Political Science: Regimes, States, and Democracies

Vocabulary flashcards keying in on fundamental terms, political thinkers, regime structures, democratic concepts, and types of non-democracies covered in the lecture notes.

Social Contractarians

Influential political thinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

John Locke

The influential thinker relied on heavily by the founding fathers when drafting the U.S. Constitution.

Political Capacity

A key measure used to gauge the difference between a strong state and a weak state.

Junta

A regime that has only a few military officers in charge.

Regime Transition

Events where a formal government changes to a different government leadership, structure, or system.

Liberal Democracy

In its most basic form, a system involving free and fair elections and the protection of civil liberties.

Democratic Backsliding

The term used to describe when a democracy becomes undemocratic.

Political Parties

Groups of people who are organized under shared values to get their candidates elected to power.

Three Branches of Government

The Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary branches.

Polity IV

A measurement of democracy that does not include a measurement for suffrage.

Non-Democracy

A political system where public officials are subject to limited or no accountability, there is limited to no competition for public office, and citizens have limited to non-existent freedoms.

Single Party Rule

A type of non-democracy characterized by political leadership that all belongs to the same political party.

Hybrid Non-Democracy

A non-democracy that exhibits characteristics of more than one type of non-democracy, such as a combination of personalist and single-party rule.