Comparative Politics: China, India, and the UK

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering institutional structures, key events, and political systems across China, India, and the United Kingdom based on the Comparative Politics Study Guide.

CCP

Chinese Communist Party, the ruling party of China's single-party authoritarian regime.

Zhongguo

"Central State" or Middle Kingdom, reflecting China's historical self-conception.

Bainian Guochi

The "Century of Humiliation" ($1839\text{--}1912$), marked by Chinese weakness against European powers and Japan, the Opium War ($1839\text{--}42$), unfair treaties, and foreign spheres of influence.

GMD / KMT

The Nationalist Party (Guomindang / Kuomintang), led by Sun Yat-sen and later Chiang Kai-shek, which fought the CCP before being driven to Taiwan in $1949$.

Maoism

A Marxist variant that is more agrarian and mass-mobilizing, focused on collectivizing agriculture.

Hundred Flowers Campaign

A $1957$ initiative followed immediately by the Anti-Rightist Campaign, representing China's first major purge to silence dissent.

Great Leap Forward

A failed $1958\text{--}61$ campaign pushing for communes and industrialization that resulted in a famine killing $20\text{--}40\text{ million}$ people.

Cultural Revolution

A $1966\text{--}76$ campaign by Mao Zedong to purge capitalism, resulting in millions arrested, beaten, displaced, or killed.

Socialism with Chinese Characteristics

Deng Xiaoping's pragmatic, reformist approach introduced by $1978$ that combined Marxist-Maoist ideology with market-oriented economic reforms.

Danwei

Work units used for state control, monitoring, and organizing citizens during the totalitarian Maoist era ($1950\text{s--}70\text{s}$).

Sharp Eyes

A contemporary Chinese mass surveillance program used to monitor society under authoritarian rule.

Politburo

The top policy-making body of the CCP, whose elite Standing Committee serves as the supreme decision-making authority in China.

State Council

The executive branch of the Chinese government, led by the premier and vice-premiers.

National People's Congress (NPC)

China's unicameral national legislature, which holds only nominal constitutional authority.

People's Liberation Army (PLA)

China's armed forces, tasked with two primary goals: defending China from outside invasion and protecting the CCP (rather than the state government) from attack.

Military Affairs Committee (MAC)

The joint Party and state body through which the CCP controls the military, typically chaired by the CCP General Secretary.

Caste

A hereditary, hierarchical Hindu social and religious system that organizes individuals into defined social strata.

Dalits / Scheduled Castes

The lowest tier in the traditional Indian caste hierarchy, formerly referred to as "untouchables" and traditionally relegated to tasks like leatherwork, cremation, and waste disposal.

Jatis

Occupational and endogamous subcastes in India, numbering roughly $7{,}000$.

BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)

The governing political party in India led by PM Narendra Modi, under whose tenure Hindu nationalism and Hindu-Muslim strife have risen since $2014$.

Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2024

Controversial Indian legislation that created a fast-track pathway to citizenship based on religious identity, drawing criticism for sectarian discrimination.

BRICS

An international association of major emerging national economies comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

Uncodified Constitution

A constitutional framework composed of an informal mix of statutory law, treaties, judicial precedents, customs, and conventions rather than a single written document, as seen in the UK.

Parliamentary Sovereignty

The principle that the UK Parliament holds supreme legal authority and can make or repeal any law without judicial review from the courts.

House of Commons

The elected lower chamber of the UK Parliament where legislative power and executive governing primarily occur, with members elected via SMD-P.

House of Lords

The unelected upper chamber of the UK Parliament composed of hereditary peers, life peers, and religious figures who debate, revise, and delay bills.

Fusion of Powers

A parliamentary constitutional principle where the executive branch (Prime Minister and cabinet) is drawn directly from and remains part of the legislature.

SMD-P (Single Member District-Plurality)

An electoral system in which voters cast a ballot for a single candidate per district, with the highest-polling candidate winning regardless of absolute majority.

Duverger's Law

The political science principle stating that single-member district plurality electoral systems structurally favor and entrench a two-party system.

Vote of No Confidence

A formal legislative mechanism in the UK House of Commons used to remove the Prime Minister and government from power.

Devolution

The statutory granting and transfer of political powers from the UK central Parliament to regional legislatures in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

New Labour

The political realignment of the UK Labour Party under Tony Blair during the $1990\text{s}$, characterized by less socialist doctrine, weaker union ties, and acceptance of core Thatcherite market reforms.

Reform UK

A growing right-wing populist political party operating within the contemporary British party system.