AP Comparative Government Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards related to comparative politics.

Political Socialization

The process of acquiring political beliefs, values, and ideology through various socializing agents.

Ideology

A system of beliefs about the role of government and the goals of politics.

Liberalism

Support for free markets, pluralism, personal freedoms, free elections, limited government, rule of law.

Political Economy

The interconnection between government policy and the economy, including fiscal, monetary, and trade policies.

Libertarianism/Individualism

Belief in protecting civil liberties and freedoms from government restriction.

Authoritarianism

The central government should restrict citizen’s lives for order/security.

Communism

Government controls all production through a single party to create equality.

Fascism

Extreme nationalist ideology that favors authoritarian rule and the rights of the ethnic majority over that of ethnic minorities and the political opposition.

Socialism

Belief in government intervention to reduce economic inequalities.

Command economies

Government plans the economy.

Neoliberalism

Belief in less government intervention into the economy.

Globalism

Belief in the common good of humanity, less focus on borders and sovereignty, reduced trade barriers.

Nationalism

Belief in your people above all, protectionist, skeptical of international organizations.

Conservatism vs Progressivism

Keeping vs disrupting social mores/norms.

Populism

Appealing to the interests and rights of common people.

Rule of Law

The principles of the law being above all people and institutions, law fairly and evenly enforced by an independent judiciary.

Civil Society

Organizations outside the government which provide public participation, advance their interests, and compete to influence policy.

Social Movements

Large group of people informally organized collectively pushing for social change.

Political Culture

The collective attitudes, values, and beliefs of the citizenry and the norms of behavior in the political system.

Political efficacy

People believe in the gov’t, are well informed, and believe that they can influence the political system.

Regime

Political institutions and political culture of a system of governance that endures from government to government often defined by Constitution, changes of regime are often through revolution.

Government

The group of people who occupy political institutions who exercise authority and make policy.

Substantive Democracy

Meets all six criteria of democracy and functions as a democracy.

Democratic Consolidation

The process of becoming more substantive, maturing and unlikely to regress from a democracy.

Illiberal Democracy

Only has the procedures of democracy.

Competitive authoritarian regime

Hybrid of authoritarianism and democracy.

Non-Democracy

Is authoritarian or even totalitarian, does not follow any of conditions of democracy, use coercion (use or threat of force) to govern.

Head of State

Top executive who represents and symbolizes the country as a whole, in charge of foreign policy and military.

Head of Government

Secondary executive who manages the day-to-day operations of the government (cabinet and bureaucracy), manages economic policy, often also leader of parliament.

Presidential

Separation of powers between executive and legislative, checks and balances.

Parliamentary

Fusion of power between executive and legislative, head of government leads the legislature.

Semi-Presidential

President chosen by direct elections, Prime Minister is selected by the President and then confirmed by the legislature.

Unitary

All power is centralized in the capital, and voluntarily distributed to the regions (devolution).

Federal

Constitutional division of power between central and regional governments (can be weak, strong, asymmetric).

Unicameral

One house.

Bicameral

Two houses.

Common Law

Legal system based on precedent, tradition.

Civil/Code Law

Legal system is based on explicitly written statutes.

Sharia Law

Islamic law based on principles in the Qur’an and Hadith with interpretation (more like common than civil), can be applied only to personal matters or fully for criminal matters.

Rule of Law

Independent, accountable, principled.

Rule by Law

Use laws to enforce the will of authorities.

Judicial Review

Courts decide the constitutionality of law and government actions.

Political Parties

Organize participation, elite recruitment, policy creation.

Media

Give transparency, access to information, government accountability.

Interest Groups

Promote causes and helps citizens influence the government (NGOs).

Corporatist System

A few interest groups co-opted by the government that are given exclusive access to policy-makers.

Pluralist System

Many competitive interest groups with open access to policy-makers.

First-Past-the-Post

Vote for a person (who is a member of a party) in a legislative district. Whoever gets plurality (the most) in the district gets the seat.

Proportional Representation

People vote for a party, not an individual for the legislature. Parties get a certain number of seats based on their portion of the popular vote (with a minimum threshold), have a party list of candidates to fill the seats.

Mixed

Split ballot with elements of both PR and FPTP.

Alternate/Transferable Vote

Rank your choices in a SMD then your vote is transferred to your secondary choices until one gets a majority.

Economic Globalization

Interdependence has deepened cross-national connections among workers, goods, and capital and has caused challenges for regime and cultural stability.

Supranational organization

International organization in which states must surrender sovereignty for the common benefit.

Multinational Corporations

Companies with governance, supply, and markets across state borders.

Foreign Direct Investment

Foreign countries and corporations do economic projects in other countries.

Economic liberalization

Removal of trade barriers to attract FDI, limiting government in economy, privatization of industries.

Protectionism

Goal is assist/protect economy through trade barriers, regulation, and subsidizing or nationalizing domestic industries.

Comparative Politics

Study of political systems through the methodology of analyzing similarities and differences.