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Albert Kim – AP Gov Key Terms Pg.

Comparative Politics – Key Terms

Normative Questions that deal with how the world should be


Questions
Empirical Questions that deal with how the world is
Questions
State Organizations that exert a monopoly of violence or
force over a territory
Unitary State A state where the political power is concentrated in
the national capital!
Federal State A state where political power is divided between
the national capital (central state) and
regions/localities
Rentier A state which derives a substantial portion of its
national resources from renting indigenous
resources to external clients
Nation A human community with shared culture, history,
psychological sense of identity; based on culture,
geographic, linguistic ties
Country state, government, regime and people within a
political system
Regime norms and rules regulating individual freedoms and
collective equality
Society Group of people who share a distractive cultural
and economic organization, as well as set of values
and norms
Government The leadership that administers the state
Institutions Legislative, executive, judiciary, and bureaucracy
Politics The struggle for power that gives winners the
ability to make decisions affecting others; who gets
what, when, and how
Political Culture patterns of basic norms relating to politics; includes
history, values, beliefs, traditions; influences
political behavior
Legitimacy extent to which a state’s authority is considered
right or proper
Traditional legitimacy derived from a long-standing tradition of
Legitimacy being obeyed
Charismatic legitimacy derived from the peoples’ identification
Legitimacy with the magnetic appeal of the leader
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Rational-legal legitimacy derived from a system of laws or


Legitimacy procedures that have become highly
institutionalized
Sovereignty a state’s ability to carry out actions independently
Legislature branch of government formally charged with
making laws
Bicameral A legislature with two chambers
Unicameral A single chamber legislature
Executive Branch of government formally charged with
making laws
Head of leader who deals with everyday tasks of running
government the state
Head of state Leader who symbolizes and represents the people
nationally and internationally, embodying and
articulating the goals of the regime
Revolution A major revision or overthrow of basic institutions
Correlation Apparent association between certain factors or
variables
Causation When a change in one variable causes a change in
another
Political Cleavage Factors that separate groups
Crosscutting A division that includes people with differences,
Cleavages strengthening society
Coinciding A division that strengthens feelings of difference
Cleavages and discrepancy, weakening society
Democracy System of government where the people choose
policymakers in free, fair, and competitive elections

Liberal Democracy A democracy with political competition, economic


freedom, civil rights and liberties
Illiberal Democracy A democracy where some personal liberties and
democratic rights are limited
Social Democracy A hybrid of liberalism and communism; values on
both equality and individual freedoms; mixed
welfare state
Communism A system of government that emphasizes
economic equality rather than individual political
and economic freedoms; includes collective
property (state ownership) and a dominant state
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Authoritarian regimes that limit the role of the public in decision


making and deny citizens’ basic rights and restrict
their freedoms
Corporatism Citizen participation is channeled through state-
sanctioned groups. When business, labor, and the
government work close in policymaking
Cooptation System used by non-democratic regimes where
members of the public are brought into a beneficial
relationship with the state and government
Theocracy A system of government where the leader claims to
rule on behalf of God
Political Ideology Universal sets of political values regarding the
fundamental goals of politics; ideal balance
between freedom and equality
Liberalism (as a A political ideology that places a high priority on
political ideology) individual political and economic freedoms; favors
economic equality, private property, capitalism,
and protection
Libertarian ideology favoring little government interference in
the economy and personal freedoms
Political Attitude Views regarding the status quo in a society; desired
pace and method of political change
Liberalism (as an A political attitude that supports evolutionary
attitude) change within a system
Reactionary A political attitude that promotes rapid change to
restore political, social, and economic institutions
that once existed
Radicalism A political attitude that supports rapid, extensive,
revolutionary change
Conservatism Supports the status quo and views change as risky

Nationalism The pride in one’s country or culture


Fascism political attitude hostile to the idea of individual
freedom and rejects notion of equality
Proportional in multimember districts, more than one legislative
Representation seat is contested in each electoral district. Voters
vote for a list of party candidates instead of for a
single representative and the percentage of votes a
party receives determines how many of the di
First Past the System where there is only one representative for
Post/Single each constituency and in each district the
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Member District candidate with the greatest number of votes wins


the seat.
Mixed electoral voters are given two votes for a candidate in a
system party; SMDs are elected based on plurality while
other seats are elected from MMDs using PR
Political Economy The study of how politics and economics are
related
Developed high level of development based on
Countries industrialization, GDP, HDI, etc.
Developing countries with low standards of democratic
Countries governments, industrialization, social programs,
and human rights guarantees
Under-developed State that has failed at some of the basic
Countries conditions and responsibilities of a sovereign
government (loss of control of territory, erosion of
legitimacy, unreasonable public services, inability
to interact as a member of the international
community)
Neoliberal Free markets and free trade. Break down barriers
Economic Reforms to international trade and investment.

GDP The total market value of goods and services


produced in a country in one year, measured in US
dollars. Tool for evaluating size of economy.
PPP Purchasing power parity. Mechanism for estimating
the real buying power of income in each country
using prices in the U.S. as a benchmark.
Gini Index Commonly used measurer of economic inequality;
equality = 0 and inequality = 100.
HDI a measure produced by the United Nations to
measure standards of living; considers a variety of
factors of affluence such as health and education
Globalization Phenomenon where international forces shape
politics in the context of a rapidly expanding and
intensifying set of links among states, societies,
economies
Linkage institution Groups that connect the people to the government,
such as political parties, interest groups, print and
electronic media
Bureaucracy structure and set of regulations in place to control
activity, usually in large organizations and
government
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Marxism Struggle between resources of the elites and


proletariats leads to the classless society
Marxism-Leninism vanguard of the proletariat, which is that the
people with an understanding of Marxism would
help the proletariat revolutionize
Command The government decides, plans, and controls the
Economy economy
Economic Decreasing involvement of the state in economics
Liberalization
Democratization Transformation process from a nondemocratic
regime to a procedural democracy to a substantive
democracy
Democratic deficit Idea that the EU is not democratic enough or
meaningful enough to most EU citizens
Devolution The handing down of power to regions and
localities
Civil servants Branch of government where people work for merit

Civil service Government workers hired on the basis of


competitive exams
Civil society Place where political conflict and competition takes
place; comprises organizations outside the state
that help the people define and advance their own
interests
Clientelism states provide benefits to groups of political
supporters
ISI (Import – an economic development strategy emphasizing
substitution growth of domestic industries by using tariff
industrialization) protection
Interest group Group of individuals who share common goals and
try to influence public policy to meet these goals
NGOs organizations across many different countries such
(Nongovernmental as Amnesty International and the International Red
organizations) Cross
Judicial review Mechanism through which the court reviews laws
and policies and overturns those seen as violations
of the constitution
Parliamentary a system of government featuring an executive
system head of government (prime minister) elected from
the legislature who is the leader of the largest
political party; he and his cabinet are charged with
Albert Kim – AP Gov Key Terms Pg.6

formulating and executing policy

Prebendalism Extreme patron-clientelism; common in Nigeria


Presidential system Combines the roles of head of state and head of
government; the president holds most of the
government’s executive powers. Has directly
Semi-Presidential A system of government that includes a prime
System minister approved by the legislature and a directly
elected president; they share executive power
Privatization Selling state-owned company
Referendum Direct vote yes/no policy; examples: Tony Blair for
adopting of euro (considered) and Putin for Russia
policy
Rule of law A state of order in which events conform to the
law; every member of society must obey the law
Supranational An organization where decisions are made by
organization international institutions
Technocrat A system where decision makers are selected
based on how skilled they are rather than how
much political capital they hold
Totalitarianism regime wherein a Communist party controls most
aspects of a country’s political and economic
system
Fusion of powers the idea in the UK that Parliament is the supreme
legislative, executive, and judicial authority.
Legislative and executive is fused in the cabinet.
Socialism State before classless society gains control
Radical Favors fundamental, drastic, revolutionary changes
in society
Nationalism Ideology that focuses on the nation; pride and love
of one’s country
Market Economy Interaction between forces and supply and demand
that allocate the goods and resources

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