PoliSci

Anarchy

Absence of government.

Autonomias

Spain’s regional governments with transferred local powers, including their own assemblies and some control over taxation and language.

Center

The national capital and the governmental powers located there.

Center-periphery

Tension when outlying regions resent political rule from the national capital, often because of economic, linguistic, or cultural differences.

Centrifugal

Forces or tendencies that pull a country or political union apart.

Confederation

A union in which its component governments can override the central authority.

Decentralization

Transfer of some administrative duties from the national government to lower levels; less extensive than devolution.

Department

The main first-order territorial division of France, administered by a prefect.

Devolution

Transfer of some political powers from the central government to regional or component governments.

Electoral systems

Rules for choosing representatives; the text distinguishes single-member plurality elections from proportional representation, which affect party systems and governing stability.

Failed state

A state unable to perform even basic national government functions; armed groups may operate without effective control.

Federal systems (pros and cons)

A system in which central and component governments have their own powers. Advantages: local influence, policy experiments, cultural autonomy, shared defense and markets. Disadvantages: duplicated services, poor coordination, uneven resources and possible separatism.

Federalism & central/periphery influence

A balance of authority between a central government and autonomous subdivisions; component states retain protected powers, while the center normally controls national affairs such as foreign and defense policy.

First-order civil divisions

A country’s main territorial subdivisions, such as states, provinces, departments or prefectures.

First-past-the-post

A single-member-district election in which the candidate with more votes than any rival wins, even without an absolute majority.

Fukuyama’s 3 stages of development

Political order develops in sequence: (1) a capable state and bureaucracy; (2) rule of law that binds rulers and citizens; (3) accountability, eventually including democracy. Skipping the first foundations can undermine democracy.

Gerrymandering

Drawing voting-district boundaries to favor a party; it makes elections less competitive and can increase polarization.

Glasnost

Gorbachev’s policy of greater openness in Soviet media and public discussion.

Governance

The system of rules, processes, and institutions that a group, organization, or country uses to direct, control, and manage its operations.

Horizontal federalism

The system of legal and political relationships among the individual states (or provinces) within a federal country, operating side-by-side rather than stacked vertically between a national government and a state.

Institution

An established, lasting arrangement of authority, larger and more durable than the individuals temporarily holding office.

Institutional authority, power & effectiveness

Political institutions turn temporary personal authority into lasting, recognized authority. Effective institutions can settle conflicts, carry out decisions, adapt, and endure changes of leaders.

Institutionalize

To make a political authority, relationship or practice lasting rather than dependent on one person.

Laissez-faire

A largely private market economy with minimal government ownership, interference and income redistribution.

Land

A German state (plural: Länder), a major component of Germany’s federal system.

Majoritarian

An electoral arrangement, commonly associated with first-past-the-post, that gives one party more than half of legislative seats, sometimes without half the votes.

Majority

More than half of votes or seats.

Mixed-member

A hybrid electoral system combining representatives from single-member districts with seats allocated by proportional representation.

Modernization

The process of developing and updating society and its economy, sometimes guided by the state through education, infrastructure and industry.

Monarchy

Government with a hereditary ruler, who may govern directly or serve mainly as a constitutional figurehead.

Nation

A population sharing a sense of identity, history and culture, often including a common language.

Party Election Threshold

A minimum percentage of the vote a party must win to gain seats under proportional representation; the book calls it a “threshold clause.”

Plurality

More votes than any other candidate or party, but not necessarily more than half.

Political institution

An established and durable pattern of governmental authority, such as a legislature or executive department.

Political Party List

A ranked slate of candidates offered by a party in a proportional-representation election; parties receive seats based on their vote share and fill them from the list.

Prefect

A French government administrator assigned to a department.

Prefecture

A principal territorial division of Japan, overseen by central authorities but with some local self-government.

Proportional electoral system

An electoral system that distributes legislative seats among parties roughly according to their percentages of the vote.

Proportional representation

Voters select parties, often from party lists in multimember districts, and parties obtain seats in proportion to their vote totals.

Quasi

Almost or nearly; for example, Britain is described as quasi-federal after devolution.

Regionalism

A strong awareness of regional identity and differences, sometimes accompanied by demands for independence.

Republic

A political system without a monarch; it is not necessarily democratic.

Rule by law (man)

Using laws as tools of a ruler’s arbitrary will, including against opponents, rather than requiring rulers themselves to obey impartial law.

Rule of law

The principle that everyone, including leaders, must obey the law; contrasted by Fukuyama with arbitrary “rule by law.”

Single-member district electoral system

An electoral system electing one representative per geographic district, normally with the candidate winning a plurality.

Socialism

An economic system in which the government owns most or all major production and claims to manage it for society’s benefit, with extensive welfare provision.

State

The governmental structures through which a nation exercises authority, usually sovereign and able to enforce decisions.

State capitalism

A system in which the government owns and directs major industries while smaller private businesses also operate; the book treats it as contemporary statism.

States as laboratories of democracy

Federal states can test policies locally; successful experiments may spread nationwide, while unsuccessful ones have limited impact.

Statism

An economic system of state ownership and direction of major industries to strengthen the state, usually with fewer welfare benefits than socialism.

Strong/effective state

A state capable of administering and taxing its territory, enforcing laws, maintaining security, and providing public services with relatively low corruption.

Unitary system (pros & cons)

A system concentrating power in the national capital with limited subunit autonomy. Advantages: clear authority, coordinated policy, uniform standards. Disadvantages: distant decisions, excessive centralization and regional alienation.

Vertical federalism

The power-sharing and hierarchical relationship between different levels of government—specifically, the national (federal) government and subnational (state or regional) governments.

Weak state

A government too weak or corrupt to govern effectively, resist crime, enforce laws or control its full territory.

Welfare state

A largely private economy in which the government substantially redistributes income and provides social benefits such as health care and pensions.

Amendment processes

Constitutions are deliberately harder to change than ordinary laws. The text gives the usual U.S. process as two-thirds approval in each house of Congress and ratification by three-fourths of state legislatures.

Basic law

The German Basic Law (Grundgesetz), Germany’s constitution since 1949.

Bearing arms as an individual right [Heller Case]

District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) interpreted the Second Amendment to protect an individual’s right to possess a handgun at home for self-defense, separate from service in a militia.

Brandenburg free speech test/guidelines

A legal standard set by the U.S. Supreme Court in Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969) that defines when the government can punish or restrict inflammatory speech under the First Amendment.

Checks and balances

Constitutional arrangements in which separate branches can limit or counterbalance one another, helping prevent concentrations of power.

Civil rights Bad Tendency Test (Freedom of speech)

Civil rights include political participation, voting and speech. In Gitlow v. New York (1925), the Court accepted a “bad tendency” rationale for punishing speech thought likely to incite crime, corrupt morals or disturb peace.

Clear and present danger test (to national security)

A rationale for restricting speech when it presents a clear and immediate threat of serious harms government is entitled to prevent.

Constituent assembly

A legislative body brought together to draft a new constitution, commonly after a change of regime.

Constitution

The written or unwritten rules and customs governing the structure, powers and limits of a political system.

Constitutional courts

Courts assigned to interpret a constitution and determine whether particular laws and government actions conform to it.

Constitutional interpretation

Applying a constitution’s general wording to particular disputes; judicial interpretations can change how its provisions operate.

Constitutionalism

The principle and practice of limiting governmental power by laws and institutions that protect fundamental rights.

Constructed rights

Some rights are socially created and become enforceable through law, rather than being timeless or naturally self-evident.

Economic rights

Claims to material necessities or opportunities, such as employment, education, health care and an adequate standard of living; often require government spending.

Habeas corpus

A detainee’s right to challenge imprisonment before a judge.

Hate speech

Expression viewed as stirring or expressing hatred toward a group; the book contrasts broad U.S. free-speech protections with restrictions in much of Europe.

Human rights

Basic protections against government mistreatment, including arbitrary arrest, torture, confinement or death without due process.

Judicial activism

A judicial approach willing to invalidate laws or governmental practices as unconstitutional.

Judicial restraints

Judicial restraint: reluctance by judges to overturn laws or intervene in legislative decisions.

Judicial review

The authority of courts to determine whether government actions or laws violate the constitution and invalidate those that do.

Legitimacy and constitutions

A constitution can affirm a new regime’s right to govern, communicate permanence, and provide recognized rules for public authority.

Limited government

Government whose authority is restricted by constitutional rules, institutions and protected individual rights.

Minority

Groups within a society that differ from a dominant population in ethnicity, religion, language or culture and whose rights may require protection.

Political culture

A nation’s shared political psychology, attitudes and expectations, which influence how formal constitutional rules operate.

Prior restraint

A form of censorship in which the government or an institution prohibits speech, publication, or expression before it actually happens, rather than punishing it afterward.

Red scare

A period of exaggerated fear of Communist infiltration or subversion, as during World War I and the McCarthy period.

Rights (meaning and types)

Human/natural rights protect life and liberty; civil rights permit participation and expression; economic rights concern jobs and material well-being.

Sedition

Speech or actions encouraging rebellion or the overthrow of the state; governments have used anti-sedition laws to suppress radical opposition.

Sedition Acts (1798, 1917, 1940-Smith Act; 1950 McCarran Act)

Legislation punishing various forms of dissent against the government.

Separation of powers

A constitutional division of responsibilities among branches, with each branch distinct and capable of checking the others.

Social and economic rights

Constitutional or legal promises of education, work, health and social welfare.

State Duma

The national legislature (parliament) of Russia.

Statute

An ordinary law enacted by a legislature rather than part of the constitution.

Symbolic speech

Nonverbal or nonwritten communication that conveys a specific message or political viewpoint.

USA 1st & 2nd amendments

First Amendment: protects religion, speech, the press, peaceful assembly and petition. Second Amendment: protects keeping and bearing arms.

Written and unwritten constitution

A written constitution is a codified document; an unwritten constitution draws on customs, statutes, precedents and traditions.

“One man-one vote” (political equality)

All eligible adults should have equal opportunities for political participation.

“the state … that’s me”

Louis XIV’s phrase illustrating a ruler identifying himself with the state, an early example of authoritarian rule.

A free press (definition and characteristics)

Independent media can criticize leaders and reveal wrongdoing without official censorship.

Authoritarian capitalists

Regimes that retain tight political control while permitting partly market-based economies.

Authoritarian leadership goals

Prioritize command, obedience, order and political passivity, allowing limited freedoms outside politics.

Authoritarian v. totalitarian

Authoritarian government restricts political participation but leaves some private life outside its control; totalitarian aims to control nearly every aspect of life.

Civil disobedience & right to dissent

Civil disobedience is the deliberate, nonviolent violation of an unjust law.

Consociational democracy [elite accommodation]

Leaders of major social groups bargain and accept constitutional rules to prevent conflict.

Dahl’s Influence terms (rational persuasion, manipulative persuasion, inducement, power threats, coercion, physical force)

A scale of influence from rational persuasion to physical force.