Comparative Politics Final

The conditions for Modernization

a dependent leader and citizens with valuable exits

Problem with natural resouces and democratization

dictatorial leaders capture control over valuable resources

Large state-controlled economy

hinders emergence of democracy because it diminishes the possibilities for citizens to be entrepreneurs and develop wealth

Modernization theory

argues that all societies pass through the same historical stages of economic development

Foreign aid from wealthy to poorer countries

seen as an obstacle to the emergence of democracy in the poorer country

How kings and rulers address their credible commitment problems

they make concessions to their citizens in exchange for support

Social desirability bias

when respondents to surveys tend to overreport good behavior and underreport bad behavior because of their discomfort with the topic

Participant culture

of the three kinds of cultures Almond and Verba identified, which one is suited to democracy

Modern, self-expression societies

Inglehart and Welzel might describe states and societies that have gone through the cultural modernization process as

Demographic transition

sparsely populated agrarian populations to densely populated urban centers

Third wave of democracy

which was was the surge in democratic tranditions aroudn the world since 1974

Top-down democratic transition

transitions in which a dictatorial ruling elite introduces liberalizing reforms that ultimately lead to a democratic transition

Cold War

The period of global geopolitical tension in which countries in the Eastern Bloc competed economically, socially, and politically with countries in the Western Bloc is known as the

Would save the Soviet Union

Soviet leader Gorbachev believed the reform policies he introduced (perestroika and glasnost)

Bottom-up democratic transition

a democratic transition in which the people rise up to overthrow an authoritarian regime in a popular revolution is considered a

Exit example in EVL theory

actions of East Germans in 1989…Hungary opening its border with Austria created a chance for East Germans to exit

Legalization of the Solidarity trade union

what unexpectedly brought (a top-down) an end to communist rule in Poland

Public good

nonexcludable and nonrivalrous

Not contribute

If you know that 10 members of the group (aside from yourself) are willing to contribute, what would you likely do?

Contribute

If you know that 14 members of the group (aside from yourself) are willing to contribute, what would you likely do?

Preference falsification

instead of opposing the dictatorship in public, John has decided its best to sneak in support of it

Revolutionary cascade

when one person’s participation triggers the participation of another, which triggers the participation of yet another, etc.

Designed to stabalize a dictatorshup (but may lead to democracy)

in dictatorships policies of liberalization can

Identity of their support coalitions

the textbook distinguishes between the types of dictatorships based primarily on the

Military dictatorships

dictatorship type that is often followed by negotiations and competitive election is

Civilian dictatorships

type of dictatorship that does not have an immediate institutional base of support, and has to figure out how to create one

Cabinet

the government in a parliamentary democracy comprises a prime minister and a…

The cabinet (prime minister + president and other ministers)

“the government” in terms of distinguishing parliamentary, presidential, and semi-presidential systems we mean

Legislative responsibility

a situation in which a legislative majority has the constitutional power to remove the government from office without cause is referred to as

BRICS and Iran and its allies

Russian opinion polls tend to show that Russians want improved relations with

Number of Parties: Duverger’s Theory

1. the size of a country’s party system depends on the complex interplay of both social and institutional factors

2. Social divisions create the “demand” for political parties, and electoral institutions then determine the extent to which this demand is translated

Different layers of federalism

unnecessary duplication of government with inefficient overlapping of potentially contradictory policies

Criticisms of federalism

1. exacerbates collective action problems in the formulation and implementation of economic and other policies

2. competition between units may also amplify preexisting inequalities in population, wealth, and political power

3. facilitates blame shifting and credit claiming

Advantages of federalism

1. decentralized forms of government are best for satisfying popular preferences in democratic countries in which individuals hold heterogeneous preferences

2. brings the “government” closer to the people

3. ability to encourage policy experimentation and innovation (i.e. rank voting)

Decentralization

refers to the extent to which actual policymaking power lies with the central or regional governments in a country

Coming-together federalism

the result of a bargaining process in which previously sovereign politics voluntarily agree to pool their resources in order to improve their collective security or achieve other economic goals

Independence

requires that the regional and national governments must have independent bases of authority

Geopolitical division

divides the country into mutually exclusive regional governments that are recognized in the constitution and that cant be unilaterally abolished by the national government

Federalism

1. geopolitical division

2. independence

3. direct governance

Federal states

some form of power sharing that allows each part of government some authority

Unitary states

power flows out from center and is shared outside of center only in so far as the center allows

Relevance of veto players

1. Africa in the 2000s: presidents change their constitutions to extend or abolish term limits so they can stay in power

2. the United States adopted federalism so states could check each other and the national government

3. many states use bicameralism so different voices

VETO player theory

an individual or collective actor whose agreement is necessary to change political status quo; institutional players give counties high policy stability, small policy shifts, and weak-agenda setting powers

Social cleavages

argued the primary engine behind formation of political parties can be found in social divisions (the more divisions there are, the greater the demand for political parties to form)

Ethnic and linguistic cleavage

1. from where did i descend? important source of conflict

2. you can join a club or a party or even become a citizen in certain countries but you cannot join an ethnic group (identity vs membership)

Post-material cleavage

the freezing hypothesis states that Western European party systems became frozen following the extention of universal sufferage in most countries

Class cleavage

1. became salient at end of 18th century during the Industrial Revolution

2. Karl Marx saw classes pitted against each other over conflicting economic interests

3. vertical conflicts: some classes

4. Michel’s iron law of oligarchy:

   1. states that the leadership of organizations will never be faithful to the program and constituency that gave rise to the organization in the first place

   2. has been used to explain organizational dynamics in many different social settings

Secular-clerical social cleavage

1. in 1905, France passed a law requiring the complete separation of church and state

2. law established state secularism in France

3. Notre Dame burning and then restored

4. Macron attends mass as a private citizen

Confessional social cleavage

1. conflict over religion emerged in European countries during the Protestant Reformation in 16th century

2. continued salience of Protestant-Catholic cleavage depends on whether one side was able to establish its dominance (northern Ireland)

Urban-rural social cleavage

1. the conflict between rural and urban interests is one of the oldest political conflicts in the world

2. it is still a salient issue today

3. the conflicts have an economic and cultural dimension

Primordial view

where do parties come from? treats parties as the natural representatives who share common interests

Instrumental view

where do parties come from? political opportunists identify interests and get people to adopt them (supply creates its own demand view)

Effective number of parties

1. counts each party in a system but first weighs them by size

2. gives us a sense of how many parties earned votes and how the electorate’s votes are distributed across the parties

Multiparty system

system where more than two parties have a realistic chance of holding power

Two party system

system where only two major political parties have a realistic chance of holding power (i.e. U.S., Canada, UK)

One party dominant system

system where multiple parties may legally operate but in which only one particular party has a realistic chance of gaining power (vietnam, china, mexico)

Single-party system

system where only one political party is legally allowed to hold power

Nonpartisan system

no official political parties

Strategic voting

1. least bad to avoid the worst

2. MES: single nontransferable vote

3. alternative vote (Australia)

   1. Must obtain majority

   2. candidate-centered preference voting system used in single-member districts where voters rank order the candidates

Majoritarian electoral systems

1. single member district plurality system

2. voters cast a single candidate-centered vote in single-member districts

3. candidate with the most votes, even if she doesn’t have a majority of the votes, is elected from the district

Determinants of electoral integrity

1. domestic structural constraints

2. international community

3. role played by nonpartisan international organizations that monitor elections

4. institutional design

5. electoral management bodies

Semi-presidential democracies

1. France, Ireland, Lithuania, Peru, Poland

2. depends on the legislature to stay in power but head of state is elected for a fixed term

3. often the case that the president has more influence over foreign policy and the prime minister is more powerful in domestic policies

4. different political parties for presidency and prime ministership = cohabitation

Presidents

form candidates whenever their party controls a majority of the legislative seats

Surplus majority government

1. one in which the cabinet includes more parties than are strictly necessary to control a legislative majority

2. may be common in terms of crisis

3. may be required to change the constitution

4. may make strategic sense to have

Minority governments

1. one in which the governmental parties do not together command a majority of legislative seats so parties form coalitions for governing

2. X government can exist only as long as the oppositition chooses not to bring it donw

3. many see it as undemocratic and as an anomaly

Logic

you will want to form coalitions with parties that are located close to you in the policy space

Policy-seeking side of forming governments

1. only wants to shape power

2. a formateur can get other parties to join the government only by giving them policy concessions

Office-seeking side of forming governments

politicians want the intrinsic benefits of office

Forming governments

requires trade offs between office and policy

Office

has to do with portfolios or areas of responsibility

Politicians

even if they were pure policy seekers or pure office seekers, the reality of political competition will force them to act as if they cared about both policy and office; how you form a government given this trade off is complex