AP Comparative Government Chapter 1: Introduction
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Chapter 1 Introduction
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216 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Government | a reference to the leadership and institutions that make policy decisions for a country |
| Politics | the power, who has the power to make decisions? how did they get it what challenges do they face? concerned about management of power |
| Empirical Data | data based on factual statements and statistics, compare statistics from countries |
| Normative Issues | data that requires value judgments, would focus on what the statistics means |
| Hypothesis | a speculative statements about the relationship between two or more variables |
| Variables | measurable traits or characteristics that change under different conditions |
| Causation | the idea that one variable causes or influences the other |
| Independent Variable | a variable that influences the dependent variable |
| Dependent Variable | a variable that depends on the influence of the independent variable |
| Correlation | exists when a change in one variable coincides with a change in the other, MAY represent causality, but does not mean it |
| Three-World Approach | 1.) US and its allies 2.) Soviet Union and its allies 3.) third world nations that are economically underdeveloped |
| Third World | nations that do not fit the first two categories and are economically underdeveloped and deprived |
| Civil Society | the way that citizens organize and define themselves and their interests |
| Informal Politics | takes into consideration not only the ways that politicians operate outside their formal powers but also the impact that beliefs, values, and actions of ordinary citizens have on policy-making |
| Political Change | since 1991, the world has no longer been dominated by two superpowers, has consequences reverberating in many areas, creates an opportunity to compare impact of change |
| Integration of Political and Economic Systems | two systems are often intertwined, attitudes and behavior of citizens are affected by economic inefficiency, etc., may then turn to government to solve economic problems |
| Advanced Democracies | countries having well established democratic governments and high level of economic development, six core countries, Great Britain |
| Communist/Post-Communist Countries | countries that have sought to create a system that limits individual freedoms in order to divide wealth more equally, flourished during 20th century, lost ground during 21st |
| Newly Industrializing Nations | experiencing rapid economic growth and have shown a tendency toward democratization and political and social stability, Mexico and Iran, high level of corruption |
| Less Developed Nations | lack significant economic development and also tend to have authoritarian government, Nigeria, high level of corruption |
| State | countries, defined by Max Weber as the organization that maintains the monopoly of violence over terror, defines who can and cannot use weapons and force, sets the rules as to how violence is used, sponsor armies, navies, etc., |
| Institutions | stable, long-lasting organizations that help to turn political ideas into policy, bureaucracies, legislatures, judicial systems, political parties |
| Sovereignty | the ability to carry out actions or policies within their borders independently from interference either from the inside or the outside, a state unable to demonstrate it lacks autonomy |
| Autonomy | independence, may lead to exploitation by leaders and organizations, results in high level of corruption |
| Nation | a group of people that are bound together by a common political identity |
| Nationalism | the sense of belonging and identity that distinguishes one nation from another, often translated as patriotism |
| Patriotism | the resulting pride and loyalty that individuals feel toward their nation |
| Borders | normally drawn along the lines of people, "French", "English", has become tricky when people moved into other people's territories |
| Regimes | the rules that a state sets and follows in exerting its power, endure beyond individual governments and leaders, only when policies continue for a long time |
| Democracies | bases its authority on the will of the people, most are indirect because of large populations |
| Indirect Democracy | elected officials representing the people |
| Direct Democracy | individuals have immediate say over many decisions that the government makes |
| Parliamentary Systems | citizens vote for legislative representatives which in turn select the leaders of the executive branch |
| Presidential Systems | citizens vote for legislative representatives as well as for executive branch leaders, two branches function with separation of power |
| Parliamentary Sovereignty | the legislature makes the laws, controls finances, appoints and dismisses the prime minister and cabinet, and debates public issues, cabinet ends up initiating legislation as the result of parties, majority parties votes for bills, eventually supports the legislation, prime minister and cabinet are leaders of majority party no separation of powers exists, Parliamentary System, separation in executive branch |
| Head of State | a role that symbolizes the power and nature of the regime |
| Head of Government | a role that deals with the everyday tasks of running the government |
| Presidential Systems | roles of head of state and head of government are given to one person, elected by people, checks and balances, separation of power, each branch must have an independent base of authority, US, Nigeria, Mexico |
| Checks and Balances | between legislative and executive and sometimes judicial |
| Separation of Power | ensures that power is shared and that one branch does not come to dominate the others, power is diffused and the policy-making process is slowed down |
| Semi-Presidential System | a prime minister coexists with a president who is directly elected by the people and who holds a significant degree of power, decisions are made by elites wihout impact from citizens, may be ruled by a single dictator, hereditary monarch, small group of aristocrats, single party, economy controlled by political elite, communism or corporatism |
| Communism | a theory developed in the 19th century by Karl Marx and altered in the early 20th century by V.I. Lenin, party controls everything from government to social lofe |
| Corporatism | an arrangement in which government officials interact with people/groups outside the government before they set policy, outside contacts are generally business and labor leaders |
| Patron-Client Systems | systems that provide reciprocal favors and services to supporters |
| Authoritarian Regimes | small group of elites exercising power, citizens with little or no impact in government, no constitutional responsibility for leaders, restriction of civil rights and civil liberties, still legitimate governments!, do not seek to control all aspects of political and economic systems |
| Totalitarianism | similar to authoritarian, negative connotations, Soviet Union during the Cold War, generally have a strong ideological goal that many authoritarian systems lack |
| Military Rule | prevalent in Latin America, Africa, Asia, military can intervene and solve problems where legitimacy and stability are in question, leaders often restrict civil rights and liberties and keep political parties from forming, lacks specific ideology and leaders have no source of authority, join with the state bureaucracy |
| Coup d'etat | a forced takeover of the governent, may not have widespread support among the people |
| Modern Corporatism | a method through which business, labor, and interests groups bargain with the state over economic policy, emerged as a way to control public by creating organizations to represent interests of the public, only handful have right to speak for the people, gives the public a limited influence in the policy-making process, but interest groups are run by state |
| Co-optation | the means a regime uses to get support from citizens |
| Patron-Clientism | a system in which the state provides specific benefits or favors to a single person or small group in return for support, relies on individual patronage rather than organizations that serve a large group of people |
| Democratic Corporatism | corporatist practices have emerged in democracies, usually plays into economic policy and regulation, etc., formation of interest groups is recognized by the state, organizations developed legally-binding links with the state agencies, become semi-public agencies |
| Pluralism | a situation in which power is split among many groups that compete for the change to influence the government's decision making, competition is important way for citizens to express need to government, dialogue between interest groups and the state is voluntary, formation of interest groups is spontaneous |
| Legitimacy | the right to rule, as determined by their own citizens, can be secured in many numbers, three kinds |
| Traditional Legitimacy | rests upon the belief that tradition should determine who should rule and how, particular family may rule because it has always been so, involves myths and legends, rituals and ceremonies, most monarchies, thrones, crowns, etc., may be shaped by religion, Inca government |
| Sharia | traditional religious law in the Middle East |
| Charismatic Legitimacy | based on the dynamic personality of an individual leader or small group, Napoleon, notoriously short-lived because it does not survive its founder |
| Rational-Legal Democracy | based on neither tradition nor on single personality, system of well-established laws and procedures, highly institutionalized, people obey leaders because they believe in the laws that bind them, common law or code law, most states based on this |
| Common Law | based on tradition, past practices, and legal precedents set by the courts and through interpretations of statutes, legal legislation, and past rulings, English in origin, found in Britain, US, etc. |
| Code Law | based on a comprehensive system of written rules of law divided into commercial, civil, and criminal codes, French, Germany, Spanish |
| Economic Well-Being | citizens credit government with economic prosperity, legitimacy reinforced by it |
| Historical Tradition/Longevity | if a government has been in place for a long time, citizens are more likely to view it as legitimate |
| Charismatic Leadership | a powerful factor in establishing legitimacy |
| Nationalism/Shared Political Culture | if citizens identify strongly with their nation, they are more accepting of legitimacy of government |
| Satisfaction with Government's Performance | if citizens receive benefits from the government, if the government wins wars, provides protection, citizens will see it as legitimate |
| Political Culture | refers to the collection of political beliefs, values, practices, and institutions that the government is based on, government will reflect individualism, for example, in the way it is run, ALWAYS CHANGING |
| Social Capital | the amount of reciprocity and trust that exists among citizens and between citizens and the state, societies with low may be inclined toward authoritarian, more may be democracy, Islam is incompatible with democracy, critics say it relies on stereotypes |
| Consensual Political Culture | although citizens may disagree on some political process, they generally agree on how decisions are made, issues addressed, etc., accepts both the legitimacy and solutions to problems |
| Conflictual Political Culture | sharply divided citizens, often on legitimacy and solutions to problems, disagreement on communism v. capitalism, may result in political subcultures |
| Political Ideologies | sets of political values held by individuals regarding the basic goals of government and politics, long lasting |
| Liberalism | places emphasis on individual political and economic freedom, modern democracies, seek to maximize freedom for all people, citizens have the right to disagree with state decisions, government should listen to its citizens |
| Communism | values equality over freedom, rejects the idea that personal freedom will ensure prosperity for the majority, competition will lead to concentration of prosperity among small group, advocate takeover of resources by state which will insure economic equality exists |
| Socialism | shares the value of equality but is influenced by liberal value of freedom, accept and promote private ownership and free market principles, believe state has a strong role to play in regulating the economy and providing benefits, stronger in Europe |
| Fascism | devalue the idea of individual freedom, rejects value of equality, accepts the idea that people exist in inferior and superior groups, state has the right to mold society, Nazi Germany |
| Religions | have been important source of group identity, US has established separation of church and state, religion serves as basis for interest groups, voluntary associations within the civil society, Britain is largely secularized |
| Reform | a type of change that does not advocate the overthrow of basic institutions, want to change some of the methods that political leaders used to reach goals, do not advocate to overthrow basic institutions |
| Revolution | implies change at a more basic level, involves major revision or overthrowing of existing institutions, impacts more than one area of life, Industrial Revolution, normally aim at one part and change all parts |
| Coup d'etats | represent the most limited type of change, "blows to the state" replace leadership of the country with new leaders, occurs in countries where governments are weak |
| Radicalism | a belief that rapid, dramatic changes need to be made to existing society, usually think current system cannot be saved and must be overturned |
| Liberalism | supports reform and gradual change rather than revolution, not to be confused with political ideology, do not believe systems are permanently broken but they do believe they need to be repaired, may support notion that eventual transformation best take place |
| Conservatism | much less supportive of change in general, change is disruptive, can bring out unseen outcomes, order might be threatened by change |
| Reactionary Beliefs | go further to protect against change than do conservative beliefs, oppose revolution and reform, but find the status quo unacceptable, want to turn back to an earlier era, more willing to use violence |
| Democratization | more and more nations and turning to popular form of government, poverty poses large obstacle |
| Competitive Elections | elections that are regular, free, and fair, offers a real possibility that the incumbent government may be defeated |
| Liberal Democracies | civil liberties, rule of law, neutrality of the judiciary, open civil society, civilian control of the military |
| Substantive Democracies | where citizens have access to multiple sources of information, no country has perfect |
| Illiberal/Procedural Democracies | countries that have democratic procedures but have significant restrictions on them, presidents hold large share of the power, political parties are restricted so elections lack competitiveness, |
| "Third Wave" of Democratization | proposed by Samuel Huntington, "first wave" developed over time, "second wave" after WWII, characterized by de-colonization, this wave characterized by defeat of rulers in South America, Europe, and Africa, occurs from loss of legitimacy, expansion of urban middle class, emphasis on "human rights", snowball effect |
| Snowball Effect | when one country in a region becomes democratic, it influences others to do so |
| Democratic Consolidation | creates a stable political system that is supported by all parts of the society, willingness on part of parties, readiness on party of people to participate in the process, all institutions and people participate, so democracy penetrates all aspects, etc. |
| Revolution of Rising Expectations | political discontent is fueled if the crisis is preceded by a period of relative improvement in the standard of living |
| Political Liberalization | a state that progresses from procedural democracy to substantive democracy through democratic consolidation, eventually leads other states to |
| Roots of Liberalism | 19th century Europe, proponents supported both political and economic freedoms, gave rise to belief that political liberalism goes in hand with economic liberalism |
| Bourgeoisie | middle-class professionals or businessmen, wanted their views to be represented in government and their economic goals to be unhampered, valued political freedoms and the rule of law, wanted economic freedoms, advocated free trade, values clashed with ideas of radicals |
| Command Economy | the government owns almost all industrial enterprises and retail sales, economies were managed by party-dominated planning committee, produced blueprints for economic production in five-year plans, fading away |
| Economic Liberalization | process of limiting power of the state over private property and market forces |
| Pure Market Economy | an economy that receives no control from the government |
| Mixed Economy | a market economy that receives significant control from the government |
| Factors Moving to Markets | people believed government was too big, command economies involved huge governments controlling every aspect, lack of success in command economies, collapse of Soviet Union hurt their changes, led many other nations to move |
| Marketization | the term that describes the state's recreation of a market in which property, labor, goods, and services can all function in a competitive environment, goes through cycles of prosperity and scarcity, depression led many to go to mixed |
| Privatization | the transfer of state-owned property to private ownership |
| Fragmentation | divisions based on ethnic or cultural identity |
| Nationalism | identities based on nationhood |
| Politicization of Religion | has dominated world politics of early 21st century, national identities remain strong, most Westerners have been caught off guard |
| Samuel Huntington | argued that our most important and dangerous future conflicts will be based on clashes of civilizations, not on socio-economic or even ideological differences |
| Social Cleavages | religion, ethnic groups, race, social and economic classes all interact with the political system and have a tremendous impact on policy-making, theoretically out of the realm of politics |
| Bases of Social Cleavages | what mix of ethnic groups does a nation have? how deep are they? which appear most significantly? |
| Cleavages and Political Institutions | how are cleavages expressed in the political system? is party membership based on cleavages? do political elites usually come from one group or another? |
| Social Class | even though class awareness has declined, its still a basis, less developed nations tensions may appear between landless peasants and property owners |
| Ethnic Cleavages | most divisive and explosive social cleavages, full scale civil wars in the world, based on different cultural identities, etc. |
| Religious Cleavages | religious differences are intertwined, Northern Ireland, etc., may exist between people of similar ethnic backgrounds, etc. |
| Regional Cleavages | differing political views between people living in different geographic regions, populations compete for government resources such as money, jobs, and development projects, regional differences are linked to varying degrees of economic development |
| Coinciding Cleavages | when every dispute aligns the same groups against each other |
| Cross-Cutting Cleavages | divide society into many potential groups that may conflict on one issue but cooperate on another |
| Political Efficacy | a citizen's capacity to understand and influence political events, high level means they believe the government takes their input seriously and cares about what they saw, own abilities to understand issues |
| Political Socialization | how do citizens learn about politics? do electronic and print shape their views? "propaganda"?, a person's political views are a combination of many feelings and attitudes both general and specific identifications |
| Subject Activities | citizens contact government through these, involve obedience, authoritarian governments |
| Types of Political Participation | obeying laws, following military orders, paying taxes, citizens may play a more active part in the process, voting, work for political candidates, attend rallies, contribute money, join political parties |
| Voting Behavior | how do citizens vote? how often do they participate in elections? what is the purpose of elections? etc. |
| Factors Influencing Political Beliefs | cleavages in a country, do they make a difference in citizens' political beliefs? are women's beliefs different from those of men? are younger people as likely to vote as older people are? |
| Transparent Government | a government that operates openly by keeping citizens informed about government operations and political issues and by responding to citizens' questions |
| Level of Transparency | Obama stated that government should be transparent, low levels are often found in authoritarian governments, corruption is promoted |
| Social Movements | refer to organized collective activities that aim to bring about or resist fundamental change in an existing group or society, try to influence political leaders to make policy decisions that support their goals, members step outside traditional channels for bringing about social change, take stands on issues |
| African National Congress | a political organization that sought to overthrow the state-supported system of apartheid in South Africa |
| Civil Society | refers to voluntary organizations outside of the state that help people define and advance their own interests, usually strong in liberal democracies where individual freedoms are valued and protected, may represent class, religion, ethnic interests, helps to define the people's relationship to and role in politics and community affairs, weak in less-developed countries |
| Tyranny of the Majority | the tendency in democracies to allow majority rule to neglect the rights and liberties of minorities |
| Cosmopolitanism | a universal political order that draws its identity and values from everywhere |
| Nongovernmental Organizations | national and international groups, independent of any state, that pursue policy objectives and foster public participation, Doctors without Borders and Amnesry International |
| Civic Education | communities learn their democratic rights and how to use those rights to give meaningful input to political institutions |
| Political Institutions | structures of a political system that carry out the work of the governing, may have the same structure but different types in different countries, legislatures, executives, judicial systems, bureaucracies, armies |
| Unitary System | a system that concentrates all policy-making powers in one central geographic place, central government is responsible for most policy areas |
| Confederal System | spreads the power among many sub-units and has a weak central government |
| Federal System | divides the power between the central government and sub-units and regional bodies have significant powers, such as taxation, etc. |
| Integration | countries must cope with influences outside themselves, a process that encourages states to pool their sovereignty in order to gain political, economic, and social clout, binds states together with common policies and rules, OPEC, EU, NAFTA, etc. |
| Globalization | an integration of social, environmental, economic, and cultural activities of nations that has resulted from increasing national contacts, complicates the ability of states to maintain sovereignty since it binds them together, changed the nature of comparative politics |
| Foreign Direct Investment | purchase of assets in a country by a foreign firm |
| Fragmentation | a tendency for people to base their loyalty on ethnicity, language, religion, or cultural identity |
| Supranational Organizations | cooperating groups of nations that operate on either a regional or international level for major decisions and rules |
| Centripetal Forces | bind together the people of a state, nationalism, encourages allegiance to a single country, promotes loyalty and commitment, use of flags, rituals, holidays, etc., schools, armed forces, religion help to keep people in support, fast transportation, communication systems, NBCs |
| Centrifugal Forces | destabilizing forces that hurt the government and encourage the country to fall apart, country that is not well-organized could lose loyalty of its citizens, strong institutions may also challenge the government like Russian Orthodoxy in USSR, nationalism can hurt if people are more loyal to ethnicity than state, |
| Separatist Movements | nationalities within a country may demand independence, movements challenged the government for their independence, Basques, Lithuanians, etc. |
| Devolution | the tendency to decentralize decision-making to regional governments, helps to lessen the centrifugal forces |
| Ethnic Group | shares a well-developed sense of belonging to the same culture, based on a unique mixture of language, religion, and customs, strong groups that differ from majority could cause problems |
| Ethnonationalism | the tendency for an ethnic group to see itself as a distinct nation with a right to autonomy or independence, fundamental centrifugal force promoting devolution, French in Quebec, etc. |
| Economic Forces | economic inequalities, regional, Italy split by "Ancona Line", differences between northern prosperity and southern prosperity, formation of the Northern League and independent state of "Padania" would shed the economic drag of the South |
| Ancona Line | an invisible line extending from Rome to the Adriatic coast at Ancona |
| Spatial Forces | distance, remoteness, peripheral location promote devolution especially if separated by water or mountains, etc. |
| Head of State | a role that symbolizes and represents the people, both nationally and internationally, and may or may not have any real policy-making power |
| Head of Government | deals with everyday tasks of running the state and usually directs the activities of other members of the executive branch, distinction is seen in Britain |
| Functions of Chief Executive | usually most important person in policy-making, initiating new policies and playing role in adoption, president usually has veto power in presidential systems, parliamentary system does not have that authority, oversees policy implementation, holds others accountable, foreign policy |
| Cabinet | parliamentary system most important, ministers head all major departments and is led by prime minister, ministers are leaders of majority party, presidential system president chooses the cabinet from any area of political life, cabinet members often have more independence |
| Cabinet Coalition | several parties join forces and are represented in different cabinet posts, problem is they tend to be unstable especially they result in fragmented legislature |
| Bureaucracies | consist of agencies that implement government policy, usually part of executive branch of government, size has increased over the course of the centuries, due to government efforts to improve health, security, welfare |
| Basic Characteristics of Bureaucracy | Weber, hierarchical authority structure, task specialization, extensive rules, clear goals, merit principle, impersonality |
| Hierarchical Authority Structure | a chain of command that is hierarchical, the top bureaucrat has ultimate control and authority flows down |
| Task Specialization | a clear division of labor in which every individual has a specialized job |
| Extensive Rules | clearly written, well-established formal rules that all people in the organization follow |
| Clear Goals | a clearly defined set of goals that all people in the organization strive toward |
| Merit Principle | merit-based hiring and promotion, no granting of jobs to family or friends |
| Impersonality | job performance is judged by productivity, or how much work the individual gets done |
| Discretionary Power | power to make small decisions in implementing legislative and executive decisions, modern issue with bureaucracies in democracies, add up to significant policy-making influence, require decisions to be made by elected officials |
| Patronage System | a system in which political supporters received jobs in return for their assistance in getting the president elected, big problem in bureaucracies, Stalin gave jobs to his cronies, Garfield, etc. |
| Technocrats | a military regime formed a ruling coalition that included military officers and civilian bureaucrats, Brazil, Argentina, etc., coalition seized control of the government and determined which groups would be allowed to participate, controlled in name of efficiency |
| Non-elected Positions | bureaucrats are appointed and salaried, not elected by public |
| Impersonal Structure | goal oriented, little concern for personal feelings, meant to be effective |
| Formal Qualifications for Jobs | must factor in education, background, etc., in hiring to achieve goals efficiently |
| Red Tape/Inefficiency | large bureaucracies stumble on own weight, the orderly flow of business appears to break down at a certain size and complexity |
| Legislature | the branch of government charged with making laws, formal approval is usually required for major policies, 80% of nations have them |
| Bicameralism | two houses, most usual form, House of Lords and House of Commons, lower house determined by population, upper house the same, helps to balance out the interests of both groups, the people and states, helps disperse power by requiring both houses to approve legislation |
| Unicameral | one house |
| Functions of Legislatures | formulate, debate, and vote on political policies, control the country's budget in terms of both fund-raising and spending, assemblies may appoint important officials, elite recruitment, hearings regarding behaviors of public officials, hold different degrees of policy making power |
| Elite Recruitment | identifying future leaders of the government |
| Judiciary | all states have some form of legal structure, role is rarely limited to routinely adjudicating civil and criminal cases, courts in authoritarian systems generally have little or no independence,may be able to impose restrictions on what political leaders do, growth has spurred debate on command of the court |
| Constitutional Courts | courts that serve to defend democratic principles of a country against infringement by both private citizens and the government, more recent phenomenon, highest judicial body |
| Judicial Review | the mechanism that allows courts to review laws and executive actions for their constitutionality, established in US |
| Linkage Institutions | groups that connect the government to its citizens, such as political parties, interest groups, and print and electronic media, size and development depends partly on the size of the population, partly on the scope of government activity, larger the population the greater change it will have a better developed institution |
| Party System | array of political parties operating in a particular country and the nature of the relationships among them |
| Parties | perform many functions in democracies, help bring different people and ideas together to establish the means by which the majority can rule, provide labels for candidates that help citizens decide how to vote, hold politicians accountable to the electorate and other political elites |
| Two-party System | rarity, occurring in only 15 contries, US |
| Multi-party System | usually arise in countries with strong parliamentary systems, particularly those that use a proportional representation method for elections |
| Electoral Systems | the rules that decide how votes are cast, counted, and translated into seats in a legislature |
| First-past-the-post | a system in which countries divide their constituencies into single member districts in which candidates compete for a single representative's seat |
| Plurality/Winner-take-all | first-past-the-post, winner does not need a majority to win, simply needs to get more votes than anyone else, encourage large, broad-based parties because no matter how many people run in a district, the person with the largest number of votes wins, encourages parties to become larger to "umbrella" more voters |
| Single-Member Districts | electoral district from which one person is chosen by the voters for each elected office |
| Proportional Representation | creates multi-member districts, voters cast ballot for party rather than candidate, percentage of votes a party receives determines how many seats they gain, encourages multiple parties because they have a good chance of getting some candidates elected, allows minor parties |
| Multi-Member Districts | more than one legislative seat is contested in each district |
| Mixed System | combines the first-past-the-post and proportional representation |
| Election of Public Officials | number of elected officials varies widely, unitary system, many officials and elected locally, legislature is at national level, citizens of EU elect representatives to Parliament, lower houses are more likely to be nominated by the people |
| Referendum | allowing public votes on policy issues, the public makes a direct decision about policy itself, US has it on local level |
| Plebiscite | a ballot to consult public opinion in a nonbinding way |
| Initiative | a vote on policy that is initiated by the people, less common, must propose an issue for nation-wide vote, etc. |
| Interest Groups | organizations of like-minded people whose main political goal is to influence and shape public policy, independent from government are important in maintaining strong society, occupation, labor, business, etc., may be national or local, nonpolitical goals, promoting interest in product |
| Differences between Parties and Interest Groups | parties influence government through electoral process, run candidates for office, interest only support candidates, do not run candidates, parties generate support for broad range of topics, interest group just one |
| Strength of Interest Groups | determining degree of autonomy the groups have from the government, groups need to be able to independently decide what their goals are, authoritarian groups have no independence, like in China |
| Transmission Belts | referred to by Frank Wilson, interest groups in authoritarian governments that have very little independence from the government, convey to members the interests of the party elite |
| Interest Group Pluralism | autonomous interest groups compete with each other and with government for influence over state policies, guard their independence by selecting their own leaders and raising their own funds, rival groups use tactics to make policies |
| Corporatism | fewer groups compete than under pluralism, one for each interest sector, labor, agriculture, management, group's monopoly is confirmed by the state |
| State Corporatism | the state determines which groups are brought in |
| Societal Corporatism (Neocorporatism) | interest groups take the lead and dominate the state |
| Political Elites | leaders who have a disproportionate share of policy-making power, democracies still have them despite their competitive elections |
| Recruitment | ways to identify and select people for future leadership positions |
| Succession | the process that determines the procedure for replacing leaders when they resign, die, or are no longer effective |
| Public Policy | all systems set policy, whether by legislative vote, executive decision, judicial rulings, combination, interest groups and parties play a large role, generally directed toward addressing issues |
| Economic Performance | common policy issue, governments are concerned with economic health of nation, participate in international trade |
| Social Welfare | citizens' needs, health, employment, family assistance, education, states provide different levels of assistance, may display different attitudes, literacy rates, distribution of income, life expectancy, education levels |
| Gini Index | a mathematical formula that measures the amount of economic inequality in a society |
| Human Development Index | measures the well-being of a country's people by factoring in adult literacy, life expectancy, education enrollment |
| Political Rights | the promotion of equality |
| Civil Liberties | the promotion of freedom |
| Civil Liberties/Political Rights | government should be proactive in promoting these, liberal democracies vary in terms of which liberties should be preserved, rights to assemble and criticize, etc. |
| Freedom House | an organization that studies democracies around the world and ranks them on a 1-7 scale |
| Environment | governments take a big interest in protecting it, European countries have had a surge of interest in "green" parties, promoted development of a global civil society by operating across borders, etc. |
| Gross Domestic Product | economic indicator that compiles date on all forms of wealth produced in a nation, all goods and services |
| GDP per capita | economic measure that takes the total value of GDP and divides it by population, reveal more information about living standards |
| Purchasing Power Parity per capita | adjusts for relative costs of living in various countries and converts different economies into a single currency, GDP can be deceiving |
| Comparative Indexes | statistical data used to compare countries, estimates compiled by bureaus and agencies such as UN and the world Bank |
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