Comparative Politics Final Exam

The cases have many similarities but the outcomes vary

usually analyzes as many cases as possible

QUALitative evidence

Democracy

1. Taxation increases the identification of citizens within a state

2. Taxation is a way to generate revenue for the state

administration and legibility

Taiwan is a modern state but not a sovereign state

True

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

measures the degree of income inequality within countries

All of the above:

1. well-protected property rights

2. well-functioning education systems

3. well-established Rule of Law

increasing income inequality

a character trait of indivudals

structuralism

Most poor countries are catching up with the developed world

profits

Clear accountability

Hypotheses can be tested against empirical evidence

economic development causes democracy

All of the Above:

1. People in a country internalize democratic norms

2. countries strengthen their democracy

3. Democracy becomes the only socially acceptable accepted system of government

exclusive economic institutions

colonialism explains why "modern states" can be seen almost everywhere in the planet

Direct democracy

democratic transition

Netherlands

the civil society

an ideological tendency that favors liberal democracy and market-led development

False

The structure of the international economy

that state is a political organization that is embedded in society, and the extent to which it is autonomous from various groups differ from case to case.

United Kingdom

False, prime minister is head of government

False, the president is head of state and head of government

The French Revolution

Semi-presidential or hybrid systems

hybrid system

bureaucratic-authoritarian regime

independent of the executive in a checks-and-balances system

1. serves as the chief executive (head of state/government)

2. is determined by popular vote

none of the above are forms of contention (all done in political system)

work slowdown

Tunisia

the internet can help strengthen authoritarian dictatorships

have two votes, one for their preferred party and the other for their preferred candidate

are very common in culturally homogenous countries

435

False

symmetrical and cooperative system

1. head of state

2. head of government

Totalitarian

judicial activism

elected legislators

United Kingdom

Gerrymandering

25 seats

a lower chamber

social revolution

False

All of the Above

1. terrorism can be perpetrated by states

2. terrorism includes attacks on uniformed military personnel

3. terrorism can have multiple goals and aims beyond instilling fear for political purposes

1. coalitions of actors at different historical moments may help account for the persistence or collapse of regime types

2. political history is largely characterized by institutions that have become more democratic and less authoritarian over time

proportional representation

An Asymmetrical federal system

collective action

The country's security forces and its military have to remain independent from civilian leadership

systematically coordinated and cognitively salient set of beliefs focused on politics

liberalism

fascism

socialism

collective vs. individual

economic systems (state-led vs. market)

political systems (authoritarian vs. democractic)

its an important component of a country's political culture and beliefs people hold about politics

1. Individual over collective, emphasizes individual freedoms

2. economic system is market-led (ex: private)

3. political systems have representative democracy

a form of liberalism that favors state action to promote relative economic and social equality

a form of liberalism that seeks to minimize the role of government

1. Emphasizes collection (the "nation") often to the exclusion of another collective, like Nazie Germany over Jews

2. Economic system is a state-led economy

3. Poltical system is authoritarian or single-party rule

1. Emphasis of collective equality over individuals

2. Economic system is state-led (public ownership)

3. different political structures from democracy to communism

- social democracy is still liberalism, but leans a little closer to collective emphasis and state-led economy

- the political system is equal with liberalism

Libertarianism is beyond liberalism in emphasis on individualsim, market-led economy and democracy

- compares party platforms across countries

- negative value = very left beliefs

- positive value = right beliefs

- American parties stand generally stand to the right

a socially-constructed concept that human beings are divided into different groups

- based on skin color

- often thought of as biological categories

- but actually is social construction (a process of racialization)

socially-constructed concept that human beings are divided into different groups with a strong cultural commonality and shared sense of history

- conceptually broader than race (based on more than perceived biology)

individual choices that select/exclude one groups's members and not others

- policies that target one group over another (racial profiling)

- policies that causes disadvantages for particular ethnic groups (voting restrictions)

- a group of 25-35 million people stretched over 5 states in the middle east

- had no common language (4 dialects)

- no common religion (muslim, christian, yazidism)

- Post WWI, the kurds called for a state of their own

- Treaties of Sevres and Lausanne

- allies allowed syrian, iraqi, iranian, turkish border to form but unrealized kurdish state

- systematic discrimination in turkey, syria, and iraq

- not legally recongized as minority group, denied citizenship and destroyed kurdish villages

- another form of systematic discrimination where political leaders explicitly favor sertain ethnic groups (usually their own) over others

- "rent-seeking" behavior

- under-provision of public goods

Ghana

- Ashanti ethnic group's major export good was cocoa

- other ethnic groups had animousities towards them ans so actively undermined the cocoa-sector

countries with higher levels of ethnic diversity ahcieve lower levels of economic performance

- the U.S. is fairly diverse, why?

ethnic parties, which emerge when..

- settings with high diversity

- no other salient political cleavages exist

- PR system instead of single-member district

- to ensure broad ethnic representation

- candidate-quota system

- reserved-seat system

certain number of candidates from a given group running in an election

number of parliamentry seats reserved for given group

f

social label ascribed to an individual or group that located them in society more broadly

- social science shows the "In group" and "Out group"

- typically a large, permanent population

- thinks of themselves as

1. soveriegn

2. equal

the belief that "nations" should be the basic unit of political and social life

- what does it take to be an "American?"

- membership in the nation depends on membership in the state (citizenship)

- shared commitment to political values of the country

- examples: France, Britain, Australia, U.S.

- membership in the nation depends on shared ancestry

- even if you don't have citizenship, you might still be a member of the nation

- examples: Japan, Russia, Germany

France nation and kindgom historically fused

- nation-state formed around a single poltical center

- living in the French Kingdom hs always meant "being French"

Germany nation and empire were distinct from one another

- Prussia was binational (German and Polish)

- weak institutions of German states failed to shape state-anchored national consciousness

- living in the Holy Roman Empire has not always meant "being German"

independence from UK in 1947

- leaders tried to create "civic nationalism" and was largely unsuccessful

- various competing definitions of "what it means to be Indian"

hindu nationalism

- a core pillar of Indian national identity

- beef bans

- "National Yoga Day"

- increase in hindu birth rates

- drive to convert muslims, christians to hinduism

- believe all societies have a form of nationalism

- since collective identity is necessary for societies to function, a form of nationalism is universal

- study sociobiology and evolutionary psychology

(theories that try to explain human behavior and society through evolution)

- biologically rooted

- not all identities are natural and universally present

- many think evolved in the Medieval times

- national identity present when a sengle, strongly identified group has their own language and territory

- define more inclusively than modernists, but more exclusively than primordialists

- less popular belief

1. nation cannot be just a small elite, but has to correspond to all of society's population

2. society's members are alll equal in some way

3. the nation is soveriegn

- emerged in 17th and 18th centuries in Europe, did not happen historically but is common now

- structuralism

- constructivism

sees big, difficult-to-change parts of society as determining what really matters about national identity

EX: industrialization leads to social mobility, shared language and common understandings

views nations as symbolic constructs and therefore places greater emphasis on creative efforts of individuals and groups to define and redefine their identities

sees ethnicity as a product of political entrepreneurs seeking to manipulate populations for the pursuit of their own strategic ends

1. primordial bonds

2. cultural boundaries

3. material interests

4. rational calculation

5. social psychology

- groups exist prior, and conflicts take place when these pre-existing groups feel their group and identity is under threat

- EX: globalization can make a group feel their identity is being diluted

- people's passions and loyalties cause the conflict

- conflict is the result of the distinct ways in which groups and their boundaries are constructed

- drawing boundaries increases likeliness one group will attack another

- "us" and "them" mentallity

the instrumentalist theory

- people pursue material interests

- national pride, dignity and purity of ethnic groups don't matter to them

- ethno-national identities are just instruments for the pursuit of other purposes

- uses mathematical models

- ability of a group to anticipate threats and make rational choices

- perceived likelihood of another group being violent, likelihood of winning if conflict broke out, and costs of avoiding violence

- colectively held or group feelings and resentments lie behind conflict

- relative deprivation

- focuses on "us" and "them" and social statuses

- response is to an increase in intergroup grievances

research carried out by social scientists to measure the extent to which hiring practices are discriminatory

- social movement mobilization

- political parties based on gender and ethnicity

- institutions for promoting women's and minority group representation

an ideological complex that favors secular (non-religious) culture

secularization = more modern = less religious

- religions become differentiated, privitized and loes public influence

defines a given phenomenon by what it DOES

defines a given phenomenon by what it IS

lay states establish a formal separation between religion and public life

religious states have religion play a key part in policy making

1. modernization theory and secularization

2. the "religious economics" approach

3. institutional theories

1. as societies modernize, religious organizations become more differentiated from other organizations, especially the state

2. as economic development increases, religious beliefs tend to decline

- there will always be variations in levels of religious demand

- a generic level of religious demand is constant

- like all markets, religious monopolies are bad, since competition spurs innovation

- thus, the US's high levels of pluralsim = high religiousity and UK with an established religion = low religiosity

interdependent institutions that function together systematically, through ordered networks

- religious institutions have a core function of creating social legitimacy, providing a narrative that supports the existing social order

2. The weakness of the Congolese state (allowed forharboring rebels)

3. The Rwanda Genocide and spillover in refugee camps

- illiterate

- no real training

- from many different military groups

- poor communication

- top heavy, more officers than troops, not enough room for everyone

idk

- Cultural geography doesn’t match up withnational boundaries

- Colonizers specifically privilege ethnic groupsin specific areas, leaving huge disparities between groups, leaving relativedeprivation

- Lack of national identity because ofdisplacement

- Tribal remembrance

- had no political interest for leaders, only would bring casualties

- Stearn argues the UN and international community viewed the Congo to be in a post-conflict state because of 2006 elections, so focused humanitarianly instead of seeing present conflict

- thought building a strong state would get rid of the problems

- Worry it would be another Afghanistan

genocide of 800,000 Hutu and Tutsi at the hands of Hutu militia and army

- Hutu regime crumbed and the Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front, led by Laul Kagame, took power

- Hutu fled across the border into Zaire along with those who committed the genocide

- ended after the toppling of dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997

- installed president Laurent Kabila

- began after the fall out between Kabila and his backers, Rwanda and Uganda in 1998

- which lasted until peace deal in 2003

- after 2006 elections

- failed army reform

- marginalization of RCD who was only given 4 percent of poltical influence

- pressure of elections

- led to rebel of RCD backed by Ruwanda

- continues in Kivu region