AP Comp Gov Unit 3
Ideological perspectives - set of values and beliefs about goals of gov, public policy, or politics
Individualism -
Neoliberalism
Communism
Socialism
Fascism
Populism
Civil Society
Everyone who doesn’t directly work with gov (pretty much)
Autonomous from government/state and have voluntary participation (definition)
Also has to be outside of household (everything between family and government = civil society)
Local religious organizations, news/media (assuming autonomous from government), unions, professional groups, NGOs
Can be political but not necessarily
Can lobby, expose government malfeasance
In the absence of robust opposition, a free, independent media can take its place
Can be limited by government through registration and monitoring policies (eg China supervising organizations)
Can be freedom from government or limit freedom
Serves as agent as democratization
Case studies: Nigeria and Mexico (only ones applicable to democratization)
Connection to political legitimacy
More developed civil society can lead to more OR less political legitimacy
Authoritarian regimes can use civil society for government registration and monitoring
Eg Iran and protests → civil society (protests) are strong but the government suppresses (weakens legitimacy)
Country examples
UK
Home to many major NGOs (international trust in UK civil society)
Quangos (Quasi-autonomous non-governmental organizations)
Political advisory boards appoint by government that bring policymakers and interest group representatives together (exec branch, legislative with a labour group, enviro group)
Appointed by gov but actions aren’t controlled by gov
Assumes interest in information, not monitorying
China
Groups must be sponsored and supervised by government
Eg religious groups - rights are restricted (eg Uighurs, Tibetans)
Groups can exist as long as don’t actively question legitimacy of CCP or state
Maoist China: No civil society groups because the Party represented all social interest
Many groups repressed
Human rights, religious organizations
Gongos (government organized non-governmental organizations)
Not officially part of government
Falun Gong
Martial arts sect founded in 1992
Initially approved (bc seen as not threatening) but now banned
Offshoot organization:
Shen Yun (yes the dance one)
Epoch Times (the news one)
Russia
Allows some protests but cracks down on others
2012 - passed a law that criminalized unapproved protests
Russian Orthodox church
2016 anti-terrorism law restricts missionary work by some religious groups
Jehovah’s Witnesses - labelled as extremist organization, often imprisoned
Putin aligns himself with the church → church supports government (one strengthens the other)
Iran
2014: President Rouhani spoke in
Crackdown on protests and human rights groups
Only recognizes Zoroastrians, Christians, and Judaism faiths - only other religions eligible to be Majles
Baha’i Faith - persecuted, cannot become part of government (scape goat)
Takes progressive stance - unification between science and religion, equality
Linked to “imperialist powers” like the US and Israel (and thus is not supported by the state)
Nigeria
Sometimes divides society
2018 - Amnesty International threatened after accusing government of complacency surrounding Boko Haram issue
Attempted to pass a law that would lead to monitoring of finances/approval of projects with watch dog groups
2020 - Civil society groups claim repression and harassment from the government under guise of Covid
Pressure vs Counter-pressure, Action vs equal/opposite reaction
Cultural history + idea that things can change → high participation
Mexico
PRI dominance led to very low civil participation
Earthquake of 1985 - Led to resurgence of civil society (because government was ineffective in crisis)
Beginning of the end of PRI dominance because people found out of government incompetence
Missing 43 - students that went missing
Showed the mass disappearances and kidnappings
Disappearances and corruption limits civil society from growing
Political Culture
Political culture: Collective attitudes, values, and beliefs of citizens and the norms of behaviour in the political system
Expectation to protest, freedom of belief/speech, voting regularly, open criticism of government
Influenced by geography, religion, history → forms population’s values and beliefs on role of government/individual
beliefs and values about the role of government → extent and role of citizens in controlling government
Political socialization: Process of acquiring values, orientations, and beliefs over the period of one’s life
Transmission of political culture
Transmitted through political socialization
Under authoritarian regimes
More government power/pressures to have citizens conform to beliefs
China
Shaped by authoritarian rule (party responsibility of leadership → limited citizen involvement
Government almost completely controls everything - no checks/balances
Historical influences of Confician (Confucianism)
Limitations on independent/organized activism (GONGOS) → direct influence
Political socialization
fairly ethnically homogenous → discrimination against Muslim Uighurs
religious traditions practiced but not formally religious
Ethnic conflicts with minorities (but repression of violence exists on both sides)
propaganda
Highly censored and monitored social medias
“Chinese Dream” - well off/fully developed nation
Patriotic education law (indoctrination of children)
Banning of foreign textbooks
Agents of socialization - promote social harmony
family: deeply rooted in confucian ideas, intensive parenting, gender-specific socialization roles
education: marker of success, embeds nationalist/collectivist, and confucian values in students (alignment w CCP)
fascilitate nationalism (instilling socialist theory/ideas) → more loyalty to leaders than anything (not super relevant to ethnic minorities)
Xi thought - indoctrination of children
Mass media: Promote national identity and maintain social stability through censorship
CCP: Regulation of all agents of socialization (influences curriculum, patriotism, national unity)
Youth organizations: socialize people into communist ideology + foster party loyalty
Mexico
Political participation
Formal:
Voting (compulsory for federal elections, technically not super enforced by law) - direct engagement bc of direct voting for president
Relatively high voter turnout compared to US but low compared to latin america
Elections mostly dominated by 3 parties (PRI, PAN?, Modena..?)
Usually not a majority government, law also sort of limits ability to form majority
Local voting - each state has legislature and constitution
Overseen by Federal Electoral Institute
Criticized for being easier to instate voter fraud
States becoming more autonomous → divided into municipios (county in a state)
Greater confidence in local than federal government
Political socialization
Historical legacy
PRI dominance and legacy of dictatorships
Used to having non-transparent governments → strongly enforced to be transparent as a result
Most successful form of authoritarianism was PRI dominance
Geography
Close proximity to US - influenced politically and economically
Expectation of government to achieve economic stability because of US
Expected freedoms/liberties
Security and protection
Protection from crime + cartel violence (high levels of organized crime)
Corruption/Government accountability
Democratic transition raised expectations for anti-corruption
Gender
50-50 gender representation across all government branches
Transparency
Governments criticized for favouring elites → passed laws for anti-corruption
Continues to struggle with corruption
Agents of socialization
Under PRI Dominance, lack of individual citizen participation → democratic transition shifted towards pluralism → citizen participation
Citizens founding their own organizations to make up for the lacking of government
Earthquake as a catalyst of citizen participation but still relatively low citizen participation because of perceived corruption
Family
Influences of family to be not politically active because of legacy of PRI
Education
Civil values being taught in schools
Media
Less control by state now → media now tends to expose corruption of government
Political Participation
Voluntary or coerced
Formal vs informal
Referenda (Brexit**), protests
Can be encouraged or suppressed by government (depending on what they’re looking to do)
Elections
Demo: Open, free, fair elections where results actually matter
Auth: Gov intervenes to alter candidate list (jailing opposition), ensure preferred candidate wins
Auth: less voluntary (more coerced),
So why have participation: legitimacy, safety valve (make ppl feel like they have a say), feedback from people (make ppl feel like they have something to lose), international pressure (friends, trade wars, sanctions)
UK
Formal
elections: universal suffrage, high enough turnout for local/national
Decreasing civic participation
Parliamentary system, devolved governments
Scottish parliament, (wales) sennedd, northern ireland assembly
Referenda
Brexit 2016: UK leaving the EU
Highly contentious (barely 50% voted in favour)
Caused political instability
High levels of regret over Brexit (many ppl voted in spite to “send a message” and weren’t ready to face the consequences)
Referenda for scottish independence
Didn’t pass (2008)
Didn’t pass (2014)
Denied independence referendum from british government (2022)
didn’t feel represented in government, strong national pride that’s seperate from british identity
Informal
Peititions, protests
Petitions w/ 100000< signatures can get debated in parliament
Recent decrease in trust in political parties
Factors affecting participation
increased perceived corruption (still relatiely low) - decrease in gov legitimacy + trust
low party identification
Police, crime, sentencing, and courts act - more restrictions of protests, stronger penalties
Mexico
High political participation
high voter turnout, demonstrations are common (violence common), gender quotas encourage female participation, violence associated with politics (demonstrations, cartel violence, drug trafficking)
Formal
Elections
President, senate, chamber of deputies
Non-mandatory participation in elections
National Electoral Institute (INE) - make elections more free/fair, quite trusted
Obrador cut budget for INE to weaken it
Judicial elections 2025
First time thing
Reform of judicial system to make it more fair
Passed by referenda
Appointed judges to elected judges
Referenda
40% of registered voters must vote in referendum
No referenda on taxes, human rights, or military
Supreme court must oversee question - ensure it’s constitutional
Recall referendum to recall president
If elections have under 40% turnout, referenda held to ensure that the people actually want the person to stay in power
Gov intervention
History of PRI intervention
Patron-client relationships with government (state services in exchange for political support) - Camarillas
Corporatism
Violence to suppress people (massacre of student protest in 1968)
Media co-optation (lowk selectively giving control to ppl who will end up supporting the ppl in power)
Informal
Demonstrations
Zapatista movement
GenZ Anti-Violence movements
Multiple movements but many are motivated by anti-violence
Teens + youth groups who are protesting/leading
Civil Rights and Liberties
Freedom of assembly, expression
Extra judicial executions
Disappearances (eg Missing 43)
Recently increased reproduction, indigenous, and immigration rights (not perfect but improving)
Nigeria
History of corruption, military dominance bc currently consolidating democracy
Formal
Voting in elections for president, national assembly, state/local elections
Corruption
Not much emphasis on referenda (especially at national level)
Informal
Protests (MOSOP, MEND, #endsars in 2020)
#endsars: Called for end of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) who would steal from citizens
Used torture etc to extract info etc
Disbanded but kept resurging
Religious organizations (Boko Haram and response from Christian groups)
Ethnic + community organizations
Ethnic divisions in Nigeria
Government intervention
Lack of transparency
Has INEC
Corruption
Intimidation (sometimes) for voters
possibly harms political legitimacy
Has free media, independent electoral committee except also has violent protests
Iran
Authoritarian so rights are lacking
Formal
Presidential election - citizens directly vote for president (except candidates are approved by GC)
President signed in by SL (power concentrated in Supreme Leader)
SL chosen, not elected
Legislative elections
Candidates required to get min 20% of votes
Some candidates disqualified for political stances (typically progressive candidates who “oppose” what the regime believes in)
Very little representation for ethnic/religious minorities
Pretty homogenous legislature
Local elections
City and village councils
Informal
Protests primarily
2025-26 Iranian Protests
Caused by economic crisis and inflation
Green Movement (2009)
Protests following 2009 election - citizens against election fraud
Focused on electoral reform initially, become more focused on regime change
Driven by middle class, women, youth
Failed when leaders stopped being aligned with the people protesting
Russia
Formal
Elections
Citizens vote for President, Duma, and smaller legislatures
Elections aren’t fair or competitive (reduces power of citizens)
In theory, there’s a multi-party system but in reality suppression of opposition (5% electoral threshold - impacts smaller parties - need 5% of votes to be official..?)
Gov intervention: State approved political parties, opposition arrested and assassinated
Referenda
Formally in the constitution but been used to change constitution rather than for citizen input
2020 Constitutional Referendum: Allows Putin to keep power till 2036
Foreign affairs: 2022 - Russian-controlled territories in Ukraine held referenda to support the annexation of Ukraine
Using referendums to control people
Propaganda
Restrict opposition party media
Internet shutdown over funeral of opposition leader Alexey Navalny (full censorship to restrict people’s ability to associated with opposition)
High media censorship
Informal
Movements
Coming out group (gay rights) → Ruled as extremist group by government - enables gov to censor and arrest etc
Anti-war protests → war censorship laws passed
Anti-fraud protests → arrests and prosecutions
Civil rights (theoretically): Freedom of assembly, equality before law, right of a lawful arrest, right for political participation
In practice:
Extremism laws (opposition groups, movements)
Foreign agent laws (NGOs and activists - any organization associated with another country, makes it difficult to operate in Russia)
Censorship laws (Criminalize searches deemed extremist)
Roskomnadzor - agency responsible for media regulation
People arrested for searches that are “too extreme”
Civil Rights and Liberties
CL: negative freedoms (freedom from) - law protects from government taking away (freedom of religion, belief)
Safety from arbitrary government action (CCRF, Bill of rights)
Circumvented by non-withstanding legislation
Established for the good of the community - community interest is the only condition where it should be limited
CR: positive freedoms - right to do something - government grants rights to citizens (democratic right)
Protection against discrimination
Freedom of assembly
Democratic: Fewer government restrictions
Authoritarian: More likely to monitor/restrict groups viewed as critical of their government
Sometimes also nefarious government agents to cause trouble → justify violence against protesters
Media freedom
😩 Mix of public and private ownership, media should check power of gov
A: State controlled media, might be voice of government
Transparency
D” information flows freely
A: No media rights, prefered secret/closed proceedims
Competitive authoritarian regime
Hybrids of democratic and authoritarian regimes
Russia
Ranking
UK - free
Nigeria - partly free
Mexico - partly free
Russia - not free
Iran - not free
China - not free
UK Civil liberties
Sources of liberties
Common law
Magna carta
bill of rights 1689
human rights act 1998
Protect freedom of speech, assembly, religion, right to privacy and to fair trial
Occurred in response to demands for written/more formal constitution
Civil rights
Ensure equal treatment under law
Protected through equality act 2010 and human rights act 1998
Protect against disability, gender discrimination
Making reasonable adjustments for those with disabilities
Equal employment rights, access to education, access to goods/services
Media
Free press
No direct censorship of media by government
Some information withheld for interest of safety (eg military information)
freedom of information act 2000, british broadcasting corporation (BBC)
Must be politically impartial
Regulation of media by Ofcom (TV, radio, telecommunications), Independent Press Standards Organization
Limits on media access: national security, court reporting, hate speech, inciting violence
Threats to
Threats to CL/CR
Terrorism Act 2000
Investigatory Powers Act 2016
Monitor internet/phone data - threatens privacy and CL
Police, crime, sentencing, and courts act 2022
limit freedom of assembly
police able to restrict demonstrations if causing serious disruptions
Russia
Theory vs reality
Russian constitution created after collapse of USSR by Boris Yeltsin
Illiberal democracy
On paper very similar to democratic regimes w protection from gov
in reality: limits on NGOs, activists, opposition, etc (Foreign agent law, fake news laws)
FAL gives lots of power to suppress
FNL allows media outlets to be sanctioned for “fake” news - shuts down media that goes against the state/exposes vulnerability
Control over media outside of Russia about Russia
Roskomnadzor able to cut off media
many journalists “disappear”, get imprisoned, assassinated etc for messaging against government
Navaya Gazeta - Russian free media outlet
Many journalists jailed, many attempts made to censor
Limited government transparency
Censorship
State has right to make decisions in secret (contradicts constitution but Putin able to override) - media can’t tell citizens what is happening
Competitive authoritarian regime - hybrid regime (illiberal democracy)
has hallmarks of democracy but actively opposes them - not consolidating democracy (unfair elections, limited transparency)
Actively making rights worse in occupied territories of Ukraine
Social Cleavages
Internal divisions within a country
Create “us vs them” dynamic among citizens
Ethnic, religious, national, linguistic
Social class - based on socioeconomic privilege/access
Ethnic cleavage - religion, language, history (most divisive)
Religious
Regional - competition
How to address social cleavages
Declare official langauges
Legitimize
Cross cutting cleavages (good)
Divisions exist but people are divided by issue not by each other - some common ground to work off of
More stable
Groups can find areas to cooperate despite cleavages (ie not having all poor ppl in one area and all rich in another)
No build up of resentment
Coinciding cleavages (bad)
Unstable and divisive
Groups divided by multiple factors - don’t meet each other
Reinforcing cleavages
Divisions caused by the people, no common ground
Has groups seeking autonomy (ie separatist movements)
China - ethnic (Tibet and Uighurs)
Ethnic
Han Chinese veryyyy dominant
Ethnic minorities recognized more as a means of control rather than equality
Re-education/work camps
Wealth disparities
Eastern coast = majority of wealth
Everywhere else pretty poor
Iran - religious (Baha’i)
Recognized minorities: Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians
Baha-i not recognized, persecuted
Ethnically, mostly Persian
Cross cutting
Linguistically different Azeris (don’t speak Persian) BUT are strongly Shiite (following Shia Islam)
Political
Conservatives - regime under sharia law
Reformers - want greater secularism and democracy but NOT overthrowing the regime
Quietists - believe that worldly power can’t be united with Islam (lowering the faith to the level of humans) ← confusing
Nigeria - religious, ethnic (Christians vs Muslims,
Ethnic divisions
Yoruba, Igbo, (plus like 250 more)
Regional divisions
North = Muslim, south = Christian
Northern states (because of devolution) are able to enforce Sharia law
Can relieve tensions but also cements divisions
Poverty
North more impoverished than the South
More universities (access to higher education) in South
Less safety/security in North, less wealth from oil because Niger Delta in the South
UK - regional/class (Scottish, English, Welsh, Irish)
Areas seeking devolution/separatism
Catholics and Protestants
Resolved (?) by Anglican Church being created by Henry 8 - monarch is head of church
Anglican basically mixed the 2 religions
Protestants (Brits) tried to take over Ireland (Catholic)
Belfast Agreement - “The Troubles” resolved
England vs the rest
Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland feel sort of colonized by England
Calls for more devolution and regional power/separatism
Immigration
Rise in anti-immigration sentiment (Pro-Brexit sentiment was in part caused by anti-immigration)
Rise in violence against visible minorities
Class
Urban vs rural
Russia - religious (orthodox
Ethnic
A number of ethnicities
Nationality
Mostly are Russian but some Muslim minorities
Tends to create coinciding cleavages with ethnicity, region, and religion
Russkii vs Rossiikii
Chechnya - primary Muslim area that is fighting for independence
Religion
Most ethnic Russians are Russian Orthodox
Jehovah’s Witness and Mormons not allowed to exist
Largely non-religious
Mexico - regional (Zapatistas
A little bit of ethnic divide between Mestiso (majority) and Amerindian (minority)
Challenges from Social Cleavages
Strain relationship between state and citizen
Stability of regime
Big cleavages cause instability, same with coinciding cleavages
Lack sovereignty and legitimacy
Ethnic cleavages
Vulnerability
Ethnic.Religion
violence/Repression
Uighurs in China
Assimilation, restriction on rights, coercion, monitoring