AP Comparative Government Study for Midterm (UC SCOUT)

Anarchism:

a political ideology that believes equality and freedom can be achieved by eliminating the state and institutions that provide law, meaning a society free of law enforcement.

Black market:

exists when states make laws and restrictions on the market; this operates illegally by ignoring these laws.

Bourgeoisie:

the middle and upper middle class in society, which is associated with the capitalist class.

Causation:

a situation or action that includes a change in a variable that creates an effect or change in other variables. Causation must be proven with empirical evidence for it to be proven as a cause-and-effect.

Central bank:

a public institution that ensures the money supply grows fast enough to support the economy and population.

Centrifugal forces:

a force that divides people and countries apart.

Centripetal forces:

forces that tend to unite a country such as shared history, language, or culture.

Charismatic legitimacy:

legitimacy built on the force of ideas embodied by an individual leader.

Citizenship:

the formal relationship between a person and the state, and it usually comes with special privileges and rights.

Coinciding cleavages:

cleavages reinforce cleavages that can divide a society into no longer stable unity such as when ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic divisions overlap.

Communism:

political ideology that believes economic equality leads to freedom. Canceling monetary imbalances through strict state control of all economic activity.

Conservative:

people with a political attitude who do not wish for any change and approach these changes cautiously.

Correlation:

when two variables seem related to another data but can't be confirmed due to no proven association between the two variables compared.

Coup d'etat:

sudden, decisive political action to overthrow the current government mostly by force.

Cross-cutting cleavages:

cleavages help maintain stability in a political system by dividing people into smaller interests instead of uniting them into a large group pitted against each other.

Democratic centralism:

Leninist organizational structure that concentrates power in the hands of the party elite.

Democratization:

the process of changing a regime or fundamental pattern of rules from authoritarian to democratic.

Dependency theory:

believes that former colonies were made to be dependent on their colonial masters for markets and production.

Developed countries:

countries with strong economies and a high quality of life, where the majority of the economy comes from industrialized production.

Developing countries:

countries with less productive economies and a lower quality of life, where the majority of their economy comes from agriculture.

Devolution:

the central government grants certain powers to regional governments to achieve a policy objective.

Empirical statements:

compare data to prove the truth. These include statistics and facts.

Ethnicity:

common culture that unites people; some examples of binding attributes are religion, language, history, culture, and ancestry.

Extreme poverty:

when living below 2$ per day, which makes daily survival difficult.

Failed state:

state that cannot implement domestic policies and is unable to provide fundamental law and order.

Fascism:

political ideology where there is no freedom nor equality, mainly divided socially by superior and inferior through a person's loyalty to the state.

Federal state:

state in which the government's power is shared between the central government and regional governments.

Free trade:

trade that permits individuals the opportunity to buy and sell without any restrictions from the government.

GDP:

total value of all goods and services produced in a country per year.

Globalization:

actions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide.

Inflation:

happens when the popular prices for goods and services rise, and the purchasing power of currency falls.

Interest groups:

endorse candidates that are running for political offices

Legitimacy:

when people recognize the right of the state to rule over them.

Liberal:

people with a political attitude who like progressive change through evolutionary reforms, not in favor of a regime change but of modifying it.

Linkage institutions:

ways through which people's concerns become political issues on the government's agenda.

Modernization:

the process of reforming political, military, economic, social, and cultural traditions after the success of Western societies in other parts of the world.

Nation:

group of people with commonalities, including race, language, religion, etc. These groups of people don't rule over a territory but are part of one or more states.

Nationalism:

person's national identity; it unites people based on their pride and value for their nation.

Normative statements:

set of statements that require value judgment, either good or bad or right or wrong.

Oligarchs:

small number of individuals monopolizing political power and economic resources.

Parastatals:

companies owned and controlled by the government to generate more money for the government, which is an example of modern mercantilism.

Personality cult:

phenomenon that occurs in the most extreme cases of personalist rule in which followers constantly glorify the ruler and attempt to turn his every utterance into not only government fiat but also divine wisdom.

Political attitude:

how individuals feel about the pace at which political change should happen.

Political culture:

set of beliefs among people shaped by historical events, culture, religion, etc.

Political economy:

how politics affects the economy and how the economy interacts with politics.

Political parties:

an institution that seeks to gain control of government for the purpose of wielding political power to achieve goals common to its members

Proletariat:

the exploited class, the workers who do not own the means of production.

Radical:

people with a political attitude who disagree with the current system and believe it must be changed. These people can sometimes use violence.

Rational-legal legitimacy:

egitimacy based on a system of laws and procedures that are highly institutionalized.

Reactionary:

people with a political attitude who are against changes in a current regime, but they wish to return to a regime from the past and are willing to use violence if necessary.

Regime:

the rules and system under which the political process occurs.

Siloviki:

members of Russian military forces to whom the business properties of the oligarchs have been given.

Social democracy:

political ideology that values economic equality and class balance. It also rejects full state control; instead, the state regulates and implements taxes while allowing the private sector to exist.

Sovereign:

state with supreme or independent authority over a population and territory, and the international community must also recognize it.

State institutions:

political organization that combines a permanent population with governing institutions to exercise control over a defined territory with international recognition.

Strong states:

state can enact policies and laws and manage their execution and enforcement.

Subsidy:

funding given by the state to either the buyer or seller to keep necessary goods and services at competitive prices.

Subsistence agriculture:

an agricultural practice in which people produce food only to feed themselves and a small amount for profit.

Supranational organizations:

multinational political union in which sovereign states send representatives to make collective decisions for the group. These members give some of their state's power to the organization.

Tariffs:

taxes on goods imported into a country from a foreign state.

Traditional legitimacy:

The right to rule because "it has always been that way."

Unitary state:

a state where a central government is the primary authority.

Weak states:

state lacks the guaranteed capacity to enact a policy or law because it cannot execute or enforce it.

Welfare state:

a state that provides social expenditures to the people to achieve economic equality.

Autonomy

the ability to carry out a policy without public support

Economic Freedom

where people and private firms are allowed to possess property and settle on choices about how to use, consume or invest it, without the impedance from the state

Economic equality

the idea that a society should have a balance of wealth. The state should use resources collectively for the good of the people thus eliminating poverty and extreme wealth through redistributove actions by the state

liberalism

states that are free from economic control and regulations by the state

authoritarian socialism

use of political forvce and coercion to achieve economic equality

Democratic Regime

a political system in which all of the people of the state are involved in making decisions

direct democracy

when people vote directly on weather or not a policy will be enacted

indirect democracy

when people choose representatives to vote for them

Principles of democracy

Free and Fair Elections

Civil Society

Protection of Human Rights

Rule of Law

Interest Articulation

when interest groups communicate the common interest of its members with policy makers and the public at large

Interest Aggregation

the combining of the interests of many individual and groups into a formal policy program

Proportional Representation System (PR)

system that give parties seats based on the percentage of votes that they recieve, vote is for the party not for the candidate

coalition government

occurs when parties work together in choosing a government and policy legislation, this when no party gained complete control of the seats

Single-Member-District System (SMDs)

seats are only given to the candidate with the most votes in each district. The state is divided into many constituencies.

Plurality

a excess number of votes for a candidate, but not majority

Presidential System

when voters cast their votes direclty for a specific candidate, separating the executive from the legislative

Parliamentary System

gives executive power to the chosen leader of the majority party in the legislature, called Prime Minister

head of state

in charge of ceremonial responsibilites

head of government

responsible for the administration of policies in a state

Authoritarian Regime

doesn't have a democratic method of rule, without any constitutional responsibility to the people

totalitarianism

total control, of every aspect including personal life, carreer, religious views etc.

statism

the tendency to trust in the state for security and provision of basic needs

Coercion

the use of force to make people submit to a regime

co-optation

bringing groups and individuals into a beneficial relationship with the state so they do not challenge the legitimacy of the regime

state corporatism

the state acts ads the decision maker when conflicts arise between the interests of businesses and labor and other competing interest

patron-clientelism

when rulers of an authoritarian regime place people into positions of power within the government, loyalty and favor-trading

personal rule

regime is shaped to fit the interests of the ruler

military rule

result of a coup, after the military of a state decides to remove those in charge and the military takes control in its place

one-party rule

only one political party competing for and exercising political power

theocracy

rule by god, when religious leaders hold the power of the state. Rules and laws must be consistent with the religious doctrines.