Comparative Politics Today: Comparing Political Systems

Vocabulary flashcards reviewing core terms, conceptual frameworks, political structures, functions, and policy outcomes from Chapter 2 of Comparative Politics Today.

Description

The first stage in the study of politics.

Conceptual Framework

A clearly defined and well-understood set of concepts used to describe politics.

Intersubjective

Understood in the same way by different subjects.

Theories

Well-supported statements about causal relationships.

Hypotheses

Causal explanations that have not yet been proven.

Variables

Differing features associated with cases in political data analysis.

Political System

A set of institutions concerned with formulating and implementing collective goals, including legislatures, bureaucracies, and courts.

Governments

The policymaking parts of political systems.

International Environment

The sphere of exchanges among countries, characterized by interdependence and globalization.

Domestic Environment

The economic and social systems, along with political culture, promoted by a common language, common educational system, and often a common religion.

Figure 2.1 Political System and Its Environments

A framework illustrating how a central political system exchanges inputs and outputs with domestic components and external nations.

Treaty of Westphalia (1648)

An agreement reached after decades of war where European states set a new norm that empires would set nations and nations would serve as communicators beyond religion and culture.

Figure 2.2 Formation of States since 1776

A chart illustrating the historical increase in sovereign states, from $21$ in $1776$ to $192$ United Nations member nations as of $2010$.

Six Types of Political Structures

The primary institutional structures in a political system: political parties, interest groups, legislatures, executives, bureaucracies, and courts.

Interest Articulation

The function through which individuals or groups express their needs and demands.

Interest Aggregation

The function that combines different demands into policy proposals.

Policymaking

The function that decides which policy proposals become authoritative rules.

Policy Implementation

The function responsible for enforcing public policies.

Policy Adjudication

The function that settles disputes about policy application.

Structural-Functional Approach

A comparative analytical perspective recognizing that two countries can have the same structures but perform functions differently.

Figure 2.3 The Political System and Its Structures

A diagram mapping key political structures within the domestic environment as they process inputs and outputs.

Figure 2.4 The Political System and Its Functions

A comprehensive model mapping system functions, process functions, policy functions, outputs, and feedback mechanisms within a political system.

System Functions

Activities that determine whether or not a political system will be maintained or changed.

Political Socialization

The process through families, schools, media, churches, and political structures that develops, reinforces, and transforms political culture.

Political Recruitment

The selection of people for political activity and government offices.

Political Communication

The flow of information through society and the various structures that make up the political system.

Policy Performance

The actual outputs of a political system, including resource extractions (such as taxes), regulations, distributions of benefits/services, and symbolic acts.

Outcome of Public Policy

The end results of policy actions, which depend on interactions with internal and external environments and can be affected by factors like war or chance.