Comp Gov. Unit 1: Political Systems, Regimes, and Governments Terms

Empirical data

is fact-based information from observation or experimentation

Normative statement

Is a value or opinion statement that cannot be proven or disprove. For example, a statement about Russian politics is that “Vladimir Putin should not have returned to become Russia’s president in 2012.”

Qualitative data

is information that is difficult to measure including sources such as speeches, foundational documents, political cartoons, maps and political commentaries.

Correlation

Exists when there is an association between two or more variables

Causation

is difficult to determine with certainty in comparative politics, as often there are numerous variables that potentially influence political policies and/or regime stability, with no way to isolate and demonstrate which is producing the change

Human Development Index (HDI)

Which comes from the United Nations Development Programmer as “a summary measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development” including statistics about life expectancy, amount of schooling, and income.

Gross domestic product (GDP)

which is the market value of goods and services produced over a certain time in a country. GDP can depict the overall all size of a national economy.

GDP per capita

Can reflect the size of the national economy in comparison with the population size

GDP growth rate

shows the rate of national economic expansion.

Gini index

shows income inequality within a country. A Gini of 100% indicates perfect inequality whereas a Gini of 0% indicates perfect equality.

Freedom House scores

Are reported by a non governmental organization that ranks countries based on scores of 1-7 for political rights and civil liberties.

Governmental transparency

is the ability of citizens to access information about a government’s policy making and policy implementation to help hold officials accountable.