AP Comparative Government Vocab

Authoritarian Rule

A system of rule in which power depends not on popular legitimacy but on the coercive force of the political authorities

Authority

The legal right to exercise power on behalf of the society and/or government; compared/contrasted with "power"

Bonyads

Quasi-private foundations and religious endowments that are charged with aiding the poor by managing many state-owned enterprises

Bureaucracy

A hierarchically structured organization charged with carrying out policies determined by those with political authority

Camarilla

A complex organization of patronage typically lead by the president where you have to show loyalty to a higher ranking to curry favor

Catch All Party

A political party whose aim is to gather support from a broad range of citizens through a de-emphasis of ideology and an emphasis on pragmatism, charismatic leadership, and marketing

Clientelism

An exchange system in which clients offer support and loyalty to patrons who offer material and intangible benefits

One Informal Aspect of Policymaking in Clientelism

A powerful patron offers resources such as land, contracts, protection, or jobs in return for the support and services of lower-status and less powerful clients

Characteristics of Clientelism

Corruption, preferential treatment, and inequality

Patron-Client Networks

Networks formed between patrons and clients in a clientelism system

Cleavages

Factors that separate groups within a society

Factors that can Create Cleavages

Cultural, historical, geographic, economic, ethnic, racial, etc

How do wider and deeper cleavages affect societal unity?

The wider and deeper the cleavages, the less unified the society

What happens when cleavages coincide with one another?

They can reinforce each other

What is the effect of cleavages that do not coincide?

They can weaken divisions between groups.

Civil Service

A system of carefully describing tasks involved in performing government jobs, evaluating applicants for those jobs (civil service exams), and hiring people from among those applicants based on skills and experience rather than political factors

Civil Society

Refers to the space occupied by voluntary associations outside of the state

Examples of Civil Society

Professional associations, trade unions, student groups, women's groups, religious bodies, and other voluntary association groups

Code Law

No tradition of judicial review or consistent application of the law; letter of the law is what matters; great in theory; no interpretation of judge - follow the code (the law); most developing countries have this system

Common Law

Law based on tradition, past practices, and legal precedents set by the courts through interpretations of statutes, legal legislation, and past rulings; in short, "one application determines the next application of the law"; precedence

Corporatism

A state in which interest groups become an institutional part of the political structure

Charismatic Authority

A style of leadership based on the leader's exceptional personal qualities

Checks and Balances

A governmental system of divided authority in which coequal branches can restrain each other's actions

Coup d'état

A forceful replacement of a regime or a government by a small elite group or groups

Command Economy

An economic/political system in which government decisions rather than markets determine resource use and output (central planning)

Communism

A system of social organization based on the common ownership and coordination of production; justified single party states

Controlled Interest Group Systems

There is a single group for each social sector; membership is often compulsory, each group is normally hierarchically organized; groups are controlled by the government or its agents in order to mobilize support for government policy (communism)

Key Point of Controlled Interest Group Systems

Groups exist to facilitate government control of society

Neo-Corporatist Interest Group Systems

A single peak association normally represents each societal interest; membership in this association is often compulsory and nearly universal; they are usually centrally organized and direct the actions of their members; groups are often systematically involved in making and implementing policy

Key Point of Neo-Corporatist Interest Group Systems

Interest group part of policy process

Comparative Economic Sectors

Primary Sector (agriculture), Secondary Sector (industry), Tertiary Sector (services)

Primary Sector - Agriculture

The part of the economy that draws raw materials from the natural environment; agriculture, raising animals, fishing, forestry, and mining; is largest in low-income, pre-industrial nations

Secondary Sector - Industry

The part of the economy that transforms raw materials into manufactured goods; this sector grows quickly as societies industrialize; refining petroleum into gasoline and turning metals into tools and automobiles; creates migration from rural to urban areas to take advantage of new jobs created by industrialization

Tertiary Sector - Services

The part of the economy that involves services rather than goods; this sector grows with industrialization and comes to dominate post-industrial societies, or countries where most people are no longer employed in industry

What are some services?

Finance, trade, construction, private services, real estate, government, and transportation

Constitution

A supreme law that defines the structure of a nation-state's regime and the legal processes governments must follow

Corporatism

A system of governance in which the government is dominated by representatives of groups within society; may or may not be democratic to some degree; compared to pluralism

Correlation

An apparent association between variables

Causation

A correlation in which a change in one variable results in a change in others

Democracy

A system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives

Democratic Deficit

Occurs when ostensibly democratic organizations or institutions in fact fall short of fulfilling what are believed to be the principles of democracy

Democratization

The spread of representative governments to more countries and the process of making governments more representative

Developed Countries

Nation-states which have industrial and post-industrial economies

Developing Countries

Nation-states which are industrializing

Development

A specific state of growth or advancement

Devolution

A process in a unitary system of delegating some decision making to local public bodies

Westernization Model

The copy Britain model; any country that wants its economy to grow should study the paths taken by the industrial nations, and logically they too can reap the benefits of modernization, or "Westernization"

Dependency Theory

Holds that economic development of many countries in the world is blocked by the fact that industrialized nations exploit underdeveloped nations; outgrowth of Marxism

Dependency Model Implementation

Governments have responded by experimenting with forms of socialism with the intent of nationalizing industry and narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor

Executive

The executive office carries out the laws and policies of the state

Electoral System

A legal system for making democratic choices

Elite Recruitment

The process by which people are encouraged or chosen to become members of the elite within a political system or state

Extraction

Government efforts to gather valuable resources for public use - taxes

Faction

A group organized on the grounds of self-perceived common interest within a political party, interest group, or government

Failed State

A state within which the government has lost the ability to provide the most basic of public services or implement its policies

Functions

The things governments actually do

Structures

The specialized agencies within a government used to carry out the disparate activities of the government

How are structures used?

In order to carry out public policies, government structures such as parliaments, bureaucracies, and administrative agencies perform functions, which in turn enable the government to formulate, implement, and enforce policies

Types of Structures

Parliaments, congresses, administrative agencies, political parties, interest groups, legislatures

Federal System

A system of government in which power is divided between the national government and regional or state governments

Confederal System

A system of government that spreads power among many sub-units (such as states), and has a weak central government

First-past-the-post System

An electoral system in which winners are determined by which candidate receives the largest number of votes (regardless of whether or not a majority is received)

Fragmentation

the process or state of breaking or being broken into small or separate parts.

Free Market Economy

A system in which government regulation of the economy is absent or limited

Fusion of Powers

A system of governance in which the authority of government is concentrated in one body

Example of Fusion of Powers

In Britain, Parliament is the supreme legislative, executive, and judicial authority; common pattern in parliamentary systems

Separation of Powers

An organization of political institutions within the state in which the executive, legislature, and judiciary have autonomous powers and no branch dominates the others

Example of Separation of Powers

In Nigeria, the three institutions are separate; common pattern in presidential systems

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The total value of goods and services produced by an economy (very similar to gross national product or GNP)

Gross National Product (GNP)

A measure of national economic development; the total economic output of a country per person; used to compare the economic status of a country

Gini Index

measures the degree of inequality in the distribution of family income in a country and relative degree of economic inequality within a country

How do you interpret a Gini Index value?

The higher the number, the more unequal a country's income distribution

Glasnost

Gorbachev's policy of "openness" or "publicity," which involved an easing of controls on the media, arts, and public discussion, leading to an outburst of public debate and criticism covering most aspects of Soviet history, culture, and policy

Globalization

The increasing interconnectedness and interdependence of people, cultures, economies, and nation-states facilitated by technology, trade, and cultural diffusion

Government

The part of the state with legitimate public authority; the group of people and organizations that hold political authority in a state at any one time

Head of Government

The office and the person occupying the office charged with leading the operation of a government

Tasks of the Head of Government

The head of government deals with the everyday tasks of running the state and usually directs the activities of other members of the executive branch

Head of State

The head of state is a role that symbolizes the and represents the people, both nationally and internationally, and may or may not have any real policy making power; the chief public representative of a state

Illiberal Democracy

A procedural democratic regime where the citizenry does not benefit from the full array of rights and freedoms that one would expect in a democracy

Example of Illiberal Democracy

Competitive elections but lack of civil liberty and rights

Industrialized Democracy

The richest countries with the best living standard and most effective form of government

How do industrialized democracies function?

They function because of civic culture, where full legitimacy is given to the regimes and they are accepted. If there are protests, they are usually directed towards the government of the day, not the regime itself. People in industrialized democracies can disagree, but they will always find ways to work with and learn from each other. There is always just a general trust in the government, and as a result, limited involvement from the people

Interest Articulation

The methods by which citizens and groups can express their desires and make demands upon government (political participation, lobbying, protests, etc.)

Interest Aggregation

Ways in which demands of citizens and groups are amalgamated into proposed policy packages (e.g., leadership, political parties, etc.

Iron Triangle

Mutually beneficial relationships between private interests, bureaucrats, and legislators; sometimes called an "integrated elite"

Judicial Review

The power of the courts to modify or nullify the actions of legislatures, executives, and lower courts

Linkage Institution

Groups within a society that connect government to its citizens, such as political parties, interest groups, and print and electronic media; their size and development depends partly on the size of the population , and partly on scope of government activity, the large the population, and the more complex the government policymaking activities, the more likely the country is to have well developed linkage institutions

Maquiladoras

Maquiladoras (also known as "twin plants") are manufacturing plants in Mexico with the parent company's administration facility in the United States. Maquiladoras allow companies to capitalize on the less expensive labor force in Mexico and also receive the benefits of doing business in the United States

Mass Line

Mechanism or party platform line to deliver propaganda to masses;

in theory, this information flows "from the masses to the masses"; used in authoritarian regimes

Modernization

The major cultural trend that has transformed the world is modernization; world wide more people are moving to cities and are exposed to modern political cultures, which have an impact on citizens' attitudes

Minimum Winning Threshold

The minimum percentage of votes a party must receive in order to be seated in a legislature

Mixed Presidential Parliamentary System

A democracy that has some characteristics of a presidential system and some characteristics of a parliamentary system; also referred to as "semi-presidential"

Nation

A group of people who identify themselves as belonging together because of cultural, geographic, or linguistic ties

State

An assembly of all those people and groups within a nation-state that have power to effect change at some level of society through direct action or political participation

Nation-State

A territorial unit controlled by a single state and governed by a single government

Neoliberalism

A term used to describe government policies aiming to promote free competition among business firms within the market

Newly Industrialized Countries

A term used to describe a group of countries that achieved rapid economic development beginning in the 1960s, largely stimulated by robust international trade (exports) and guided by government policies

Core Newly Industrialized Countries

Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore

Other Newly Industrialized Countries

Argentina, Brazil, Malaysia, Mexico, Thailand