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Pols 1202 UConn Exam 1 - Lyle Scruggs

Terms in this set (52)

Accountability
A political mechanism that offers citizens regular and realistic opportunities to remove rulers from office through peaceful, legal means
Behavioral Revolution
examined the behavior, actions, and acts of individuals - rather than the characteristics of institutions such as legislatures, executives, and judiciaries - and groups in different social settings and explain this behavior as it relates to the political system.
Capitalism
an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.
Civic culture
A key aspect of a county's cultural identity defined by three characteristics; high civic engagement, political equality and solidarity
Civil liberties
the state of being subject only to laws established for the good of the community, especially with regard to freedom of action and speech.
Clash of Civilizations
a hypothesis that people's cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world
Classes according to Marx
social class has a two-class system
Classes according to Weber
social class has three dimensions of stratification: class, status, and party.
Collective action problem
A situation wherein each individual has private incentives not to participate in an action that benefits all members of the group
Communism
Holds that under capitalist economic systems, the wealthy exploit the workers and the poor. They believe that efforts should be made to redistribute economic wealth as much as possible, and that a single political party should direct the government and control the state.
Comparative politics
The systematic search for answers to political questions about how people around the world make and contest authoritative public choices
Constructivism
a set of key laws and principles that structure the extent and distribution of government authority and individual rights by setting up the rules of the political game.
Correlation vs causation
a measure of observed association between two variables vs a process or event that produces an observable effect
Education and Democracy
An ideal in which democracy is both a goal and a method of instruction. It brings democratic values to education and can include self-determination within a community of equals, as well as such values as justice, respect, and trust. Often the students' voices are equal to the teacher's.
Electoral vs Liberal Democracy
representative democracy based on election, on electoral vote, as modern occidental or liberal democracies vs representative democracy with protection for individual liberty and property by rule of law.
Empirical vs Normative argument
Purely informative and full of facts vs judgmental
Fascism
A totalitarian ideology based on racist principles that glorifies militarism, violence, nationalism, and the state over individual interests and identities, and is usually led by charismatic individual political leaders
Federal v. Unitary government
a unitary government puts its power in one central government while in a federal system the governing power is divided into federal and local governing bodies that connect to the national government.
Freedom House democracy scoring system
Table 1: Political Rights (PR)
Total Scores PR Rating
36-40 1
30-35 2
24-29 3
18-23 4
12-17 5
6-11 6
0-5* 7
Table 2: Civil Liberties (CL)
Total Scores CL Rating
53-60 1
44-52 2
35-43 3
26-34 4
17-25 5
8-16 6
0-7 7
Table 3
Freedom Rating (Combined Average of the PR and CL Ratings) Freedom Status
1.0 to 2.5 Free
3.0 to 5.0 Partly Free
5.5 to 7.0 Not Free
Globalization
The spread of political, economic, and cultural dynamics among governments, groups, and individuals beyond the borders of any one particular country.
Hobbes
(1588-1679) English philosopher. He wrote Leviathan. Theories include Human life only flourishes if government provides all citizens with security of life and property
Human Development Index
a composite statistic of life expectancy, education, and per capita income indicators, which are used to rank countries into four tiers of human development
Hypothesis (including what is a legitimate hypothesis)
a supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation. A legitimate hypothesis is one that has a high probability.
Legitimacy
The degree to which citizens willingly accept the state's sovereign authority to use power
Method of Agreement
compares and contrasts cases with different attributes but shared outcomes, seeking the one attribute these cases share in common to attribute causality
Method of Difference
compares and contrasts cases with the same attributes but different outcomes, and determines causality by finding and attribute that is present when an outcome occurs but that is absent in similar cases when the outcome does not occur
Modernization theory
suggests that democracy is not simply a function of economic growth, but rather that it is a function of the cultural changes that accompany economic growth.
Nationalism
a subjective feeling of membership in a nation
Parliamentary Government
constitutional formats in which the executive and legislative branches have neither separation of origin nor separation of survival
Presidential Government
constitutional formats in which the executive and legislative branches enjoy separation of origin and separation of survival
Semi-Presidential Government
when the the president and parliament enjoy separation of origin but only the president gets separation of survival
Plurality vs proportional representation
the electoral process in which the candidate who polls more votes than any other candidate is elected vs the electoral process in which divisions in an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body
Political Cleavage
A deep and lasting salient dimension of political conflict and competition within a given society, such as religion, ethnicity, ideology, or other forms of identity.
Political Identity
The ways that individuals categorize themselves and others and how they understand the power relationships of domination and oppression that exist between groups
Political Rights
The rights that involve participation in the establishment or administration of a government and are usually held to entitle the adult citizen to exercise of the franchise, the holding of public office, and other political activities
Post-materialism
the transformation of individual values from materialist, physical, and economic to new individual values of autonomy and self-expression.
Primordialism
An approach to understanding identity that assumes that identity is something people are born with or that emerges through deep psychological processes in early childhood, given one's family and community context.
Qualitative Analysis
focuses on an in-depth understanding of attributes and outcomes. Privileges depth over breadth.
Quantitative Analysis
relies on statistical data to assess relationships between attributes and outcomes, analyzing those data using computers. Emphasizes breadth over depth.
Rational Choice Theory
school of thought based on the assumption that individuals choose a course of action that is most in line with their personal preferences.
Resource Curse
hypothesizes that any country whose economic growth relies on one valuable natural resource is unlikely to result in an equitable distribution of wealth, which generates problematic political consequences
Role of economic change in a political change
As people's incomes increase, so too does their engagement with the political system.
Spurious correlation
two or more events that are not causally related to each other, yet it may be wrongly inferred that they are, due to either coincidence or the presence of a certain third, unseen factor
State
A political-legal unit with sovereignty over a particular geographic territory and the population that resides in that territory
Government
The organization that has the authority to act on behalf if a state and the right to make decisions that affect everyone in the state
Nation
A cultural grouping of individuals who associate with each other based on collectively help political identity
Totalitarianism
A political system in which the government has total control over the lives of individual citizens.
Values and Democracy
...
Varieties of non-democracy
Republic
Monarchy
Communism
Dictatorship
Hegel
inevitable universal freedom through reason
Comte
inevitable benevolent dictatorship of bankers through the spirit of science
Marx
inevitable emergence of communist utopia via class conflict
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