Power and Politics Final Exam Study Guide

Military Regime

regime run by the military.

Significance: military regimes are more likely to transition to democracy

Democratic Peace Theory

democracies do not go to war with one another

Significance: this is one of the three theories of dyadic peace

Distributive Theory

congress is organized to help members win re-election

Significance: predicts preference outliers and member behavior

Grievance Theory

civil wars occur as grievances rise

Significance: evidence does not support this

Dependent Variable

A variable in which the independent variable explains some of the variation.

Significance: It is the outcome that matters most in research.

Causal Mechanism

the theoretical explanation for why your IV is affecting your DV

Significance: more causal = more credible

Institutional Partisanship

focusing exclusively on a particular institution

Significance: research has been found to be lacking based on criticism

Socialization Theory

A theory that explains how individuals learn political values, beliefs, and behaviors. Usually through family, education, media, and peers.

Significance: it is one of the three theories of party formation

Modernization Theory

countries are more likely to democratize once a certain level of economic performance is met

Significance: one of the three theories of democratization

Variable Label

A description of the variable.

Significance: The label should be relevant to the variable.

Game Theory

shows how players gain payoffs based on actions

Significance: this is one way to predict behavior

Theoretical Model

model that contains the DV, IV of interest, control variables, and relationships between them.

Significance: a good theoretical model must have all of these

Political Time

Skowronek’s view that the presidencies are cyclical

Significance: presidents should not be compared based solely on time, but also where they come in the cycle

Presidential System

government system that has separately elected executive and legislative

Significance: this system is common in North and South America

Compliance

when target does what sender wants them to do

Significance: this is the stated goal of sanctions

Independent Variable of Interest

The independent variable that you theorize will affect the dependent variable.

Significance: this is what will be tested

Mode

most common value

Significance: best central tendancy measurement for categorical variables

Measures of Central Tendencies

measures that describe most common tendencies.

Significance: which type of measurement you use depends on the variable