Comparative Politics Vocabulary Flashcards

A comprehensive vocabulary review set covering essential definitions and key political terms from the Comparative Politics lecture transcript.

Comparative Politics

The study of political phenomena by comparing variation across countries, within countries, and over time.

Theory

An explanation for why something happens.

Hypothesis

A testable statement about a relationship between variables.

Independent Variable (IV)

The variable you think is the cause.

Dependent Variable (DV)

The outcome/effect you are trying to explain.

Falsifiable

A property of a hypothesis where there must be some possible evidence that could show the hypothesis is wrong.

Rationalist Approach

A theoretical approach focusing on how actors respond to incentives and self-interest.

Materialist/Structural/Marxist Approach

A theoretical approach focusing on economic organization and material interests.

Cultural Approach

A theoretical approach focusing on values and identity.

Institutional Approach

A theoretical approach focusing on how rules and institutions shape political behavior and outcomes.

State

An administrative organization that exercises a monopoly over the legitimate use of force within a territory.

Government

The specific institutions and actors that act on behalf of the state.

Nation

A group of people who share a sense of identity, potentially based on language, religion, ethnicity, history, or other characteristics.

Nation-State

A state whose political boundaries largely correspond to a particular national identity.

Public Good

A good that is non-rivalrous and non-excludable.

Non-rivalrous

A property of a good where one person's use does not reduce the amount available to others.

Non-excludable

A property of a good where it is difficult or impossible to prevent people from benefiting from it.

Free-Rider Problem

A situation where people can benefit from a good without contributing to its provision.

Coordination Problem

A situation where people want the same outcome but have difficulty figuring out how to coordinate their actions.

State Capacity

The ability of a state to accomplish things.

Despotic Power

The ability of elites to make decisions without routinely negotiating with society (power over people).

Infrastructural Power

The ability of the state to penetrate society and implement decisions (power through society).

Conceptualization

Defining what a concept actually means and identifying its important dimensions.

Measurement / Operationalization

Deciding how to observe or measure a concept using indicators.

Reliability

Whether a measure produces consistent results.

Validity

Whether a measure actually measures what you claim it measures.

Nominal Measure

Categories with no inherent order.

Ordinal Measure

Categories that have an order/ranking, but the distance between categories isn't necessarily equal.

Interval / Continuous Measure

A measure with ordered values where the spacing between values has meaningful, equal intervals.

Democracy

A political system in which rulers are accountable to the ruled.

Political Accountability

Mechanisms allowing citizens to peacefully/constitutionally remove rulers.

Participation

Dimension of democracy concerning who gets to participate in politics, including whether the electorate is broadly inclusive and people can vote without coercion.

Contestation

Dimension of democracy concerning whether there is meaningful political competition, including multiple genuine competitors and meaningful choices for voters.

Madison's Dilemma

The principle that government needs enough power to govern effectively, but not so much power that it becomes abusive.

Unitary System

A system in which political power is primarily concentrated at the national level.

Federal System

A system in which political power is constitutionally divided between national and subnational governments.

Judicial Review

The ability of courts to determine whether laws or government actions are constitutional.

Parliamentary Supremacy

The principle that the legislature is considered the supreme lawmaking authority.

Separation of Origin

Whether the executive and legislature are selected through separate processes.

Separation of Survival

Whether the executive depends on the legislature to remain in office.

Separation of Power

Whether executive and legislative powers are institutionally separated or fused.

Presidential System

A system in which the executive is separately elected, generally has a fixed term, and executive and legislative powers are separated.

Parliamentary System

A system in which the executive comes from the legislature and depends on legislative support to remain in power.

Hybrid / Semi-Presidential System

A system combining a separately elected president with a prime minister who depends on the legislature.

Electoral System

The rules that regulate electoral competition and transform votes into seats.

Majoritarian Electoral System

A system where winning candidates/parties receive seats based on winning the relevant contests, rather than matching seats proportionally to votes.

First-Past-The-Post (FPTP)

An electoral system where a candidate wins a single-member district by receiving more votes than any other candidate.

Proportional Representation (PR)

A system in which parties' shares of seats are designed to be roughly proportional to their vote shares.

Duverger's Law

The principle stating that single-member, simple-majority electoral systems tend to favor two-party systems.

Autocracy

A hierarchical political system in which leaders exercise control over subjects.

Authoritarian Regime

How the political system works in an autocracy.

Authoritarian Spell

The period during which a country is authoritarian.

Totalitarianism

An extreme form of autocracy involving extensive repression, mass mobilization, a totalizing ideology, and attempts to shape many/all aspects of life.

Selectorate

The subset of people who can play a role in choosing or removing an autocratic leader.

Winning Coalition

The subset of the selectorate whose support is necessary for an autocratic leader to stay in power.

Ideology (as an autocratic tool)

Political beliefs and ideas used to shape interests, justify the regime, and motivate support.

Distribution (as an autocratic tool)

Strategically distributing resources, jobs, welfare, land, or business opportunities to citizens or supporters.

Repression

The use or threat of force to produce compliance.

Disinformation

Manipulating information through things like censorship, selective presentation of information, or efforts to discredit opponents.

Preference Falsification

When people publicly express support for a regime while privately holding different views.

Dictator's Dilemma

The difficulty a dictator faces in knowing people's true preferences and level of support because people have incentives to hide their opposition.

Monarchy (Autocracy)

A regime type where political power and succession are strongly connected to a royal family/kin network.

Military Regime

A regime type where political power is centered in the military, particularly senior officers.

Single-Party / Dominant-Party Regime

A regime type where one party dominates political institutions and meaningful competition is restricted.

Personalist Regime

A regime type where political power is concentrated around an individual ruler, with institutions often weaker and loyalty networks centered on the ruler.