POLI 277 and POLI 278 Key Terms Comprehensive Flashcards

Flashcard set covering key political science vocabulary and conceptual definitions from Units 1 to 11 across POLI 277 and POLI 278.

What is Class Analysis in political science?

Looking at politics by asking how social and economic classes—such as workers, owners, rich, and poor—have different interests, resources, and amounts of power.

How is Empirical Analysis defined?

Studying politics using facts, evidence, observation, data, and experience to ask 'What actually happens?'

What does Elite Analysis (or Elitism) focus on?

Studying politics by focusing on the small group of powerful people who make or strongly influence major decisions.

What question does Normative Analysis seek to answer?

Studying politics by asking what should happen—what is fair, just, right, or desirable.

What is Policy Analysis?

Studying what governments do about public problems, including why a policy was chosen and whether it works.

What is Behavioural Analysis?

Studying politics by examining how people actually behave politically, such as how they vote, participate, form opinions, and make political choices.

How is Charismatic Authority defined?

Authority based on people's strong belief in a leader's exceptional personality, qualities, or ability to inspire them.

On what is Legal-Rational Authority based?

Authority based on laws, formal rules, and official positions, where people obey the office or system rather than simply the individual person.

What defines Traditional Authority?

Authority accepted because it is based on long-standing customs, traditions, or inherited practices ('This is how it has always been done').

What is Biopower?

Power exercised by managing and regulating human life and populations, including areas such as health, reproduction, behaviour, and social conditions.

What is the Free-Rider Problem?

The problem that occurs when people benefit from something provided by a group without contributing to the effort or cost of providing it.

How does Institutionalism explain political outcomes?

By examining how political institutions, rules, structures, and procedures shape political behaviour and outcomes.

What is Pluralism in political theory?

The view that political power is spread among many competing groups rather than controlled by one dominant group.

What is the difference between 'Power over' and 'Power to'?

'Power over' is the ability to make another person or group do something even if they would rather not, whereas 'Power to' is the ability or capacity to accomplish something, make a choice, or create change.

How does Disciplinary Power shape human behaviour?

By encouraging people to monitor and control themselves through rules, expectations, surveillance, or social norms.

What are the 'Three Faces of Power'?

Three ways power can work: controlling decisions, keeping certain issues off the agenda, and shaping what people think or believe is possible or desirable.

What is Sovereignty?

Supreme political authority: the power to make final decisions within a territory without being legally subordinate to another authority.

How does the transcript distinguish a State from a Nation?

A State is a political organization with a population, territory, government, and sovereignty (e.g., Canada), whereas a Nation is a group of people who see themselves as belonging together based on shared identity, history, culture, language, traditions, or political aspirations.

What is the difference between Civic Nationalism and Ethnic Nationalism?

Civic Nationalism is based mainly on shared citizenship, political values, laws, and commitment to a political community, while Ethnic Nationalism is based mainly on shared ancestry, ethnicity, language, culture, or heritage.

What is Anarchism?

The belief that society can and should exist without a coercive state or government, relying instead on voluntary cooperation.

What is Historical Materialism in Marxism?

The theory that historical development is largely driven by material economic conditions, modes of production, and conflict between social classes.

What is John Stuart Mill's Harm Principle?

The principle that individual freedom should generally be restricted only to prevent harm to others.

What is Rousseau's concept of the General Will (volonté générale)?

The collective will directed toward the common good rather than simply the sum of everyone's private interests.

What is Social Darwinism?

The application of ideas about competition and 'survival of the fittest' to human society, often used historically to justify inequality and limited assistance to disadvantaged people.

How is Populism defined?

A political approach portraying society as divided between ordinary or 'real' people and a corrupt or self-serving elite.

What was the significance of the French Revolution beginning in 1789?

It overthrew France's old political order and helped spread ideas about liberty, equality, citizenship, and popular sovereignty.

What was the impact of the Hundred Years War (1337–1453)?

A long series of wars between England and France that helped strengthen monarchies and the development of national identities and states.

What does 'Princeps Senatus' mean?

A prestigious senior position in the Roman Senate, literally meaning roughly 'first man of the Senate.'

What is Fragment Theory?

The theory that the political cultures of societies created through European settlement reflect particular ideological 'fragments' carried from the settler societies.

What does the term 'Tory Touch' signify in Canadian political culture?

The idea that Canada's political culture retained a stronger conservative or collectivist influence from its British and Loyalist heritage than the more individualistic political culture of the United States.

How did Thomas Hobbes describe the State of Nature?

An imaginary world with no government that would be dangerous and insecure, leading people to agree to create a strong authority.

What was Socrates' idea of 'the unexamined life'?

The idea that a good life requires questioning your beliefs, choices, and assumptions instead of simply accepting them.

What is Keynesianism?

The idea that government should sometimes spend, tax, or manage the economy to reduce recessions and unemployment.

What is Anthropocentrism in environmental thought?

Seeing human beings as the centre of moral importance and judging nature mainly by how useful it is to humans.

How is Carrying Capacity defined in ecology?

The largest population an environment can support over time without being badly damaged.

What is Sustainable Development?

Development that meets people's needs today without destroying the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

How do Focal Ideologies differ from World-View Ideologies?

A Focal Ideology concentrates mainly on one central issue or area of concern, whereas a World-View Ideology offers a broad, overall explanation of society and a general plan for political, economic, and social life.

What is the difference between a Formal and Informal Constitution?

A Formal Constitution consists of written rules in authoritative legal documents, whereas an Informal Constitution relies on customs, conventions, practices, and traditions.

What is Charter proofing?

Government lawyers checking proposed laws or policies to see whether they are likely to comply with the Charter.

What is Section 33 of the Canadian Charter (the Notwithstanding Clause)?

A provision allowing Parliament or a provincial legislature to temporarily override certain Charter rights for renewable periods of up to five years.

What was the primary goal of the 1987 Meech Lake Accord?

It was intended partly to secure Quebec's formal acceptance of the 1982 Canadian constitutional settlement.

What was proposed in the 1992 Charlottetown Accord?

Major Canadian constitutional changes involving Quebec, Indigenous peoples, the Senate, and federalism.

Why is the Latimer case significant in discussions of Canadian law?

It involved Robert Latimer and the killing of his disabled daughter Tracy, and is frequently cited in debates regarding rights, punishment, mercy, and the rule of law.

What is Parliamentary Sovereignty?

The principle that Parliament is the supreme law-making authority and courts cannot normally invalidate its laws on constitutional grounds.

How do Unitary, Federal, and Confederal systems differ in authority structure?

In a Unitary system authority is concentrated in the central government; in a Confederal system member states retain most sovereignty giving limited power to a central body; in Federalism law-making responsibilities are constitutionally divided between levels of government.

What is Devolution?

The transfer of political power from a central government to regional or local governments while the central state remains legally sovereign.

What is the principle of Subsidiarity?

The principle that decisions should be made at the lowest level of government capable of handling them effectively.

What is the rule of Paramountcy in Canadian federalism?

The rule that valid federal law prevails when it conflicts with valid provincial law in an actual conflict recognized by the courts.

What is Cabinet Solidarity?

The expectation that Cabinet ministers publicly support Cabinet decisions, even if they disagreed privately.

What is Cohabitation in a semi-presidential system?

A situation where the president and prime minister come from opposing political camps.

What distinguishes the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) from the Privy Council Office (PCO)?

The PMO consists of the prime minister's political staff providing partisan advice, communication, and strategy, whereas the PCO is a non-partisan public service body supporting the prime minister and Cabinet in decision-making coordination.

What is the principle of Responsible Government?

The parliamentary principle that the executive branch must have and maintain the confidence of the elected legislature to remain in power.

What is the Politics-Administration Dichotomy?

The idea that elected politicians should decide policy while neutral public servants should administer it, though in reality the boundary is often blurry.

How did Max Weber characterize modern bureaucracy?

As hierarchical, rule-based, specialized, professional, and impersonal.

What is Ministerial Responsibility?

The convention that ministers are accountable to Parliament for their government departments and for their own official conduct.

What is the Delegate model of representation?

The idea that representatives should closely follow the wishes and preferences of the people who elected them.

What is the Trustee model of representation?

The idea that representatives should use their own judgment about what is best, even when voters may disagree.

How does a Single-Member Plurality (SMP) electoral system operate?

Each district elects one representative and the candidate with the most votes wins, even without securing an absolute majority.

What is a Brokerage Party?

A broad, pragmatic political party that tries to attract support from many different groups by balancing and compromising among their interests.

What is Robert Michels' 'Iron Law of Oligarchy'?

The idea that even democratic organizations tend over time to become controlled by a small group of leaders.

What is the difference between Common Law and Civil Law traditions?

Common Law relies on judicial decisions and precedents as major sources of law alongside statutes, whereas Civil Law is based mainly on comprehensive written legal codes.

What is Stare Decisis?

The common-law principle that courts should follow binding precedents established by higher courts.

What is the Ratio Decidendi of a legal decision?

The legal rule or reasoning necessary to a court's decision, which forms the binding precedent.

What is a Reference Question in Canadian law?

A legal question a government directly asks a court to answer for an advisory opinion even when there is no active lawsuit between parties.

What is the Oakes Test?

The Supreme Court of Canada test used to decide whether a government limit on a Charter right is justified under Section 1.

What historical role did the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) hold for Canada?

It was a British judicial body that served as Canada's highest court of appeal until 1949 and made fundamental decisions shaping Canadian federalism.

How do Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI) and Export-Led Industrialization (ELI) differ?

ISI encourages domestic production of goods that would otherwise be imported through tariffs and protections, whereas ELI emphasizes producing manufactured goods specifically for export to international markets.

What does Dependency Theory assert?

The theory that poorer countries remain underdeveloped partly because the global economic system creates relationships in which wealthy countries benefit from and perpetuate their dependence.

What is the Washington Consensus?

A set of market-oriented economic policies emphasizing measures such as fiscal discipline, privatization, deregulation, trade liberalization, and openness to foreign investment.

What is Anarchy in International Relations theory?

The condition in international relations where there is no supreme world government above sovereign states.

How do Realism and Liberal Internationalism view state relations?

Realism emphasizes states competing for power, security, and national interest in an anarchic world, while Liberal Internationalism emphasizes state cooperation through international rules, institutions, trade, and shared norms.

What is the Security Dilemma?

A situation in which one state's actions to increase its security make other states feel less secure, prompting counter-actions that can decrease security for all.

What is Collective Security?

The principle that states should cooperate to respond to aggression against any member because threats to one are treated as concerns for the entire international community.

What were the Bretton Woods Agreements?

Post–Second World War agreements that created a new international economic system and established key institutions including the IMF and World Bank.

What is Mercantilism in global political economy?

An approach that treats economic policy as a tool of national power and favours protecting strategic domestic interests.