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Chapter 1: Introduction

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Term
Definition
regime   the type of political system; tyrannies, 2-party democracies, parliamentary, etc  
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communication   constant; creates interdependent economies; good and bad go across boarders  
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How we study politics?   describe, explain, predict; need "conceptual frameworks" in order to understand  
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hypothesis   NOT a definition (tautology); usually based on normative analysis; must be testable and changable  
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large "n" studies   statistical studies; sufficient and variety of cases available, certainty  
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small "n" studies   case studies; dive deeply into one or a few cases (this is what comp gov uses)  
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political system   set of institutions and agencies concerned with formulating and implementing collective goals of the society or group within it  
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governments   act as the policymakers of the poli system; decisions backed by legitimate coercion  
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structures   specialized agencies used to carry out various roles of the government, such as formulating, implementing, eforcing policies; parliaments, courts, bureaucracies; policies reflect goals, agencies provide means  
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process functions   distinctive activities necessary for policy to be made and implemented in any kind of poli system; interest articulation, interest aggrigation, policy making, policy implementation, adjudication  
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system functions   determine if system will maintain or change; socialization, recruitment of eliete, communication; fundamental importance to poli system  
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political socialization   families, schools, churches; structures that develop, reinforce, transform poli attitudes  
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political communication   flow of info through society and thru various structures that make up the poli system  
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policy functions   substative impacts on society, economy, culture thru outputs in implementation of poli process; includes regulation, extraction (taxes), distribution of benefits/services (wellfare, social security); outcomes result in new imputs - cyclical system  
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modern era   began in 1989; fall of Berlin Wall, collapse marked beginning of the implosion of soviet satelite governments in eastern Europe  
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Potemkin village   appearance of being something, but really isn't  
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comparative government: what and why?   analyzing and seeking to explain how and why gov functions in domestic and intl environments; gives us global perspective, less ethnocentric, understand patterns  
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empirical analysis   basis of scientific observation; statistical, numerical  
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normative analysis   based on value judgements; more common in comp gov, people are unpredictable, hard to quantify  
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social clevages   fault lines where people divide; class, gender, ethnicity, religion  
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systems anaylsis   gov as core of poli system; role is the political outputs, ie making, implementing, adjudicating policy  
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support   public support determines capacity of gov to function effectively; the greater the support the more a gov can do; known as imputs  
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structural-function analysis   poli systems can be compared in terms of how well they perform functions essential to stability; those that make, implement, adjudicate rules most effectively = more stable  
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typology analysis   classifying / analyzing a political system based on its structure and regime  
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democratic political systems   "reconciliation systems," tries to accomidate as many as possible; ability to max public expression; rapid decisions hard  
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authoritarian political system   keeps power in hands of one person or small group of people; very efficient; masses have little say; no checks/balances if dictator loses sight of original goals  
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historical analysis   change tends to be incremental because people value stability; look for patterns, historical context  
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politics   policies that help organize people, resolve disputes, maintain order, extract resources from people (winners/losers)  
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comparative politics   systematic study of political outcomes through comparing different cases; what level? how many? form of data?  
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quantitative vs qualitative   quantitative: emperical qualitative: normative  
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internal validity   in context of that one case, it is correct  
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external validity   proven through different cases that it is correct (draws from multiple sources)  
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deviant case study   a case that exhibits characteristics that differ from a well-known pattern; ex: economically developed = democracy (India is deviant cs)  
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critical case study   selected because provides a tough test of central hypothesis; if hypo true in this case, valid for all  
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comparative method   examining smaller number of cases (like 3-8), comp method seeks to understand causes of dependent variable; in absence of large n quantitative, uses most similar or most different approach; measure, explain sim&diff among nations  
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most similar approach   examine cases that share a number of common characteristics  
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most different approach   opposite of most similar  
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causal theories   involve independent (X) and dependent (Y) variables; if X, then Y  
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rational choice theory   individual will act strategically/rationally to achieve goals & max interests; explain outcomes by looking at individual actors and their decisions; not used much, leaders aren't really rational, also ignores poli history  
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middle level theory   most preferred comp method; focuses on specific features of the poli world, such as institutions, policies, classes of similar events (revolutions, elections)  
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structural approach   explain poli outcomes by looking @ underlying economic, social, poli-institutional setting in a coutry  
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system environment   illustrates interdependence of what happens in and between countries  
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interest articulation   interest expressed by individuals or groups; voting, protests  
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interest aggregation   demands combined into policy alternatives; legislature occurs in different committees; differences in bills go to "conference committees"  
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policy making   occurs in executive branch  
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adjudication   legal response to challenges or violations of policy  
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political recuitment   selection of political elites (ie those who participate directly in government) for political activities and gov offices  
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elite recruitment   political elites, aka people who are political leaders  
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political culture   people's attitudes towards their gov and their role in the poli process; like it, adds to stability; reflects core values of people; revolves around people's identity: racial, linguistic, ethnic, religion  
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legitimacy   country's citizens believe that their gov has the right to govern; 3 types: traditional, charismatic, rational/legal  
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traditional authority   rests on belief that tradition should determine who should rule and how (ex: monarchy)  
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charismatic authority   personality of leader or small group (ex: Napoleon)  
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rational-legal authority   based on well-est. system w/laws and procedures (ex gov based on its constitution)  
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participation   political culture also illustrated by how citizens participate; 3 types: pariticpants, subjects, parochials  
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participants   involved as actual or potential participants in the political porcess  
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subjects   passively obey government officials and the law, but don't vote or actively involve themselves in political life  
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parochials   hardly award of government and politics; could be illiterates, rural people in remote areas, etc  
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political socialization   process by which individuals learn politics and political culture; influenced by agents of socialization  
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agents of socalization   primary = family; others include peer groups, schools, churches, employment, etc  
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consensual political culture   citizens may disagree on some poli processes and policies, tend to agree on how decisions are to be made; accepts legitimacy of regime; usually result of cultural homogeneity  
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conflictional political culture   citizens sharply divided on legitimacy of regime and solutions to major problems; impact gov's ability to rule; often result of cultural homogeneity  
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cultural homogeniety   peoples who share similar beliefs and values (ex: Japan, Korea [esp North])  
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cultural heterogeniety   presence of multiple identity groups; have beliefs that greatly differ from other identity groups in country; more threatening to social stability than when various beliefs are more spread across population  
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vertical social relations   occur in hierarchical societies when political leaders have the right to impose their decisions on those at the bottom (ex: North Korea)  
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horizontal social relations   emphasize equality and a role for many if not all in society, to help shape political and social decisions (ex: Euro socialist state)  
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individualistic poli culture   discourages gov from implementing policies that protect groups or level the economic playing field  
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collectivistic poli culture   tend to coincide w/gov programs aimed at benefiting large numbers of people  
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group welfare vs interest of individual   individualistic pc vs collectivistic pc  
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relationship between society and authority   vertical vs horizontal social relations  
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potential tradeoff between liberty and security   strong state w/rules that penetrate into society in an effort to maintain order? value freedom from state action, state leaves most decisions to individual  
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legitimacy of poli system and leaders   do citizens accept existing poli regime as having legitimacy? can they be trusted?  
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political community   what poli unit does population identify with most? group vs national identity  
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trends in political culutre   modernization, democratization, marketization, resurgence of ethnicity  
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modernization   major trend, secularization, influences of science and globalization; encourages citizen participation, equality, disrupts traditional way of life; emphasis on post-material values  
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post-material values   social equality, environmental protection, cultrual pluralism, self-expression; have the bread-and-butter basics of society, now want more moralistic stuff  
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resurgence of ethnicity   formally suppressed, now demending equal treatment; clashes can occur, migration threaten life of host country  
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marketization   greater acceptance of a free market economy  
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democratization   reflects long-term response to modernity; gradually delegitimized nondemocratic ideologies  
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nation   cultural element of a country; people psychologically bound to one another  
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state   institutional or government element of a country  
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nation-state   territorial unit controlled by a single state and governed by a single government  
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country   can be synonymous w/nation or state  
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failed states   state has lost ability to govern  
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characteristics of state   STATE HAS MONOPOLY ON THE LEGITIMATE USE OF FORCE WITHIN A SOCIETY  
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3 major attributes of state   sovereignty, legitimacy, autonomy  
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