PoliSci 1500 Midterm Study

Political Identity

How individuals categorize themselves and others.

How people understand power relationships of domination and oppression that exist between groups

Race

Categorization of humans into large populations supposedly based on heritable physical characteristics

Ethnicity

Group of people with common heritage based on religion, territory, family ties, language

Culture

The set of shared values, experiences, goals, practices, and beliefs within an institute

What are the predictors/factors of a civil war?

Weak government

Central gov is unable to provide for citizens (eg. healthcare, education, enforce laws)

Colonial legacies

Cultural polarization

Foreign influence

Spillover Effect

Violence from one state impacts neighboring regions due to weak border control

Coup d’etat

Sudden use of force to overthrow state by small group involving amount of armed conflict

Revolutions

Armed conflict between insurgents and state

Electoral Democracy

Citizens votes translate to seats in legislative gov or control of directly elected individual

Liberal Democracy

Elections occur between multiple different political candidates

Authoritarianism

Gov uses coercion to limit pluralism to remain in power, but one party doesn’t have complete power

Totalitarianism

Gov attempts to establish one ideology among citizens

Uses multiple efforts to support itself

Tight restrictions on social and political pluralism

Fascism

Racial superiority & extreme nationalism

Glorifies leader

Use of violence to achieve nation’s goals

Hybrid regime

Combine elements of autocratic regimes with elements of democracy:

Elections are unfair

Pressure political opposition & restrict freedom of press

Illiberal Democracies

Form of hybrid regime

Leaders win an election but continually violate civil liberties

Methods of Disagreement

Determines causality by finding present attributes when an outcome occurs but is absent in similar cases when the outcome doesn’t occur

Methods of Agreement

Seeks to establish causality by looking at one similar element in different cases

Compares & Contracts cases with different elements but shared outcomes

Presidential System

• Citizens elect legislative members & chief executive 

• Fixed terms for elected officials

• Pros: 

  • Fixed terms

  • Cap on power

  • Quick decisions

• Cons: 

  • Shorter lived

  • Impeachment is difficult 

  • Imbalance of power

Parliamentary System

Voters select members of parliament to be part of the legislative branch. From them, they choose a leader to be the Prime Minister and serve as head of the executive branch.

• Pros: 

  • Flexible government transitions 

  • Strong party discipline

    • Unified 

• Cons: 

  • Majority party rule

  • Weak separation of powers

Semi-Presidential

• A directly elected President shares executive power with the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. 

• President has fixed terms in office 

• President & parliament are elected through votes from citizens

• Ex. France

• Pros: 

  • Distribution of power 

  • Accountability

  • Increased stability

• Cons: 

  • Can create a gridlock of opposing politics between President and PM

  • Blame game

  • Votes can be disproportional