complete or permanent power; contrast to elite theory.

Patron-Client Relationships

Top leaders (P) mobilize political support by providing resources to their followers (C) in exchange for political loyalty.

Elite Theory

All societies are ruled by a small group that has effective control over virtually all power; contrast to pluralist theory.

Ruling Class

An elite who possess adequate resources to control a regime; in Marxist theory, the class that controls key sources of wealth in a given epoch.

Neocolonialism (Neo=New)

A relationship b/w postcolonial societies and their former colonizers in which leaders benefit politically and economically by helping outside businesses and states maintain access to the former colonies' wealth and come to serve the interests of the former colonizers more than they serve their own people.

Patriarchy

Rule by men.

Absolutism

Rule by a single monarch who claims complete, exclusive sovereignty over a territory and its people

Bureaucracy

A large set of appointed officials whose function is to implement the laws of the state, as directed by the executive

Charismatic Legitimacy

The right to rule based on personal virtue, heroism, sanctity, or other extraordinary characteristics; one of Max Weber's three versions of legitimacy

Clientelism

The exchange of material resources for political support

External Sovereignty

Sovereignty relative to outside powers that is legally recognized in international law

Failed State

A state that is so weak that it loses effective sovereignty over part or all of its territory

Fealty

A relationship between lord and vassal in which the lord gave a vassal the right to rule a piece of land, its products, and people in exchange for political and military loyalty; the central relationship in feudal states

Feudal States

Premodern systems in Europe in which power in a territory was divided among more than one level of government; in contrast to a unitary system

Ideal Type

Term used by Max Weber for a model of the purest version that a thing might be

Internal Sovereignty

The sole authority within a territory capable of making and enforcing laws and policies; an essential element of a modern state

Legitimacy

The recognized right to rule

Peace of Westphalia

Agreement among European powers in 1648 that codified the idea of states as legal equals that recognized each other's external and internal sovereignty within specified territories and that were prepared to defend that sovereignty and their interests via diplomacy if possible or war if necessary

Quasi-States

States that have legal sovereignty and international recognition but lack almost all the domestic attributes of a functioning modern state

Rational-Legal Legitimacy

The right of leaders to rule based on their selection according to an accepted set of laws, standards, or procedures; one of Max Weber's three versions of legitimacy

Resource Curse

Occurs when a state relies on a key resource for almost all of its revenue, allowing it to ignore its citizens and resulting in a weak state

Sovereign

Quality of a state in which it is legally recognized by the family of states as the sole legitimate governing authority within its territory and as the legal equal of other states

State

A set of ongoing institutions that develops and administers laws and generates and implements public policies in a specific territory

Territory

An area with clearly defined borders to which a state lays claim

Traditional Legitimacy

The right to rule based on a society's long-standing patterns and practices; one of Max Weber's three versions of legitimacy

Weak State

State that cannot provide adequate public goods to its population

Bolshevik

Vladimir Lenin's branch of the communist movement in Russia that led the Russian communist revolution

Bureaucratic-Authoritarian Regime

A regime characterized by institutionalized rule under a military government with a primary goal of economic development; coined by Guillermo O'Donnell to describe Latin American military regimes in the 1970s

Citizen

A member of a political community or state with certain rights and duties

Civil Rights

The first of T. H. Marshall's rights of citizenship; those rights that guarantee individual freedom as well as equal, just, and fair treatment by the state

Coup D'Etat

Military takeover of a government

Democratic Centralism

The organization of a ruling party, primarily in communist regimes, in which lower organs of a party an state vote on issues and individuels to represent them at higher levels, ultimately reaching the top level, which makes final, binding decisions that all must then obey without question; key organizational innovation of Vladimir Lenin, leader of the Russian Communist Party

Dictatorship of the Proletariat

The first stage of communism in Marxist thought, characterized by absolute rule by workers as a class over all other classes

Electoral Democracy

Political systems in which opposition parties are legal and elections take place, but full civil rights of liberal democracy are not secure

Free Wage Labor

Labor that can move from place to place and is paid based on the time worked; required by capitalism

Historical Materialism

The assumption that material forces are the prime movers of history and politics; a key philosophical tenet of Marxism

Islamism

The belief that Islamic law, as revealed by God to the Prophet Mohammed, can and should provide the basis for government in Muslim Communities, with little equivocation or compromise

Jihad

Derived from an Arabic word for "struggle"; an important concept in Islam; the Quran identifies three types of jihad: internal struggle to live faithfully, struggle to resist evil and right injustice, and struggle to protect the Muslim community

Liberal Democracy

A system of government that provides eight key guarantees: freedom of association, freedom of expression, the right to vote, broad citizen eligibility for office, the right of political leaders to compete for support, alternative sources of information, free and fair elections, and institutions that make government policies depend on votes and other forms of citizenship preferences

Military Regime

System of government in which military officers control power

Mode of Production

In Marxist theory, the economic system in any given historical era; feudalism and capitalism in the last millenium in Europe

Modernization Theory

Theory of development that argues that postcolonial societies need to go through the same process that the West underwent in order to develop

Neofascist

Description given to parties or political movements that espouse a virulent nationalism, often defined on a cultural or religious basis and opposed to immigrants as threats to national identity

Neofundamentalist

Term coined by French scholar Olivier Roy; Islamic movements that focus only on implementing an extremely rigid vision of Sharia at the loval level that dictates how people live their daily lives while ignoring the state; key example is the Taliban in Afghanistan

Neopatrimonial Authority

Power based on a combination of the trappings of modern, bureaucratic states with underlying informal institutions of clientelism that work behind the scenes' most common in Africa

One-Party Regime

A system of government in which a single party gains power, usually after independence in postcolonial states, and systematically eliminates all opposition in the name of development and national unity

Parliamentary Sovereignty

Parliament is supreme in all matters; key example is the United Kingdom

Participatory Democracy

A form of democracy that encourages citizens to participate actively, in many ways beyond voting; usually focused at the local level

Personalist Regime

System of government in which a central leader comes to dominate a state, typically not only eliminating all opposition but also weakening the state's institutions to centralize power in his hands

Politburo

The chief decision-making organ in a communist party; China's politburo is a key example

Political Rights

The second of T. H. Marshall's rights of citizenship; those rights associated with active political participation: right to association, expression, voting, and running for office

Regime

A set of fundamental rules and institutions that govern political activity

Semi-Authoritarian Regime

A type of hybrid regime in which formal opposition and some open political debate exist and elections are held to select the executive and legislative branches but in which the ruling party controls electoral outcomes and the regime cannot be considered democratic in any real sense; also called competitive authoritarian and electoral authoritarian

Sharia

Muslim law

Social Contract Theory

Philosophical approach underlying liberalism that begins from the premise that legitimate governments are formed when free and independent individuals join in a contract to permit representatives to govern over them in their common interests