Foreign Gov Test 2

Polity score

score from -10-10, determines level of democracy and authoritatianism

Full democracy

score of 10, elected leader, few eligibility requirements, leaders power is smaller than the legislature

No democracy

score of -10, selected leader, all power, high eligibility requirements

Bourgoisie ideals

constraints on executives, introduction to elections, checks on executive power, and electoral principle for legislature

Working class ideals

elected executive, suffrage expansion, and civil liberties

Bourgoisie

rich, but not nobility, wanted democracy so they could have a say

Modernization theory

Wealth and development cause modernization

Original modernization theory

there us a single trajectory leading from traditional society to a modern one

Revised modernization theory

economic development causes the growth of democracy

Endogenous

economic development that makes countries more likely to become democratic

Exogenous

democratization happens for some set of reasons; economic development keeps countries democratic

Rise of modernization

what caused the emergence of middle class

Democratic breakdown

abrupt move from democracy to authoritarianism

Democratic backsliding

incremental move form democracy to authoritarianism

Open-ended coup

coup with no promise of a return to “normal”

Promissory coup

coup that promises democratic actions for the greater good of society

Executive aggrandizement

weakening of non-executive institutions

Pre-election manipulation

limits on media freedom, harassment of opposition leaders, abuse of state resources during campaign

Presidential democracy

one in which the government does not depend on the legislature to exist

Cons of presidentialism

government is personalized, unresponsive, and experiences gridlock

Pros of presidentialism

government is nationalized, accountable, and uses checks and balances

Parliamentary democracy

the government depends on the legislature to exist

Coalition

two or more parties that join forces to gain a majority in the legislature

Minimal winning

coalition has just enough seats combined to have the majority; if one party leaves, the coalition loses power

Surplus majority

two parties bring in a third party that aligns between them, allowing them to be over the majority; if one party leaves, the coalition still has power

Proportional representation

rules that allocate seats to parties based proportionally on their vote share

District magnitude

the number of seats in a legislature

Thresholds

the percentage needed to qualify for seats

Closed-list PR

the voters pick a party list and seats are allocated based on how many seats the party won

Open-list PR

the voters pick a party and specific candidates on the lists

Electoral permissiveness

how easy electoral rules make it for small parties to gain legislative representation

Majoritarian electoral rules

rules that allocate seats to parties winning majority of the votes; usually in single-member districts

Single-member district plurality (SMDP)

the candidate with the most number of votes in each district wins that district

Two-round systems (TRS)

if no candidate wins the in the first round, the top two parties have a second round of elections

Federalism

constitutional recognition of subnational units as distinct political entities with control over at least one policy domain

Subnational units

administrative units that are below the level of national state

Unitrianism

description of of non-federations; countries that do not meet the qualifications of a federalist state

Decentralization

the extent to which policy making power rests within subnational units

Political decentralization

subnational governments are elected

Policy decentralization

subnational units implement policy or make policy decisions

Fiscal decentralization

expenditures are made and revenues are raised at the subnational level; a sign of robust decentralization

Coming-together federalism

histories of units coming together, either voluntarily or through conquest (e.g., USA, Germany)

Holding-together federalism

federalism that was adopted in order to prevent secessionism (e.g., Canada, Nigeria)

Symmetric federations

all sub nations are treated equally and have the same power (e.g., Germany, Brazil)

Asymmetric federations

different sub units have different powers (e.g., Russia)

Bicameralism

the division of the legislature into two separate chambers

Programmatic politics

when parties and politicians win votes through the rule-bound allocation of goods, services, and states

Retrospective voting

voting based on perceptions of the governments past performance, often with respect to the economy

Pocketbook voting

when someone votes based on their personal economic situation

Sociotropic voting

voting based on societies economic situation

Social cleavages

large-scale divisions within a society that are not wholly political and are relevant outside the political realm

Partisanship

identifying with a party in the same way one would adopt any other social identity

Clientelism

non-progammatic politics, voting in return for personal gain

Non-progammatic politics

when parties win votes through the discretionary and individualized provision of goods, services, and state capacity

Consituency service

congress members helping people (individuals reaching out for help)