Introduction To Comparative Vocab/Concepts

Tools of Study

• Normative Statements
• Empirical Statements
• Correlation vs. Causation
• Inverse vs. Coinciding correlation
• Inductive vs. Deductive Thought
• Political Economic Theory
• Political Culture Theory
• Modernization Theory
• Dependency Theory
• Selection Bias (Be wary of)

Geography of Power

• Unitary (UK, China, Iran)
• Federal (Russia, Mexico, Nigeria)
• Confederal (EU)
• State
• Nation
• Nation-state
• Regime

Key Concepts

• Civil Society
• Sovereignty
• Political legitimacy (sources)
• Political socialization
• Transparency
• Cross Cutting Cleavages
• Political Liberalization
• Economic Liberalization
• Globalization (promise and peril)

Democracy

• Liberal Democracy
• Transitional Democracy
• Representative Democracy
• Parliamentary System
• Presidential System
• Global Trends in Democracy (Quantity, Quality?)
• Predictors of participation. (Education)
• Merit System
• Independent Judiciary
• Legal-rationalism (as opposed to patron-client)
• Rule of Law
• Pluralist (as opposed to corporatist)

Democracy at Risk

• Illiberal democracy (characteristics)
• Rentier States
• Theocracy
• Patron-clientelism (as opposed to legal rational)
• Spoils System
• Corruption
• Corporatist (as opposed to pluralist)

Not Very Democratic

• Authoritarian Regime
• Soft-authoritarianism
• Hybrid Regime
• Oligarchy
• Failed States

Electoral Systems Cause Party Systems

• Duverger’s Law
• First-past-the-post system
• Proportional representation system (PR)
• Single-member-district (SMD)
• Winner-take-all
• One-Party System
• Two-Party System
• Multiparty System

Ideologies

• Liberals
• Islamists
• Socialism
• Command Economy
• Libertarians
• Conservatives
• Reactionaries
• New Conservatism
• Neoliberalism
• Postmaterialism

Develop vs. Developing

• Gross National Product (GNP)
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
• Demographic pressures on developed vs. Devolving
• Gini Coefficient