Comparative Politics: Midterm Study flashcard set

Bottom-up transition is:

One in which the people rise up to overthrow an authoritarian regime in a popular revolution.

Cause is:

If x causes y, then if we change x, y will also change.

Civilian dictatorship is:

a dictatorship that is neither a monarchy or a military dictatorship

Collective action is:

Refers to the pursuit of some objective by groups of individuals. Typically the objective is some form of public good.

Competitive authoritarianism is:

regimes employ formal democratic institutions as the principal means of obtaining and exercising political authority. However, incumbents violate those rules so often, and to such an extent, that the regime fails to meet conventional minimum standards for a democracy.

Contractarian view of the state is:

sees the creation of the state as resulting from a social contract between individual sin the SON in which the state provides security in exchange for obedience.

Culture is:

the attitudes, values, and understandings that are widely shared in a given society, and are transmitted across generations

Maximalist Democracy is:

Where people acquire the power to decide things through a competitive back and forth to gain votes. There is: 1. Elections 2. Wide universal suffrage, and 3. competition for office.

Includes, however, the outcomes institutions produce.

Minimalist Democracy is:

Where people acquire the power to decide things through a competitive back and forth to gain votes. There is: 1. Elections 2. Wide universal suffrage, and 3. competition for office.

Democratic backsliding is:

a deterioration of the quality of democracy within the context of a democratic regime. AKA democratic erosion.

Equilibrium is:

Describes the actions chosen by actors when all actors are pursuing their goals and considering the choices of others.

Fiscal capacity is:

The ability of a nation to generate revenue/collect taxes

The free-rider problem is:

refers to the fact that individual members of a group often have little incentive to contribute to the provision of a public good that will benefit all members of the group. AKA collective action problem.

Hybrid regime is:

a regime that combines some democratic rules with authoritarian governance

Institutions are:

rules of the game in a society or, more formally, are the humanly devised constraints that shape human ints.

Instrumental motives are:

Motivations for political behavior; refers to the COSTS of taking an action and the BENEFITS associated with affecting a political outcome. Costs vary with the type of activity, but include: 1. The TIME and RESOURCES necessary to do the activity. 2. The possibility of adverse consequence/punishment from doing the activity.

Expressive motives are:

concerns that derive directly from the meaning of symbolic significance of actions or choice themselves, rather than the political outcomes they produce. These expressive (non-exhaustive) motives are: IDENTITY, MORALITY, and SOCIAL PRESSURE.

Legibility is:

when a societies population is arranged in order to simplify classic state functions like taxation, conscription, and prevention of

Liberalizing reform is:

entails a controlled opening of the political space and might include the formation of political parties, holding elections, writing a constitution, establishing an independent judiciary, opening a legislature, etc. (AKA Liberalizing policy)

Military dictatorship is:

an autocracy in which the executive relies on the armed forced to come and stay in power.

Modernization theory is:

As societies develop economically, they tend to become more democratic; this is a correlation, NOT a causation

Monarchic dictatorship is:

an autocracy in which the executive comes to and maintains power on the basis of family kin/networks

Nation state is:

a state in which a single nation predominates and the legal, social, demographic and geographic boundaries of the state are connected in important ways to that nation.

There are exceptions, like "stateless nations" (kurdish people).

Populism is:

a political ideology that claims to be the voice of "the people"; often invokes anti-elite sentiment.

Predatory view of the state is:

state uses violence to control their subjects; violence keeps everyone in check, and is usually "within reason"; the state takes what it needs from the civilians and keeps them safe from outside forces

Preference falsification is:

Due to the danger of voicing your true opinion in a dictatorship, people will lie; pretending to like/dislike things in public (whatever lets them survive)

Property rights are:

Exclusive authority to determine how a resource is used

Protest is:

Instances of disruptive collective action aimed at institutes, elites, authorities, or other groups on behalf of the collective goals of actors of those they claim to represent.

Tarrow assumes protests:

1. Address issues DIRECTLY rather than through institutional mediation.

2. Cause DISRUPTION of economic processes, government business, or everyday routines -> need not be violent, but can be

3. Involve CLAIMS that impinge on political or economic elite.

4. Are EXPRESSIVE. Demands may be instrumental, but presented in symbolically charged and non-negotiable terms.

5. Protesters are STRATEGIC in their choice of issues, targets, and goals.

Public good is:

non-excludable and non-rivalrous. NON-EXCLUDABILITY -> you cannot exclude people from enjoying the public good. NON-RIVALROUS -> there is just as much public good to enjoy no matter how many people consume it.

Regime is:

set of rules, norms, or institutions that determine how the government is constituted, organized, and how major decisions are made

Reliability (of a measure) is:

Extent to which the measurement process consistently produces the same score for a case; must happen repeatedly.

Rentier state is:

derives all or a substantial portion of its revenue from the rent of indigenous natural resources.

State is:

an entity that uses coercion and the threat of force to rule a given territory

Strategic behavior is:

when the choice of one actor depends on the choice made by another actor.

Top-down transition is:

one in which the dictatorial ruling elite introduces liberalizing reforms that ultimately lead to a democratic transition.

Validity (of a measure) is:

refers to the extent to which our measures correspond to the concepts that they are intended to reflect.

Polarization is:

The distribution of the electorate's preferences moving to the extremes. AKA; the left moves further left, right moves further right; when the voter preference goes extreme, the party seems to follow.

Preference falsification: is

Because it is dangerous to reveal opposition to a dictatorship, individuals who oppose the regime may falsify private preferences when public. Can choose to either a) Publicly support the dictatorship (by staying home). b) publicly oppose the dictatorship (by protesting).

Failed state is:

a state-like entity that cannot coerce and is unable to successfully control the inhabitants of a given territory.

State capacity is:

the ability of the state to penetrate civil society in order to implement political decisions throughout the territory.