AP Comparative Government Vocabulary List

Authoritarian Rule

Political authority is concentrated in a small group of/one politician(s).

Biafra

The state proclaimed in 1967 when the Ibo people of Nigeria sought independence from the country.

Bonyads

Tax exempt, charitable trusts in Iran that control 20% of the country's GDP through petroleum.

Bureaucracy

An administrative organization that relies on nonelective officials and regular procedures

Camarilla

A small group of people, esp. a group of advisers to a ruler or politician, with a shared, typically nefarious, purpose

Catch All Party

A party that attracts a wide range of political interests; tends to lack ideology

Cleavages

Social or cultural divisions within a state

Civil Service

The permanent professional branches of a government's administration, excluding military and judicial branches and elected politicians

Civil Society

The way citizens organize and communicate their interests

Corporatism

The control of a state by interest groups.

Charismatic Authority

Legitimacy of a leader derived from personality, rather than ideology.

Coup d'etat

A sudden, violent, illegal seizure of government power.

Command Economy

An economy in which production, investment, prices, and incomes are determined centrally by a government

Code Law

A written set of laws that apply to everyone under a government.

Common Law

A system of law based on precedent and customs

Communism

A theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.

Comparative Method

The means by which social scientists make comparisons across cases.

Conservative Party

A political party in Great Britain which developed from the Tories in the 1830s, One of the two major parties in the UK, it is generally more right wing, and more towards free-markets and the upper classes,advocates a mixed economy and encourages property owning

Constitution

The body of fundamental laws setting out the principles, structures, and processes of a government

Correlation

A statistical relation between two or more variables such that systematic changes in the value of one variable are accompanied by systematic changes in the other

Causation

A cause and effect relationship in which one variable controls the changes in another variable.

Cultural Revolution

Campaign in China ordered by Mao Zedong to purge the Communist Party of his opponents and instill revolutionary values in the younger generation.

Decentralization

The spread of power away from the center to local branches or governments (devolution).

Democracy

A political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them

Democratic Centralism

The Leninist organizational structure that concentrates power in the hands of the party elite

Democratization

The process of making something democratic.

Development

The act of improving by expanding or enlarging or refining

Devolution

The transfer of powers and responsibilities from the federal government to regional governments.

Economic Liberalization

Philosophy that aims to limit the power of the state and increase the power of the market and private property in an economy.

Electoral System

A set of rules that decide how votes are cast, counted, and translated into seats in a legislature.

Elite Recruitment

Process through which future political leaders are identified and selected.

European Union

An international organization of European countries formed after World War II to reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation among its members

Federalism

A system in which power is divided between the national and regional governments

First Past the Post

Electoral system based on single-member districts in which the candidate who receives the most votes wins.

Fragmentation

Divisions based on ethnic or cultural identity

Fusion of Power

Principle of parliamentary democracy in which the executive and legislative branches share powers.

Separation of Power

Division of powers among branches of government.

Gross Domestic Product

The total value of goods and services produced within the borders of a country during a specific time period, usually one year.

Gross National Product

The total value of goods and services, including income received from abroad, produced by the residents of a country within a specific time period, usually one year.

Glasnost

Policy of openness initiated by Gorbachev in the 1980s that provided increased opportunities for freedom of speech, association and the press in the Soviet Union.

Globalization

The trend toward increased cultural and economic connectedness between people, businesses, and organizations throughout the world.

Government

The system or form by which a community or other political unit is governed

Head of Government

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

Head of State

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

Illiberal Democracy

A procedural democracy, with elections, but without real competition, and lacking some civil rights and liberties.

Industrialized Democracy

The richest countries with advanced economies and liberal states.

Interest Group

A social group whose members control some field of activity and who have common aims

Judicial Review

Review by a court of law of actions of a government official or entity or of some other legally appointed person or body or the review by an appellate court of the decision of a trial court

Labour Party

The working-class socialist party established in the 1890s to represent the interest of workers in the British government, and to try to achieve change peacefully.

Legitimacy

Popular acceptance by citizens of the right and power of a government or other entity to exercise authority.

Liberal Democratic Party

In Britain, the number-three party and in some ways the most radical.

Marxism

the economic and political theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that hold that human actions and institutions are economically determined and that class struggle is needed to create historical change and that capitalism will untimately be superseded

Mass Line

A method of leadership that seeks to learn from the masses and immerse the political leadership in the concerns and conditions of the masses, developed by Mao Zedong during the Chinese revolution.

Military Rule

Rule by one or more military officials, often brought to power through a coup d'état.

Mixed Presidential Parliamentary System

A system consisting of both a president elected by the people and another head of government (usually a prime minister) who is elected by a legislative body (e.g. Russia)

Modernization

The process of reforming political, military, economic, social, and cultural traditions in imitation of the early success of Western societies, often with regard for accommodating local traditions in non-Western societies.

Multiparty System

A system in which three or more political parties have the capacity to gain control of government separately or in coalition.

Nation

A group of people who feel bound into a single body by shared culture, values, folkways, religion and/or language

Newly Industrializing Countries

Less developed countries whose economies and whose trade now include significant amounts of manufactured products. As a result, these countries have a per capita GDP significantly higher than the average per capita GDP for less developed countries.

Nomenklatura

The process of filing influential jobs in the state, society, or the economy with people approved and chosen by the communist party

Nongovernmental Organizations

International organizations that operate outside of the formal political arena but that are nevertheless influential in spearheading international initiatives on social, economic, and environmental issues.

Oligarchy

A system of government in which a small group holds power

One-Party System

A political system in which only one party exists.

One-Party Dominant System

A party system in which a single party rules for long periods of time and the opposition parties are not likely to gain the support needed to successfully challenge the dominant party for control of the government

Parastatals

Industries partially or fully owned by the state.

Parliamentary System

A system of government in which the legislature selects the prime minister or president.

Patron-Client Politics

An informal aspect of policy-making in which 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; corruption, preferential treatment, and inequality are characteristic of clientelist politics.

Perestroika

A policy initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev that involved restructuring of the social and economic status quo in communist Russia towards a market based economy and society

Pluralism

A theory of government that holds that open, multiple, and competing groups can check the asserted power by any one group.

Plurality

Candidate or party with the most votes cast in an election, not necessarily more than half.

Politburo

A seven-member committee that became the leading policy-making body of the Communist Party in Russia.

Political Culture

An overall set of values widely shared within a society

Political Socialization

Complex process by which people get their sense of political identity, beliefs, and values.

Postmaterialism

Theory that young middle-class voters are likely to support environmentalism, feminism, and other "new" issues.

Presidential System

A system of government in which the legislative and executive branches operate independently of each other

Proportional Representation

An election system in which each party running receives the proportion of legislative seats corresponding to its proportion of the vote.

Privatization

To change from government or public ownership or control to private ownership or control.

Quasi-Autonomous Government Organization (quango)

An agency that is financed by the government but acts independently of it.

Recruitment

The process of selecting future leaders of government.

Regime

A government in power; a form or system of rule or management; a period of rule

Regulatory State

A state, developed in all advanced industrial societies, that regulates the behavior of producers and consumers

Rentier State

A country that obtains a hefty income by exporting raw materials or leasing out natural resources to foreign companies

Revolution

The overthrow of a government by those who are governed

Rule of Law

Principle that the law applies to everyone, even those who govern

Sexenio

The six-year administration of Mexican presidents

Sharia

The code of law derived from the Koran and from the teachings and example of Mohammed

Shock Therapy

The rapid transition to capitalism adopted by Yeltsin in 1992, which was supposed to involve liberalization of prices, privatization of state property, and stabilization of the Russian currency that had disastrous economic and social results

Single-Member Districts

An electoral district in which voters choose one representative or official (not voting for more than one person for any position)

Sovereignty

Ability of a state to govern its territory free from control of its internal affairs by other states.

State

A geographical area ruled by sovereign government.

Structural Adjustment/Import Substitution

Development strategy that uses tariffs and other barriers to imports, and therefore stimulates domestic industries.

Supranational Organization

A venture involving three or more nation-states involving formal political, economic, and/or cultural cooperation to promote shared objectives. The European Union is one such organization

Theocracy

A government controlled by religious leaders

Third World

The region of the world containing a high concentration of underdeveloped or emergent countries

Totalitarian

Characterized by a government in which the political authority exercises absolute and centralized control

Two-Party System

A political party system with two major political parties

Unitary State

An internal organization of a state that places most power in the hands of central government officials

Vote of Confidence

Vote taken by a legislature as to whether its members continue to support the current prime minister. Depending on the country, a vote of no confidence can force the resignation of the prime minister and/or lead to new parliamentary elections.

Welfare State

A government that undertakes responsibility for the welfare of its citizens through programs in public health and public housing and pensions and unemployment compensation etc.

Yoruba

People who spoke a common language and originally belonged to a number of small city-states in the forests on the southern edge of the savanna in what is today Benin and southwestern Nigeria.