Comparative Politics Chapter 3

Regime
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Terms in this set (32)
Regime
A set of fundamental rules and institutions that govern political activity
Citizen
A member of a political community of state with certain rights and duties
Civil Rights
Those rights that guarantee individual freedom as well as equal, just, and fair treatment by the state
Social Contract Theory
The philosophical approach that begins from the premise that legitimate governments are formed when free and independent individuals join in a contract to permit representatives to govern them and their common interests
Liberal Democracy
Described as a system that guarantees 8 key things: freedom of associations and expression, the right to vote, citizen eligibility for public office, competition for support, free/fair elections, and institutions based on voter preferences
Social Democracy
Combines liberal democracy with much greater provisions of social rights of citizenship and typically greater public control of the economy
Participatory Democracy
A form of democracy that encourages citizens to participate actively, in many ways beyond voting, usually at the local level
Electoral Democracy
A political system which oppositions parties are legal and elections take place, but full civil and political rights of liberal democracies are not secure
Magna Carta
The first document to restrict the king's abuse of various laws and limited the power of the monarchy
Historical Materialism
The assumption that material forces are the prime movers of history and politics
Free Wage LaborLabor that can move from place to place and is paid based on the time of the worker; required by capitalismMode of ProductionThe Marxist economic system in any given historical era; feudalism and capitalism used as examplesDictatorship of the ProletariatThe first stage of communism in Marxism, characterized by absolute rule of workers as a class over all other classesVanguard PartyLenin's concept of a small party that claims legitimacy to rule based on its understanding of Marxism and ability to represent the interests of the proletariatDemocratic CentralismThe organization of the ruling party in communist regims, in which lower organs vote on issues and individuals represent them at higher levelsPolitburoThe chief-decision making organ in a communist partyFascismThe state is central to and dominant within this organic society; advocates a hierarchical authoritarian governmentNeofascistDescription given to parties or political movements that espouse a virulent nationalismTechnocratic LegitimacyA claim to rule based on knowledge or experts; part of the modernization theoryModernization TheoryTheory of development that argues that post-colonial societies need to go through the same industrialization process that the West underwent in order to developModernization AuthoritarianismA type of regime not necessarily based on a single ideology; the argument that the needs of the state and nation must take precedence over liberalism's individual rights; development requires the leadership of elites; has three distinct modernizing regimes: one-party regimes, military regimes and personalist regimesOne-Party RegimesA single party gains power, usually after independence in a postcolonial state and systematically eliminates all opposition in the name of development and national unityMilitary RegimeSystem of government in which military officers control power; often gain power through a coup d'étatPersonalist RegimeA central leader comes to dominate a state, usually by weakening all opposition and centralizing power in his own handsNeopatrimonal PowerPower based on a combination of modern, bureaucratic states with underlying information institutions of clientelism that work behind the scenes; rule is based on reciprocal factors, all real power is derived from personal loyaltySemi-Authoritarian RegimeA type of hybrid regime in which formal opposition and some open political debate exists and elections are held, though these processes are so flawed that the regime cannot be considered truly democraticTheocracyThe rule by religious authorities; only in IranIslamismThe belief that Islamic law, as revealed to God by Mohammed, can and should provide bases for government in Muslim communities with little equivocation or purposeShariaMuslim lawNeofundamentalistTerm for Islamic movements that focus only on implementing an extremely rigid version of Sharia at local levels that directs how people live while ignoring the stateJihad"Struggle"; Three kinds: Individual struggle, Community struggle, and protection of the ummaTotalitarian RegimeA regime that controls virtually all aspects of society and eliminates all vestiges of civil society