Daily Quiz #1 - AP Comp Gov Quiz

10 terms from the attached list. This Thursday, be ready for MCQ questions on the vocab from the introduction plus terms 1-10 from the list.

Power

• The ability to influence or control the behavior of others.

Authority

• The legitimate or recognized right to exercise power and make decisions.

Legitimacy

• The acceptance and recognition of authority or power as valid and rightful. Citizens believe that their government has a right to use their power in the way that they do.

Political Stability

• The state of a country or region where the government and political institutions are strong, and there is a general absence of major conflicts, social unrest, or changes in leadership.

Correlation

• A statistical relationship between two or more variables where a change in one variable is associated with a change in another variable

Causation

• A relationship between cause and effect, where one variable directly influences or brings about changes in another variable.

Freedom

• The absence of constraints or restrictions on individuals or groups to act or express themselves as they desire.

Equality

• The state of being equal in rights, opportunities, or status.

Human Development Index (HDI)

• A composite measure of a country's development, considering factors such as life expectancy, education, and income.

Gini Index

• A statistical measure of income inequality within a country, ranging from 0 (perfect equality) to 100 (maximum inequality).

Area Studies

• A regional focus when studying political science, rather than studying parts of the world where similar variables are clustered

Behavorial Revolution

• A movement within political science during the 1950s and 1960s to develop general theories about individual political behavior that could be applied across all countries

Causal Relationship

• Cause and effect; when a change in one variable causes a change in another variable

Comparative Method

• The means why which social scientists make comparisons across cases

Comparitve Politics

• The study and comparison of domestic politics across countries

Correlation

• An apparent relationship between two or more variables

Deductive Reasoning

• Research that works from a hypothesis that is then tested against data

Dependent Variable

• A variable whose value changes based on that of another

Endogeneity

• The issue that cause and effect are not often clear, in that variables may be both cause and effect in relationship to one another

Equality

• A material standard of living shared by individuals within a community

Formal Institutions

• Institutions usually based on officially sanctioned rules that are relatively clear

Freedom

• The ability of an individual to act independently, without fear or restriction of punishment by the state or other groups in society

Game Theory

• An approach that emphasizes how actors or organizations behave in their goal to influence others; built up on assumptions of rational choice

Independent Variable

• A variable whose value does not depend on that of another

Inductive Reasoning

• Research that works from case studies in order to generate a hypothesis

Informal Institutions

• Institutions with unwritten and unofficial rules

Institution

• An organization or activity that is self-perpetuating and valued for its own sake

International Relations

• A field in political science that concentrates on relations between countries, such as foreign policy, war, trade, and foreign aid

Modernization Theory

• A theory asserting that as societies developed, they would take on a set of common characteristics, including democracy and capitalism

Multicausality

• When variables are interconnected and interact to produce particular outcomes

Politics

• The struggle in any group for power that will give one or more persons the ability to make decisions for the larger group

Power

• The ability to influence others or impose one’s will on them

Qualitative Method

• Study through an in-depth investigation of a limited number of cases

Quantitative Method

• Study of statistical data from many cases

Rational Choice

• Approach that assumes individuals weigh the costs and benefits and make choices to maximize their benefits

Selection Bias

• A focus on effects rather than causes, which can lead to inaccurate conclusions about correlation or causation

Theory

• An integrated set of hypotheses, assumptions, and facts