AP Comparative Government & Politics Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards for AP Comparative Government & Politics.

Advanced Democracies

Rich, Western countries with relatively long histories of political development and some form of representative democracy.

Authoritarian Rule/Regime

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.

Bonyads

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

Bureaucracy

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

Camarilla

A complex organization of patronage typically led by the president where loyalty to a higher ranking is needed to curry favor (Mexico).

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.

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.

Civil Liberties

Political rights and freedoms.

Civil Service

A system of carefully describing tasks involved in performing government jobs, evaluating applicants, and hiring people based on skills and experience rather than political factors.

Civil Society

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

Cleavages

Factors that separate groups within a society (ethnicity, religion, social class, region, etc).

Clientelism

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

Code Law

Law based on written rules/codes of law (China, Mexico, Russia).

Command Economy

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

Common Law

Law based on tradition, past practices, and legal precedents set by the courts through interpretations of statutes, legal legislation, and past rulings (Britain).

Communism

A system of social organization based on the common ownership and coordination of production.

Comparative Economic Sectors: Primary Sector

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.

Comparative Economic Sectors: Secondary Sector

The part of the economy that transforms raw materials into manufactured goods. This sector grows quickly as societies industrialize.

Comparative Economic Sectors: Tertiary Sector

The part of the economy that involves services rather than goods. This sector grows with industrialization and comes to dominate post-industrial societies.

Comparative Politics

Field within political science that focuses on domestic politics (internal) and analyzes patterns of similarity and difference.

Competitive Elections

Elections that are regular, free, and fair; One broad, essential requirement for democracy.

Confederal System

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

Constitution

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

Controlled Interest Group Systems

There is a single group for each social sector.

Corporatism

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

Corporatist Interest Group Systems

A single peak association normally represents each societal interest. Membership in the peak association is often compulsory and nearly universal.

Correlation

An apparent association between variables.

Causation

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

Coup d'état

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

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 specified state of growth or advancement.

Devolution

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

Economic Development Theories: Modernization Theory/Westernization 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”.

Economic Development Theories: Dependency Theory

Holds that the economic development of many countries is blocked by the fact that industrialized nations exploit them. Outgrowth of Marxism.

Economic Liberalization

Process of limiting the power of the state over private property and market forces.

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.

Empirical Data

Research/data based on factual statements and statistics.

Executive

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

Extraction

Government efforts to gather valuable resources for public use (think 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.

Federal System

A system of governance in which political authority is shared between the national government and regional or state governments.

First-past-the-post

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.

Functions

The things governments actually do.

Fusion of Powers

A system of governance in which authority of government is concentrated in one body. Common pattern in parliamentary systems.

Gini Index

Measures the degree of inequality in the distribution of family income in a country. 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.

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.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The total value of goods and services produced by an economy in a given year, excluding income citizens and groups earned outside the country.

Gross National Product (GNP)

The total economic output of a country per person (includes income earned inside and outside of country).

Head of Government

The office and the person occupying the office charged with leading the operation of a government. Deals with the everyday tasks of running the state.

Head of State

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

Human Development Index (HDI)

Measures the well-being of a country’s people by factoring in adult literacy, life expectancy, and educational enrollment, as well as GDP.

Hypothesis

Speculative statement about a relationship between two or more variables.

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.

Import Substitution Industrialization

Employs high tariffs to protect locally produced goods from foreign competition, govt ownership of key industries, govt subsidies to domestic industries.

Institutions

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

Interest Aggregation

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

Interest Articulation

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

Iron Triangle

Mutually beneficial relationships between private interests, bureaucrats, and legislators.

Judicial Review

The power of the judiciary to rule on whether laws and government policies are consistent with the constitution or existing laws.

Legitimacy (Political)

The citizens’ belief that a government is a proper one and that it has the right to rule.

Linkage Institutions

Groups within a society that connect government to its citizens, such as political parties, interest groups, and print and electronic media.

Marxism

A theory of historical development that emphasizes the struggle between exploiting and exploited classes, particularly the struggle between the bourgeoisie (capitalists) and the proletariat (industrial working class).

Mass Line

Mechanism or party platform line to deliver propaganda to masses in China.

Military Rule

Military control of the government by armed forces.

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.

Modernization

The major cultural trend that has transformed the world. Worldwide more people are moving to cities and are exposed to modern political cultures, which have an impact on citizens’ attitudes.

Multiparty System

A party system with several important political parties, none of which generally gains a majority of the seats in the national legislature.

Nation

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

Nation-State

An independent state that exists for a single nation; it is the ultimate goal of most nationalists.

Neoliberalism

A term used to describe government policies aiming to promote free competition among business firms within the market. Includes privatization, reducing trade barriers, balancing government budgets, and reducing social spending.

Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs)

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.

Nomenklatura

A system of personnel selection under which the Communist Party maintained control over the appointment of important officials in all spheres of social, economic, and political life.

Non-Government Organization (NGO)

Private group that pursues self-defined goals outside of government.

Normative Research/Statements

Research and data is used to make value judgments.

Oligarchy

A system of governance dominated by a small powerful and wealthy group in a state.

One-Party Dominant System

A party system in which one large party directs the political system, but small parties exist and may compete in elections (Russia).

One-Party System

A party system in which one political party controls the government and voters have no opinion to choose an opposition party (China).

Parastatal

A government-owned corporation to compensate for the lack of economic development or to ensure complete and equitable service to the whole country.

Parliamentary System

A system of governance in which the head of government is chosen by and serves at the pleasure of the legislature. Fusion of Power! Executive power is separated between Head of Government (PM) and the Head of State (royalty, president).

Party System

A label based on the number of prominent political parties in a country.

Patron-Client Networks

A usually informal alliance between a person holding power and less powerful or lower status people. The powerful patron provides power, status, jobs, land, goods, and/or protection in exchange for loyalty and political support.

Perestroika

The economic policy of restructuring embarked on by Gorbachev in 1985. Initially, the policy emphasized decentralization of economic decision making.

Pluralism

A political theory or system of power sharing among a number of political parties.

Pluralist Interest Group Systems

Multiple groups may represent a single society interest. Group membership is voluntary and limited. Groups often have a loose or decentralized organizational structure. There is a clear separation between interest groups and the government.

Plurality

The number of votes cast for a candidate who receives more than any other candidate but does not receive an absolute majority.

Politburo

The principal policymaking committee of the Communist Party.

Political Culture

The collection of history, values, beliefs, assumptions, attitudes, traditions, and symbols that define and influence political behavior within a nation-state.