AP Comp Gov Chp. 1 Vocab (2)

vocab from block 6

Modernization Theory

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

Qualitative Model

study through statistical data from many cases.

Rational Choice

approach that assumes that individuals weigh the costs and benefits and make choices to maximize their benefits.

International Relations

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

Institution

an organization, establishment, foundation, society, or the like, devoted to the promotion of a particular cause or program, especially one of a public, educational, or charitable character.

Theory

an integrated set of hypotheses, assumptions, and facts.

Multicausality

having, involving, or allowing for more than one cause.

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.

Selection Bias

a focus on events rather than causes, which can lead to inaccurate conclusions about correlation or causation.

Area Studies

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

Behavioral 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 by which social scientists make comparisons across cases.

Comparative 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 issues 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, society, or country.

Formal Institutions

institutions usually based on officially sanctioned rules that are relatively clear.

Freedom

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

Game Theory

an approach that emphasizes how actors or organizations behave in their goal to influence others; built upon 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 hypotheses.

Informal Institutions

institutions with unwritten and unofficial rules.