Comparative Politics Final Exam

Monarchy 

A dictatorship where power is based on family or kinship ties

Military dictatorship

A regime in which leaders rely on the armed forces to hold power

Civilian dictatorship

a non-military autocracy, often built around a dominant party or powerful individual

dominant-party dictatorship

a civilian dictatorship where one party controls access to office and policymaking even if other parties exist

personalist dictatorship

a civilian dictatorship where the leader maintains personal control over policy and appointments, often back by a personality cult 

personality cult

use of propaganda and symbols to create extreme loyalty to a leader 

credible commitment problem

Difficulty convincing supporters that the dictator will honor promised power-sharing.

Authoritarian power-sharing problem

Conflict among elites because no neutral actor can enforce agreements.

Authoritarian control problem

Dictator’s challenge of managing the masses through repression or co-optation.

Dictator’s dilemma

Repression scares citizens into hiding their true preferences, so the dictator can’t gauge real support.

Coup-proofing

Strategies used to prevent military coups or elite uprisings.

Lee Thesis

The claim that authoritarian regimes may produce faster economic development than democracies.

Selectorate (S)

People who have a legal say in choosing the leader.

Winning coalition (W)

Those essential supporters who keep the leader in power.

Disenfranchised

Residents with no legal political participation rights.

W/S ratio

Measures loyalty: small W/S = strong loyalty; large W/S = weak loyalty.

Parliamentary democracy

Government depends only on legislative majority support to exist

Presidential democracy

Government does not depend on a legislative majority; president serves fixed terms

Semi-presidential democracy

Dual executive (president + prime minister); government must maintain legislative confidence, and president is popularly elected

Vote of no confidence (VONC)

Legislature can remove the government without cause.

Constructive VONC

Requires naming the replacement government in the same vote.

Head of state

Symbolic or executive national leader; may or may not have governing power.

Cohabitation

President and prime minister come from different parties

Dual executive

Both president and prime minister share executive responsibilities.

Motion of censure

Legislative oversight tool to remove ministers or entire cabinet.

Substantive view of democracy

Evaluates democracy based on outcomes (rights, freedoms, equality).

Procedural/minimalist view

Evaluates based only on whether certain institutions (elections, competition) exist.

Polyarchy

Dahl’s term for highly inclusive and competitive modern democracies.

Inclusion

The extent of citizen participation.

Contestation

The degree of political competition among organized blocs.

Validity

How well a measure matches the concept it is meant to capture.

Reliability

How consistently a measure produces the same results.

Hybrid regime

A system with both democratic and authoritarian traits; difficult to classify.

Closed autocracy

No legal opposition channels to contest power.

Electoral autocracy

Elections exist but are not meaningfully competitive.

Competitive authoritarianism (CA)

Democratic institutions exist, opposition can contest, but the playing field is heavily skewed in favor of incumbents.

Uneven playing field

Incumbents abuse state resources, media, and law to disadvantage opponents.

Legal repression

Use of courts, tax laws, libel charges, and technicalities to punish opposition.

Paths of CA regimes

Democratization, unstable authoritarianism, stable authoritarianism.

Electoral system

Laws that govern how votes translate into political power.

Electoral formula

Rules for converting votes into seats.

District magnitude (DM)

Number of representatives elected per district; higher DM = more proportionality.

SMDP (single-member district plurality)

“First past the post”: candidate with most votes wins one seat.

Proportional representation (PR)

Parties win seats in proportion to their overall vote share.

Closed list PR

Party controls candidate order; voters select only a party.

Open list PR

Voters choose party and preferred candidate.

Duverger’s Law

SMDP encourages two-party systems.

Duverger’s Hypothesis

PR encourages multiparty systems.

Mechanical effect

Disproportional translation of votes into seats (helps large parties).

Strategic effect

Voters and elites adapt behavior (strategic voting, strategic entry).

Strategic voting

Voting for a viable candidate rather than your top preference.

Sincere voting

Voting for your true preferred candidate.

Effective number of parties

Weighted measure of number and size of political parties.

Single-party system

Only one legal political party.

One-party dominant system

Many parties exist, but only one wins realistically.

Multiparty system

More than two parties have real chances of holding power.

Political cleavage

A social division that becomes politically relevant.

Attribute

Characteristic (religion, class, ethnicity) defining identity categories.

Identity category

Socially constructed group identity.

Cross-cutting cleavages

Different identity dimensions pull voters in different directions.

Presidentialism

System with fixed terms and separation of powers; more prone to deadlock.

Executive–legislative deadlock

When government branches cannot agree, halting policymaking.

Mutual independence

President and legislature are separately elected and not reliant on each other to stay in office.

Immobilism

Parliamentary gridlock when coalitions are weak and unstable

Shadow cabinet

Opposition team mirroring government ministries, ready to take power.

Veto player

Actor whose agreement is required to change the status quo.

Ethnic heterogeneity

Diversity among ethnic groups within a society.

Power-sharing

Institutions designed to guarantee minority representation.

Ethnic quotas

Reserved positions for particular ethnic groups.

Federalism

Decentralized system dividing authority among regional units.

Primordialism

Ethnic identities are fixed and based on objective traits.

Constructivism

Ethnic identities are flexible and shaped by institutions.

Alternative Vote (AV)

Instant-runoff system where voters rank candidates.

Catch-all party

Broad party appealing across groups.

Ethnic-specific party

Party representing one ethnic group.

Fiscal policy

Government taxation and spending decisions.

Redistribution

Policies that shift resources from some groups to others.

Wagner’s Law

Government grows as countries industrialize and become wealthier.

Partisan model of macroeconomic policy

Left parties spend more; right parties spend less.

Coalition government

Multiple parties share executive power.

Climate policy

Government actions to fight climate change.

First movers

Countries (like many in Europe) that adopt climate policies early.

Green parties

Environmental parties with strong influence in PR system