AP Comparative Government and Politics Vocabulary

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering Units 1 through 5 of AP Comparative Government and Politics based directly on lecture review notes.

Empirical Data

Fact-based information derived from observation or experimentation.

Normative Statement

A value or opinion statement that cannot be proven or disproven. For example, a normative statement about Russian politics is that “Vladimir Putin should not have returned to become Russia’s president in 2012.

Qualitative Data

Information that is difficult to measure, including sources such as speeches, foundational documents, political cartoons, maps, and political commentaries.

Correlation

An association that exists between two or more variables.

Causation

A relationship that is complex to determine with certainty in comparative politics due to numerous influencing variables and an inability to isolate which variable produces change.

Human Development Index (HDI)

A summary measure from the United Nations Development Program of average achievement in key dimensions of human development, including statistics about life expectancy, schooling, and income.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The market value of goods and services produced over a specific time in a country, depicting the overall size of a national economy.

GDP per capita

A measurement reflecting the size of the national economy compared to the population size.

Gini Index

A measure showing income inequality within a country, where a score of $100\%$ indicates perfect inequality and a score of $0\%$ indicates ideal equality.

Governmental Transparency

The ability of citizens to access information about a government’s policymaking and policy implementation to help hold officials accountable.

Governmental Corruption

The practice where public officials abuse power for personal benefit.

Political Systems

The laws, ideas, and procedures that address who should have authority to rule and what the government’s influence on its people and economy should be.

States

Political organizations that combine a permanent population with governing institutions to exercise control over a defined territory with international recognition.

Regimes

The fundamental rules that control access to and exercise political power, typically enduring from government to government.

Freedom House Scores

Rankings reported by a nongovernmental organization that evaluate countries based on scores from $1$ to $7$ for political rights and civil liberties.

Government

The set of institutions or individuals legally empowered to make binding decisions for a state.

Sovereignty

Independent legal authority over a population in a particular territory.

Nation

A group of people with commonalities, including race, language, religion, ethnicity, political identity, and aspirations.

Rule of Law

The principle that a state should be governed by known laws and not arbitrary decisions made by individual government officials.

Independence of Governmental Branches

A institutional structure that prevents any one branch from controlling all governmental power.

Independent Election Commissions

Bodies that attempt to reduce voter fraud and manipulation, as well as enhance electoral competition.

Suffrage

A synonym for voting rights; universal suffrage means every citizen above a certain age is legally eligible to vote.

Civil Rights

The protection of groups of citizens from discrimination by the government or other individuals.

Civil Liberties

An individual's protection against abuse of powers by the government.

Corporatist System

A system where government-created and supported interest groups (typically for labor, business owners, and agricultural workers) serve as the preferred linkage institutions for citizen participation.

Pluralist System

A system where citizens can affiliate with multiple independent interest groups to attempt to shape public policies.

Illiberal Democracies and Hybrid Regimes

Regimes that hold elections with little competition toward the ruling party, which tends to diminish civil liberties.

One-Party States

Political systems in which rival parties are prohibited from controlling governmental power.

Theocracies

Systems that require the state to be controlled by leaders of a particular religion.

Totalitarian Governments

Authoritarian governments that severely limit citizens' rights to movement and free choice of employment.

Military Regimes

Systems where military leaders hold top positions of governing authority.

Democratization

A transition from an authoritarian regime to a democratic regime; the transition process can start or temporarily change direction but typically moves towards competition, fairness and transparency in elections; increased citizen participation in policy making processes; universal suffrage for adult citizens; greater governmental transparency; protected civil rights and liberties; equal treatment of citizens; and establishment of rule of law.

Democratic Consolidation

The process by which a democratic regime matures in terms of election rules, separation of powers, and civil liberties, making reverting to authoritarianism unlikely without an external shock.

Power

The ability of the state to influence the conduct of individuals and organizations within the state.

Authority

The state's legitimate right to enforce a power.

Federal States

States that divide power among different levels of government to confer local autonomy while reserving specific powers for the national government.

Unitary States

States that concentrate power at the national level with uniform policies and central decision-making.

Devolution

The delegation of power to regional governments that can impact legitimacy and influence social, political, and economic issue resolution.

Legitimacy

The extent to which a government's constituents believe their government has the right to use power in the way it does.

Sources of legitimacy

can include popular elections, constitutional provisions, nationalism, tradition, governmental effectiveness, economic growth, ideology, religious heritage, organizations, and the dominant political party’s endorsement.

Political Stability

The ability of a government to consistently provide basic services that meet population needs and foster public confidence in state institutions.

Coercion

The use of government force to guide citizen behavior and actions, ranging from small fines to brute violence.