Comparative Government - Exam 1

What is political development

Process which modern nations-states develop, mature, and become legitimate.

What is political modernization

Process which a country goes from being a poor agrarian society to being a rich industrial society.

What is regime change?

The process which a society moves from one mode of government to another.

What is social revolution?

When mass movements not only replace a previous regime but radically remake the social order that preceded it.

What is democratic transition?

When social movements rise up against authoritarian leaders who willingly give way to popular movements for democracy.

What is democratic breakdown?

When military leaders overthrow democratically elected governments, often when such governments are weak or beset by accusations of corruption, by staging a coup.

What are some individual level explanations of political behaviors?

Rational choice theory, psychological theories of political belief

What is rational choice theory?

Individuals choose actions that help them achieve their preferred goals

What is psychological theories of political behavior?

Personal backgrounds and experiences shape our actions and beliefs

What are some cultural and ideological explanations of political behavior.

Political culture, modernization theory

What is political culture

The set of widely held values that people in a society generally share. They shape our expectations about collective governance.

What is modernization theory?

Society has specific types of values and shared beliefs that inform its form of government

What is the structural explanation for political behavior?

large political, economic, and social structures shape human behavior.

What is a state?

Political units that possess sovereign authority to govern a territory and population through the monopoly on the user of violent force

What is a territory?

An area with clearly defined borders to which the state lays claim.

What is sovereignty?

The legal recognition of a state by other governments

External sovereignty

Other countries recognize your state and treat it as an equal partner in the family of nations

Internal sovereignty

the government of a state has sufficient strength and capacity to actually effectively govern its territory and population

What is legitimacy

the recognized right to rule a society

What is bureaucracy?

The administrative organizations of the state that carry out laws, collect revenues, and implement public policies.

What is feudalism

The political system in which a small number of political elites shifted and dominated the lives of ordinary citizens.

What is colonialism

The practice of asserting political and economic control over a territory or region that is culturally distinct from the dominting power

Peace of Westphalia

The new order of nation states after the Thirty Year War that codified the ideas of states and compelled states to recognize each other's internal and external sovereignty.

Weak states

states that are generally bad at providing basic services and public goods to citizens

What is a fail state?

States where it is so weak that it loses control of internal sovereignty in at least part of its territory

What is a citizen?

A constituent member of a formal political community or state

What are civil rights?

These are rights that guarantee individual liberty and equal treatment for all citizens by the state

What are political rights?

Rights where citizens have the ability to participate in the structure of their governing institutions

What are social rights

Those rights that assure citizens of the provision of social equality.

What is a civil society?

The sphere of organized groups and associations that exist separate from the state, the free market, and our families

What is social capital

the reserve of social networks in a society that help cultivate norms of reciprocity and trust.

What is the social contract?

The idea that individual men and women give up a small amount of their personal liberty in exchange for the order and security that come from having a government

What are stationary bandits

Bandits who build a checkpoint between the towns and charges protection money from the traders as they move from town to town

What are roving bandits

Bandits who steal everything from a population and then move on to a new area.

What did Thomas Hobbes believe in?

Believed that man is naturally chaotic and requires social order

What did John Locke believe in?

Believed that people are generally reasonable and are entitled to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of property."

What did Jean Rousseau believe in?

He believed that people are naturally peaceful, and the development of social inequality generates conflict, disagreeing with the social contract.

What are the requirements of modern states

Territory, sovereignty, legitimacy

How does the Olson's theory of roving and stationary bandits connect to the idea of the social contract

The state is a monopolized protection system where citizens accept taxation from a ruler to avoid the absolute chaos.