Terms and Definitions: Political Science and History, Quizzes of Comparative Law and Politics

Download Terms and Definitions: Political Science and History and more Quizzes Comparative Law and Politics in PDF only on Docsity! TERM 1 Sunnis DEFINITION 1 A term meaning Muslims who follow the words and deeds of Muhammad. TERM 2 Shiites DEFINITION 2 Regard only Muhammad's blood descendants as the Prophet's true successors. TERM 3 Bolsheviks DEFINITION 3 What Lenin's followers called themselves TERM 4 October Revolution DEFINITION 4 The Bolshevik takeover of power. TERM 5 Centrally Planned Economy DEFINITION 5 A command economy controlled by the leadership of an all- intrusive party-state dictatorship. TERM 6 State Duma DEFINITION 6 Consists of 450 legislators elected to a four-year term. Russia's lower house. TERM 7 Federation Council DEFINITION 7 Consists of 2 members from each of Russia's eighty-nine republics and regions. TERM 8 Newly Industrialized Countries DEFINITION 8 A category of developing countries which consists of a small number of relatively successful economies. TERM 9 Underdeveloped Economies DEFINITION 9 Suffer from chronic seemingly eternal law growth and mass poverty. TERM 10 Dependency Theory DEFINITION 10 Theory asserts that the advanced capitalist countries of the North dominate the world economy and constitute its core. TERM 21 Externality DEFINITION 21 An unintended by-product of a voluntary activity that is imposed on others. TERM 22 Logic of Collective Action DEFINITION 22 Rather than join groups with like-minded people. Citizens usually do nothing. TERM 23 Interest Aggregation DEFINITION 23 Interest aggregation is the activity in which the political demands of groups and individuals are combined into policy programs. TERM 24 Centripetal Party System DEFINITION 24 A party system that favors moderate centrist parties rather than extremist ones. TERM 25 Interest-Group Pluralism DEFINITION 25 Political power is dispersed among groups and interests. It emphasizes freedom of association and competition for influence. TERM 26 Populism DEFINITION 26 Elite efforts to cultivate the support of the disadvantaged masses. TERM 27 Dissidence DEFINITION 27 Antigovernment behavior that falls short of actually toppling the regime. TERM 28 Fascism DEFINITION 28 Consists of:1. hyper nationalism2. Racism3. totalitarianism4. Mass mobilization through propaganda and coercion TERM 29 Ruling Party DEFINITION 29 Typically monopolizes state power and bans or controls other parties. TERM 30 Particularistic Parties DEFINITION 30 Parties that confine their appeal to a particular segment of the population. TERM 31 Catch-all parties DEFINITION 31 Parties that seek to widen their base of popular support as much as possible. TERM 32 Centrifugal Party System DEFINITION 32 A party system in which the leading parties and large numbers of voters tend toward extremes of right or left. TERM 33 Interest group DEFINITION 33 Organizations that speak up for the interests of particular groups of people, influencing the state. TERM 34 Interest articulation DEFINITION 34 When interest groups articulate the interests, demands, and desires of various groups in society. TERM 35 Social Movement DEFINITION 35 Consists of segments of the population who engage in significant collective action because they believe that the state hasn't adequately addressed their concerns. TERM 46 Leninism DEFINITION 46 The primacy of the Communist Party. TERM 47 Patrimonial Rule DEFINITION 47 Rule by a domineering and personalistic elite. TERM 48 How does collective action work? DEFINITION 48 Once you become part of a group, rationality generally vanishes. The group usually follows the leader's decision if they have a leader. If they don't have a leader, the group will likely make an irrational decision. TERM 49 Why is there so much free ridership DEFINITION 49 Free ridership is when collective action works for activists. It's the people that don't participate in collective action. It constitutes 95% of the population. Most people weigh costs and benefits against participating. TERM 50 Of the methods to create cooperation, which works best? DEFINITION 50 When there is no finite number of iterations, or a very large number of iterations, repeated play creates cooperation. Anatol Paroport's THIS FOR THAT algorithm. TERM 51 Why does iteration create cooperation? DEFINITION 51 Iteration creates cooperation, because it causes the players to "take a chance" on the potential for a long stream of cooperation for at the first play. TERM 52 Russia has a semi-presidential government. How is it different from France's government? DEFINITION 52 Russia's government is different from France because the Russian president can be impeached while the French president cannot. TERM 53 How democratic is Russia's government? DEFINITION 53 It has a democratic basis, but in practice is not very democratic. TERM 54 What safeguards are there to Russia's democracy? DEFINITION 54 The safeguards are that the president may serve only two four year terms. The Constitutional Court reviews constitutionality of laws and conducts judicial review. TERM 55 How safe are Russia's safeguards? DEFINITION 55 Not very safe since Putin has almost dictatorship status. The president in Russia has immense power, far more than the US president president. TERM 56 What were the antecedents of the US Constitution? DEFINITION 56 John Locke - groups naturally become voluntary and free political states. Everyone is born free. Social Contract theory.Baron de Montesquieu - no government could elude autocracy unless there were separations of powers of institution. TERM 57 Why were Marx and Rousseau wrong turns? DEFINITION 57 Jean Jacques Rousseau believed in immense presidential power. While Marx supported workers rights but hated them personally. Supported an anticapitalist, communist government. TERM 58 Is the present era the end of ideology? DEFINITION 58 In 1992 when communism collapsed, lots of people talked about the end of ideology. This hasn't happened but it's better than it was before. TERM 59 What are public goods? DEFINITION 59 Public goods have properties of non-excludability and joint supply (non-competitive goods) TERM 60 How are public goods different from private goods? DEFINITION 60 Private goods have the properties of excludability and solitary supply. TERM 71 Why are subcommittees important and how do they proliferate? DEFINITION 71 Subcommittees are important because no one legislator can be sufficiently knowledgeable about every complex issue involving public policy. It also allows legislators to have more of an influence in the areas that are most important to their constituents. These committees proliferate because new issues constantly arise that don't neatly fit into already established committees. TERM 72 How do legislative leaders attempt to keep legislators in the party fold? DEFINITION 72 Legislative leaders choreograph the proceedings of the various committees and the committee chairs. They make sensible use of the institution's resources in order to keep the legislators to relevant institutional constituencies. TERM 73 When are committees willing to release bills to the floor of the house? DEFINITION 73 Committees are willing to release bills when the legislator's ideal point will accept the bill. They don't release the bill when the legislator's ideal point won't accept the bill. TERM 74 How did the white Minority in South Africa manage to prevent majority rule? DEFINITION 74 The White minority originally took power after the Boer War. They punished any opposition by arrest or by banning. They moved the black Africans into homelands, in sparse, barren lands that no white people wanted. TERM 75 Why did the white Afrikaner minority yield to majority, nonracial rule? DEFINITION 75 The white minority yielded to nonracial rule after a growing number of protests and large amounts of pressure from the international community. It was then that they agreed to talk to Mandela. TERM 76 How did Mandela and the ANC create a fair government? DEFINITION 76 Mandela and the ANC created a new government when Mandela was released from prison and the president negotiated a constitution. There was a war between the zulu and the African national congress. A constitution was negotiated, and black Africans were able to vote for the first time. They voted in Nelson Mandela. TERM 77 Why has Nigeria experienced many more difficulties in generating democratic government? DEFINITION 77 Nigeria had cascading military coups. The current president is a former military dictator. They have an unstable political system and people steal oil from the docks. TERM 78 What is a theocracy? DEFINITION 78 A theocracy is a government based upon religious principles only, usually with the assumption of divine guidance. TERM 79 How does a theocracy differ from a national religion? DEFINITION 79 It differs from a national religion because the religious leaders and laws become the civil leaders and civil laws in a theocracy, whereas in a national religion they don't. TERM 80 How did Iran's Shia Islamic leaders structure their government in order to prevent opposition power? DEFINITION 80 A senior Shia Islamic theologian is appointed as the faqih. He has immense power appointing all high military officers and judges, approving or disapproving candidates for elections, and the power to declare war. They also have a Council of Guardians, which reviews all laws passed by the legislation for adherence to Shia law and has veto power. In the case of Guardian-Majlis (legislature) conflicts, the faqih appoints Expediency Council to settle the matter. The elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards replaced the intelligence unit and report only to the faqih. TERM 81 What features of Iran's government would be found in non theocratic systems? DEFINITION 81 The head of government as the president who is elected for a term of four years and can only serve two terms is found in the United States. The national legislature, the Majlis, which is elected every four years, is also found in other countries. TERM 82 What features of Iran's government are truly theocratic? DEFINITION 82 The faqih, the spiritual leader, and the Council of Guardians are not found outside a theocratic government. TERM 83 How do rational bureaucrats under Niskanen's model behave? DEFINITION 83 Bureaucrats want as much money as they can get. The largest point for profit lies between low and high production on part of the bureaucracy. TERM 84 How can an activist legislature reign in a bureau? DEFINITION 84 An activist legislature can discover, through the hearing process, the parameters of bureau production; or it can disguise it's own willingness to pay. This forces the bureau to reveal a menu of production possibilities. TERM 85 What is bureaucratic drift? DEFINITION 85 When the bureaucrat pursues policy priorities that may not have been warranted in statutory authority. TERM 96 What are the factors that make regime change successful? DEFINITION 96 It has to 1. Achieve equilibrium, 2. State economic reform, 3. Start institutional design, 4. Settle contesting subcultures, 5. Realize that transitions are difficult. TERM 97 What are the various elements or versions of leadership? DEFINITION 97 1. Leader as an agent of the people or a follower.2. Leader as an agent-setter.3. Leader as an entrepreneur. TERM 98 Why do followers matter? DEFINITION 98 The support of the leaders followers is essential for the leader to accomplish objectives and to retain the position of power. This is especially true of self-governing groups. TERM 99 What is coordination power? DEFINITION 99 It deals with the ability of the leader to coordinate efforts among their followers to achieve their goals. TERM 100 Why do educated people seek to be leaders? DEFINITION 100 They have the abilities to lead and do so in order to either achieve personal or career fulfillment. TERM 101 What difference does reputation make? DEFINITION 101 It determines how people will act against you or for you. It will make people either follow you, or act against you. TERM 102 Is there an optimum number of veto players? DEFINITION 102 3 or 4 is supposed to be the ideal, the problem is you can't get a lot of legislation through.