Comparative Politics Midterm

Bottom-up transitions

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

Causation

If x changes, them y would change

Causal Mechanism

offers explanations for why we think x might cause y

Civilian dictatorship

an autocracy that is neither a monarchy nor a military dictatorship

Collective Action

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

Competitive Authoritarian

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

Contractarian view of the state

sees the creation of the state as resulting from a social contract between individuals in the state of nature in which the state provides security for obedience from the citizen.

Culture

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

Minimalist

Classifies political regimes just according to their formal institutions and rules

Maximalist

Classifies according to formal institutions and rules AND how they function in practice and the results they produce.

Democracy (minimalist)

the institutional arrangement for arriving at political decisions in which individuals acquire the power to decide by means of a competitive struggle for the people’s vote

Democracy (Maximalist)

requires the protection of liberties and freedoms, respect for legal entitlements, and the guaranteeing of free discussion and uncensored distribution of news and fair comment

Democratic Backsliding

a deterioration of the quality of democracy within the context of a democratic regime

Equilibrium

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

Expressive motives

refer to concerns that derive directly from the meaning or symbolic significance of actions or choices themselves, rather than the political outcomes they produce

Fiscal capacity

A states ability to extract taxes.

relies on: a capable bureaucracy and information on entities that owe taxes

Free-rider problem

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

Hybrid Regime

a regime that combine some democratic rules with authoritarian governance

Institutions

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

Instrumental Motives

refer to the costs of taking an action and the benefits associated with affecting a political outcome.

Legible

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

Liberalizing Reform

entails a controlled opening of the political space and might include the formation of political parties, holding elections, writing a constitution, establishing a independent judiciary, opening a legislature, and so on.

Military dictatorship

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

Modernization theory

contends that as societies develop economically, they also tend to become more democratic.

Monarchic dictatorship

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

Nation-state

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.

Populism

A political ideology that claims to be the voice of “the people”, often invoking anti-elite sentiment.

Predatory view of the state

Holds that states exercise an effective control over the use of violence, which they can use to extract from their subjects.

Rentier state

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

State

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

Strategic behavior

when the choices of one actor depend on the choices made by another actor

Regime

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

Reliability

refers to the extent to which the measurement process repeatedly and consistently produces the same score for a given case.

Validity

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

Public good

a good that is non-excludable (for everyone) and non-rivalrous (there is enough for everyone).

Top-down transition

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

Protests 

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

Property right

The exclusive authority to determine how a resource is used.

Preference falsification

Because it is dangerous to reveal opposition to a dictatorship, individuals who oppose the regime may falsify private preferences when public.