POLI 202

- German Sociologist
- Came up with definition of state
- "Compulsory political association whose administrative staff successfully upholds the claim to the monopoly of legitimate use of force in the enforcement of its order within a given territorial area".
- Four indicator of statehood:
1) continuous administrative staff
2) military which monopolizes the legitimate use of violence
3) a tax collection apparatus to support the administration and the military
4) clearly defined borders

A political organization where the state and the nation tend to overlap. Ireland and the Koreas are rare examples of such states. These types of states are home to one ethnic group. Most modern states are home to multiple nations (Canada, South Africa, England).

A connection of alliances the leader forms within and without the bureaucracy and the public sector in order to gain power and keep it. At the center of the regime is the leader who is surrounded by officials, strategically placed throughout the army, intelligence and administration. Membership is not permanent. New elements can be introduced at any time. A regime change usually means a complete change in the political system or the death of the leader or both.

A political organization with a permanent administration which effectively monopolizes the right to use legitimate force to defend order within their territory. In general, we talk about the states of Europe and North America, democratic states with powerful institutional structures. It is also assumed that when new elections are held and the government exit their offices, the state does not go with them, nor does the political system in place change.

Third World countries that are comprised of many autonomous social institutions. In these countries, there is no interdependence, just like a spider's web: when one thread is cut loose it does not destroy the whole web and the society can easily survive. Over half of Third World countries are high in ethnic and linguistic fractionalization. The difficulties leaders have had in many Third World countries in achieving social control relate to the state's place in these web-like societies.

The welfare state took shape mainly between the two world wars. It was John Stuart Mill who originally came up with the concept, unsatisfied with the classical liberal ideal of equality of rights, Mill advocated the equality of opportunity to exercise those rights. The welfare state amounted to the expansion of state duties beyond simply protecting private property to include a more active role in promoting distributive justice. This entailed extending an array of social benefits and rights. The welfare state financed these programs by taxing private corporations and introducing a system of progressive personal income taxes.

The cabinet is the council of ministers, the members of which are responsible for given departments of government activity and jurisdiction. The cabinet's duty is to assist the head of government. In some political systems such as Canada, the cabinet is collectively responsible to the legislature. This encourages teamwork and consensual decision making. No single member of the cabinet may be censured by the legislature. If the government is defeated in the legislature on a critical bill, then it is considered the defeat of the entire cabinet, which may be required to resign. Individual ministerial responsibility means that each minister is responsible for the affairs of their own department. Ministers may be compelled to resign as a result of scandal or failure of policy delivery.

An alliance of multiple political actors with the express purpose of designing coordinated strategies. For example, a coalition government brings together multiple political parties that harmonize and correlate their ideal policies. In the presidential system, separate elections for the legislature and the executive can lead to coalitions of political parties that come to control the two branches of government

The head of the council of ministers. The head of government is just below the head of state in the executive hierarchy. The duty of the head of government is the day-to-day management of the executive branch. The head of government is assisted by the cabinet. The doctrines of collective cabinet responsibility and individual ministerial responsibility significantly affect the powers of the head of government. In political systems where these doctrines are practiced, the head of government is 'first among equals'. However, the head of government is more powerful.

At the top of the hierarchy within the executive is the head of state, who not only symbolizes the unity of the state but, may also have important and effective political powers. There are two main types of head of state, elected and hereditary. In countries where the head of state is non-hereditary, he is usually called the president. Elected heads of state may be further classified according to whether elections are carried out directly by the people or indirectly by the representatives of the people. A number of contemporary democracies still have hereditary monarchs are their chief executive. Of the three types of head of state, hereditary chief executives tend to have the least amount of political power; their role is primarily ceremonial.

A political actor whose consent is necessary, but not sufficient, to alter the status quo. In the legislative process, both chambers of a bicameral legislature may be veto players if the constitution requires that a bill be passed by both in order to become law. Sometimes one chamber may override a veto of the other chamber.

A legislative vote that is called in order to test whether the executive enjoys the confidence of a working majority in the legislature. Sometimes the head of government may choose to designate the parliamentary vote of a given bill as a matter of confidence. This technique may allow the head of government to rein in potential defectors of the party who may otherwise vote against the party line on the given bill.

Similar to the confidence vote, this is also called to test the ability of the cabinet to enjoy the support of a working majority in the legislature. However, a no-confidence vote is called by the opposition. Some parliamentary systems use the constructive no-confidence vote, which requires that the motion designates an alternative head of government to the one whose removal is sought.

A political unit composed of independent states that accept to cede some of their sovereignty to common institutions. In this system, a set of sovereign states decide to create a union for the realization of specific goals (economic, military, etc.) The sovereign states delegate a certain number of powers to the government of the union. The state reserves the power to secede from the confederal system.

A principle of government that seeks to reconcile unity and diversity through the exercise of political power along multiple autonomous levels. The idea is to combine self-rule and shared rule. Through federalism, different political units can live together yet apart since they share a government while at the same time having their own. These units coexist within a common political framework but also enjoy political autonomy. Therefore, federalism attempts to maintain the delicate balance between the federal government's tendency to favour centralization and the will of the units to preserve their own power. Two main political uses:
1) Fragmentation of political power and the creation of checks and balances
2) managing ethnic, linguistic or religious diversity

A state in which two or more levels of government are sovereign within their own jurisdictions. The way territory is structured politically. A federation comprises a federal level of political authority and constituent(provincial). Three features of federation:
1) The formal division of power between central and regional governments
2) The division of power is specified in a constitution
3) The representation of constituent units within central institutions

Unitary states are more centralized than federations, although they may have more than one level of government. The crucial feature of a unitary state is that whatever powers regions or other governments have, they are delegated only by the central state, which means they can be "brought back" at any time without the approval of regional governments. The division of power can be changed unilaterally by the central government. The division of power is not written in the constitution, it is specified in an ordinary law that can be changed with a majority in parliament.

A type of democracy characterized by a grand coalition, proportional representation, mutual veto and segmental autonomy. Consociational democracy is found in those societies where the population is divided along religious, cultural or ethnic lines. Lijphart is chiefly responsible for popularizing the consociational democracy model. It is based on cooperation and accomodation among the elites of the different segments of society. The objective is to overcome divisions and conflicts at the mass level through elite accommodation.

When horizontal and vertical divisions intersect in a society. In most European states with deeply divided societies there are greater cross-cutting cleavages, namely class cleavages, that tend to ameliorate segmental hostility.

A form of state-society relations that assumes a dispersion of power among the state and different social interests. The power in society is not monopolized by a single group or an alliance of groups. Pluralism assumes that there is a dispersion of power among government agencies and among a plurality of social groups and interests. The existence of diverse and competitive interests is a source of stability in a democratic society.

A society in which the population is divided along different ethnic, linguistic, religious, regional, and/or cultural lines.

A way of organizing state-society relations in democratic, capitalist societies whereby compulsory, single, functional, hierarchical interest groups emerge from below. This system replaces mature pluralistic state-society relations. Under societal corporatism, direct negotiations between representatives of different interest groups and the executive branch of the state are regularly held to reach agreement on the country's economic, trade, labour, or welfare policies. The objective is to reach some kind of coordination and cooperation between the state and strategic sectors of society.

The attempt of the leadership of the state to organize the active components of society into a limited number of noncompetitive and hierarchically ordered categories. The objective is to penetrate every component of society, and allow the leadership of the state substantial control over the population. Based on the idea of establishing a hierarchical state structure with a clear chain of command running from the leader to the masses.To eliminate class conflict in Italy, Mussolini created 22 corporations to represent the different sectors of the economy. The function of these corporations was to coordinate activities and resolve conflict among different economic groups. It allowed the state control over the economy and reorganization of the economy for war purposes.

The type of democracy that emphasizes the protection and unhindered practice of the political and civil rights and liberties of individual citizens. "Freedom" is the ideal behind liberalism, individual liberty.

Type of democracy that concentrates political power in the hands of an electoral majority. Based on the assumption that the majority of the people should be responsible for governing.

An ideal political system which is characterized by the full participation of the population in the electoral process and full contestability of the government. Democracy approximates this type very closely. Free competition and full participation.

A type of democracy in which the political will of the people is exercised through decisions and choices of the agents whom they select to represent them. Representative democracy provides for indirect rule by the people. A parliamentary democracy is a form of indirect and representational democracy.

Sudden increase in the number of democratic regimes.