Comparative Politics: Institutions, Values, and Governance

Vocabulary flashcards covering comparative politics concepts, democratic institutions, electoral systems, European Union governance, and modern Japanese political history.

Single Member District Plurality Voting

An electoral district with one legislative seat where the candidate with the largest share wins the seat or majority, typically resulting in fewer and larger parties.

First-past-the-post

An electoral system in which individual candidates compete in single-member districts; voters choose between candidates, and the candidate with the largest share of the vote wins the seat.

Proportional Representation

An electoral system in which political parties compete in multimember districts; voters choose between parties, and the seats in the district are awarded proportionally according to the results of the vote.

Postmodern Values

Values that center on what have been called "quality of life" or "postmaterialist" issues, which primarily involve concerns other than material gain, including the environment, health, and leisure as well as personal equality, identity, and diversity.

Integration & Devolution

A trend where political scientists identify a new set of shared norms and values emerging across developed democracies that are not bound to traditional identities of nation and state.

European Sovereign Debt Crisis

A financial crisis triggered by the 2008 global economic downturn, wherein the Greek state ran out of money and could not borrow enough to meet public needs or existing debt, forcing other EU members to loan funds to prevent collapse.

Vote of No Confidence

A vote taken by a legislature as to whether its members continue to support the current prime minister, which can force the resignation of the prime minister and/or lead to new parliamentary elections.

Iron Triangle

Japan’s postwar corporatist and elitist state structure that has limited the political influence of Japanese citizens and other pluralist interests.

The National Diet

Japan’s bicameral parliament.

Parliamentary Systems

A system where an indirectly elected prime minister holds executive power as head of government, directs the cabinet, formulates legislation and domestic/international policies, serves an unfixed term, and may be removed by a vote of no confidence, while the head of state is largely ceremonial.

Abenomics

involves efforts to increase women’s labor force participation and liberalization (e.g., trade deals that threaten rice farmers )

Meiji Restoration

Japan’s 1867–68 "revolution from above," which launched Japan’s modernization in the name of the Meiji emperor.

The European Parliament

An EU institution that relies on a Proportional representation system to seat its members.

Modern Values

Values characterized as secular, rational, materialistic, technological, and bureaucratic, placing a greater emphasis on individual freedom than in the past.

Semi-presidentialism

A system where a directly elected president and indirectly elected prime minister share power; the president helps set policy and manages foreign policy while the prime minister executes policy, with the distribution of power depending on the country.

European Central Bank

The financial institution controlling the euro, established after the majority of EU member states linked their currencies on January 1, 1999, to unify price measures, increase competition, and stimulate trade and cross-border investment.

European Court of Justice

An EU body made up of one judge per country that rules on EU laws and conflicts between EU laws and member state laws; its rulings supersede national laws, and member countries, EU bodies, companies, and individuals may appeal to it.

Head of State

The executive role that symbolizes and represents the people both nationally and internationally.

Head of Government

The executive role that deals with the everyday tasks of running the state, such as formulating and executing policy.

Populism

A political strategy that attacks existing political institutions as being corrupt and out of touch with the majority of citizens.

Article Nine

The Peace Clause in Japan; reinterpreted in 2015 by the LDP-led coalition government to permit Japan to engage in "collective defense" with its allies, chiefly the United States, in an effort to make Japan a "normal" country.

Two-Party System

A political ecosystem dominated by two major parties that realistically compete for government control, where third parties exist but are systematically marginalized by electoral rules.

Multi-Party System

A political ecosystem where three or more parties have a realistic chance of winning legislative seats and controlling government, typically forcing them to build coalitions to rule.

Supranationalism

A system where member states share sovereignty with an international organization that has the power to override domestic laws.

European Commission

The executive branch of the EU that acts as its bureaucracy, holds the sole power to propose legislation, and represents collective EU interests.

Japanese Mercantilism

A political-economic model where a strong state actively directs industry and protects domestic markets to maximize national export wealth.

Commodore Matthew Perry

The U.S. naval officer whose 1853 arrival delivered the external shock that forced Japan to end isolation and triggered the Meiji Restoration.

US Occupation of Japan

The post-WWII period (1945–1952) of institutional engineering that demilitarized Japan, enacted land reform, and imposed its modern "Peace Constitution."

Japanese emperor

The symbolic head of state with zero political power, facing an ongoing dynastic controversy due to strict male-only succession laws threatening the line of inheritance despite high public support for a female monarch.

Sanae Takaichi

Japan's first female Prime Minister, heavily criticized as an anti-feminist conservative for championing patriarchal norms, opposing separate surnames for married couples, and defending traditional domestic burdens for women.

Brexit

The withdrawal of the UK from the European Union, initiated by the 2016 referendum to reclaim national sovereignty at the cost of single-market access.

Euroskepticism

A political sentiment that largely existed on the margins of the European Union as it continued to expand in members and powers.

Japan Self Defense Forces

Japan's de facto military forces that technically operate as a defensive agency to bypass the strict anti-war restrictions of Article 9.