posc017 final terms
Political Regimes and Governance Models
Democracy: A political system based on the principles of popular sovereignty and decentralized power.
Totalitarianism: An extreme form of dictatorship where the state attempts to exercise absolute, total control over every aspect of its citizens' lives.
Authoritarianism: A nondemocratic system where political power is concentrated in the executive branch. Rulers in these systems depend primarily on coercion rather than popular legitimacy to maintain control.
Hybrid Regime: A political system situated in "the messy middle," combining various elements of both democratic and authoritarian governance.
Liberal Democracy: A consolidated political system where democratic norms are fully internalized and civil liberties are comprehensively protected.
Electoral Democracy: A system where elections serve as the primary tool for achieving political legitimacy, but where deeper civil rights may remains limited.
Electoral Authoritarianism: A type of regime where elections are held but lack integrity, ultimately serving as a mere facade for an autocracy.
Competitive Authoritarianism: A hybrid regime type where elections are held, but the political playing field is heavily and unfairly tilted in favor of the incumbent.
Delegative Democracy: A hybrid system characterized by an elected executive who governs with minimal horizontal accountability or institutional checks.
Theocracy: A system of government based on religious authority and dominated by the clergy.
Military Regime: A system where military officers hold political power, frequently characterized as an interim or "caretaker" government.
Personalist Regime: An authoritarian style of rule where power is consolidated in a single individual who personifies the nation.
Polyarchy: A term coined by Robert Dahl to describe a system characterized by high levels of both contestation and participation.
The Messy Middle: A term referring to the range of hybrid regimes that are neither fully democratic nor fully totalitarian.
Political Transition and Institutional Stability
Abertura: A Portuguese term referring to a political opening that may or may not eventually lead to full democratization.
Consolidation: The specific phase in a transition where democracy puts down deep roots and becomes, in political science terms, “the only game in town.”
Accountability: A core characteristic of democracy wherein the government is held responsible for its actions. This includes:
Horizontal Accountability: Institutional checks and balances.
Vertical Accountability: Citizen oversight.
Political Liberalization: A period of reform specifically based on the extension of political and civil rights (often associated with abertura).
Legitimacy: The popular perception and belief that a government and its leaders hold power rightfully and lawfully.
Traditional Legitimacy: Authority derived from long-standing cultural practices or hereditary traditions.
Charismatic Legitimacy: Authority based on personal devotion to a specific leader who is perceived as extraordinary or heroic.
Rational-legal Legitimacy: Authority derived from a system of well-established, impartial, and institutionalized laws.
Transparency: Government openness regarding spending and operations, intended to reduce corruption.
Corruption: Official misconduct or the specific abuse of entrusted power for private gain.
Rule of Law: A situation where political power is limited by supreme rules that prevent arbitrary actions by government officials.
Capacity: The state's fundamental ability to fulfill basic tasks and effectively "get things done."
Sovereignty: Freedom from foreign control; the recognized right of a state to govern its own territory without external interference.
Economic Development and Global Systems
Absolute Poverty: A state of dire material hardship, strictly defined as individuals living on less than per day.
Human Development: A multidimensional measurement of well-being that focuses on health, education, and income rather than just economic output.
Growth: An increase in the volume of trade or total economic output, typically measured via Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or Gross National Income (GNI).
Globalization: The increasing interconnectedness of nations and the worldwide spread of capitalism.
Neoliberalism: An economic strategy that favors free trade, privatization, and minimal interference by the government in the economy.
Economic Liberalization: Neoliberal reforms specifically focused on promoting open markets, privatization, and deregulation.
Austerity Plan: A regimen of significant spending cuts, often targeting social welfare, required by the IMF to reduce deficits; also known as structural adjustment.
Structural Adjustment Program (SAP): Neoliberal prescriptions required by International Financial Institutions (IFIs) as a condition for aid, involving both austerity and liberalization.
Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI): A development strategy that seeks to diversify local economies by subsidizing domestic manufacturing to replace foreign imports.
Dependency: A relationship of mutual but unequal vulnerability where less developed countries are highly sensitive to economic shifts in developed nations.
Neocolonialism: A condition where formally independent states remain economically and politically dependent on their former colonizers.
Mercantilism: A precapitalist stage of economic accumulation achieved through colonial plunder and the maintenance of trade surpluses.
Asian Tigers (Four Tigers): Refers to Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan, which are known for rapid economic growth achieved through state-led capitalism.
Asian Cubs: Emerging Southeast Asian economies that are currently following the developmental model established by the "Tigers."
African Lions: African economies attempting to break dependency by shifting focus toward manufactured goods, technology, and services.
Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI): A temporary postponement of debt payments offered to the world's poorest countries to allow them to concentrate resources on pandemic recovery.
Comparative Advantage: The liberal economic principle suggesting that global efficiency is maximized when countries specialize in production based on their specific natural resources and labor.
Social Structures and Ideologies
Anarchism: An ideology that views the state as the primary source of inequality and advocates for its total removal.
Communism: An ideology promoting social equality through the complete elimination of private property and market forces.
Liberalism: An ideology emphasizing individual freedom, equality, and strict limits on government interference.
Social Democracy: A system that combines market economics with robust social well-being policies.
Ideology: A linked set of ideas that describe the world and arouse people to take specific actions.
Identity: Collective characteristics, such as race or religion, by which specific groups are known.
Class: A group of people linked by social status, occupation, or economic background.
Bourgeoisie: Within a Marxist framework, this refers to the property-owning class that exerts influence and power over the working class.
Proletariat: The working class in Marxist theory.
Elites: The small minority in a society that possesses significantly more wealth, power, or influence than the general masses.
Masses: The majority of a population who lack significant power relative to the elites.
Civil Society: Voluntary social interactions and organizations, such as NGOs and social movements, that operate independently of the government.
Political Culture: Deep and durable patterns of belief shaped by repeated exposure to ideologies via institutions.
Cleavage: A socially supported division within a population.
Coinciding Cleavages: Stacking divisions (e.g., race, religion, and class coincide) which polarize society.
Crosscutting Cleavages: Dispersed divisions that tend to reduce social tension.
Secularism: The principle of separating civil institutions from ecclesiastical or religious control.
Conflict, Resistance, and State Violence
Revolution: A regime change that aims for fundamental and total transformations in political and social structures.
Insurgency: An organized rebellion against authority that often mixes political activity with the use of violence.
Guerrilla: Nonuniformed combatants who utilize mobile surprise tactics such as ambush and sabotage.
Terrorism: Deliberate, organized violence specifically targeting civilians to inspire fear and insecurity.
State-sponsored Terrorism: Violent methods employed by government forces to intimidate and coerce their own citizens.
Relative Deprivation: The perception that one's group is not doing as well as other groups, which often serves as a spark for violence.
Grievances: Discontent regarding unmet expectations or unfair treatment.
Aspiration Gap: The disparity between what is desired or promised by leaders and what can actually be attained.
Weapons of the Weak: Concealed or subtle forms of individual resistance used by the powerless, including rumor, sabotage, or tax evasion.
Praetorianism: A situation where military officers use or threaten force to influence political decisions.
Amnesty: A pardon granted by a government as a gesture of reconciliation, typically during a regime transition.
Irredentist War: A conflict focused on redrawing boundaries to include territory considered a national homeland.
Zero-sum Game: A situation where one actor’s gain is exactly equivalent to another actor’s loss.
Political Geography and Systems of Rule
State: An organized political entity possessing a defined territory, a population, a government, and sovereignty.
Nation-State: A combination of a shared national identity and internationally recognized political boundaries.
Empire: A large and complex political organization that rules over vast territories and diverse populations.
Acephalous Society: A “headless” or stateless society governed by committee or consensus rather than by a full-time executive.
Caudillo: A political strongman, typically originating from a military background.
Nationalism: The belief that the nation is the primary source of political authority and has the right to govern itself.
Self-determination: The right of a people to choose their own government and political institutions.
Secession: The act of withdrawing or breaking away from an organized state.
Divide and Conquer: A colonial strategy characterized by aggravating local tensions to facilitate external control.
Mother Country: A colonizing power that establishes exclusive political and economic ties to its colonies.
Presidential System: A democracy where citizens separately select the executive and legislators, which often leads to the concentration of power in the executive.
Parliamentary System: A democracy where the executive is selected from the legislature rather than through a separate popular election.
Fusion of Powers: A system standard in parliamentary models where the executive and legislative branches are integrated.
Party System: A system of competing groups vying for political power and public attention.
Social Action and Research Methodology
Social Movement: Groups of people with a common purpose engaged in collective action to bring about social or political change.
Participation: Voluntary efforts made by ordinary people to influence the actions of their leaders.
Efficacy: The belief that an individual's participation in public life can actually influence leaders or effect change.
Resource Mobilization: An approach to social movements focusing on the ability to organize leadership and leverage political opportunities.
Political Opportunity: Contextual factors that increase the likelihood of success for collective action.
Fallacy of Electoralism: The mistake of focusing on elections as the sole proof of democracy while ignoring broader political realities.
Case Study: A detailed examination of a specific state or phenomenon used to identify causal connections.
Comparative Studies: An approach that identifies patterns by comparing experiences across two or more countries.
Nongovernmental Organization (NGO): A private, voluntary association working to accomplish specific goals independently of the government.
Non-aligned Movement: A group of nations that chose not to formally align with either the US or Soviet power blocs during the Cold War.
Cold War: The intense rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union occurring between and , which shaped global politics through proxy wars and strategic alliances.
Institutions: Established rules and norms that structure political behavior.