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accountability
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DEF: the concept that government officials are responsible to and serve at the pleasure of constituents or elected officials (and that they may be removed from office by those electors of officials)
EX: the presdient is voted for to serve the people, can be impeached by senate if he makes a mistake
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adjudicate
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DEF: to resolve a matter in dispute; when backed up by the authority of government the decision can be enforced
EX: ?
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autarchy
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DEF: complete self-sufficiency
EX: North Korea, but still has limited trade with PRC and Japan; modernization is forcing more trade
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authoritarianism
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DEF: system of governance based on coercion rather than political legitimacy
EX: PRC justifies authoritarian rule by communist party by saying it leads to economic prosperity
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authority
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DEF: the legal right to exercise power on behalf of the society and/or government
EX: our Constitution gives congress the authority to pass laws
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autocracy
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DEF: system of governance in which a small group/one person has absolute power
EX: Soviet Union under Stalin or Iraq under Sadaam Hussein
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cabinet
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DEF: in a parliamentary system, the group of ministers who direct administratice bureaucracies (called ministries) and make up the govenment, which is responsible to the parliament; in a presidential system, the administrative directors responsible to the president
EX: the president's cabinet consists of secretary of state, secretary of defense, etc.
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catch-all party
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DEF: political party who aims to gather support from a broad range of citizens through a de-emphasis of ideology and an emphasis on pragmatism, charismatic leadership, and marketing
EX: New Deal coalition brought together labor unions, southern Dixiecrats, progressives, and others
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citizen
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DEF: a member of a state who is legally entitled to full civil rights and is legally obliged to perform defined public duties
EX: voting, paying taxes
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civic culture
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DEF: a political culture in which citizens widely share a belief in the ligitmacy of their regime and a trust in the government; therefor the citizens demonstrate restraint in their demands on the government
EX: in US reasoned loyalty and obedience to law because of participation allowed by constitution
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civil servants
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DEF: employees of the government who administer (not make) policy; expected to serve any and all governments
EX: independent agencies, not politically related
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civil service
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DEF: system of carefully describing the tasks involved in performing government jobs, evaluating applicants for those jobs, and hiring people from among those applicants based on skills and experience rather than political factors; also protects incumbents in civil service positions from politically based retribution
EX: Pendleton Act of 1883 replaced spoils system
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civil society
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DEF: all those organizations outside of government and commercial arenas which provide avenues of public participation in society
EX: PTA, Rotary Club, United Way, de Tocqueville
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class
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DEF: the divisions of society into groups according to economic roles and status attributes
EX: more prevelant in other countries than US
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cleavage
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DEF: factors that seperate groups within a society; may be cultural, historic, geographic, economic, ethnic, racial, etc.; the wider and deeper the cleavages, the less unified the society; cleavages which coincide with one another can reinforce each other; cleavages that don't coincide can weaken the divisions between groups
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collective responsibility
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DEF: in a parliamentary system, concept that all cabinet members agree on policy decisions and that all will be responsible for the results
EX: more division within parties from legislative/executive in US
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command economy
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DEF: an economic/political system in which government decisions rather than markets determine resource use and output
EX: PRC started changing to a more market type economy in 1978 but still under Communist Party control
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compromise
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DEF: a decision-making process in which all parties concede some of their goals in order to reach other of their goals through agreements with other political actors
EX: Great Compromise in constitutional convention
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conflict
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DEF: situation in which values, goals, or policies are contradictory or incompatible with each other
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consensus
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DEF: decision-making process that emphasizes win-win outcomes while seeking to avoid zero-sum or win-lose situations
EX: 1993 consensus between Democrats and Republicans about need for healthcare reform, interest of both parties emphasized
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constant
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DEF: any of those things in comparative case analysis that are essentially identical in studied examples
EX: ?
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constitution
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DEF: a supreme law that defines the structure of a nation-state's regime and the legal processes governments must follow
EX: US vs. UK
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corporatism
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DEF: a system of governance in which the government is dominated by representativees of groups within society; may or may not be democratic to some degree
EX: popular in countries with small, open economies and many labor unions; like Ireland, Finland, Sweden, or Austria
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coup d'etat
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DEF: forceful replacement of a regime or a government by a small elite group or groups
EX: occured after financial crisis in Thailand of 1998 and in many other developing countries in late 20th century
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demand
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DEF: pressures from people and interest groups on the government and state for change
EX: demand for economic help after depression led to New Deal
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democratization
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DEF: spread of representative government to more countries and the process of making governments more representative
EX: Great Britain democratized
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dependent variable
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DEF: the result of a political decision making which is determined by the inputs, institutions, and processes (independent variables)
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devolution
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a process in a unitary system of delegating some decision-making to local public bodies
EX: assembly created in N. Ireland as result of Belfast Agreement of 1998
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distributive policies
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DEF: government policies that allocate valuable resources
EX: government policies that distribute money for highways, education, etc.
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economic liberalization
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DEF: policy designed to remove political controls over economic activity
EX: American healthcare more liberalized, i.e. privatized, than other western democracies
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executive
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DEF: the people and agencies which implement/execute government policy
EX: US executive branch
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extractive policies
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DEF: government efforts to gather valuable resources for public use
EX: taxes
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faction
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DEF: a group organized on the grounds of self-perceived common interest within a political party, interest group, or government
EX: Federalist no. 10
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failed state
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DEF: a state within which the government has lost the ability to provide the most basic of public servies
EX: Sudan
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feedback
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DEF: the reactions of people and organizations that shape political environments for furture policy making
EX: public opinion polls
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first past the post/single member district
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DEF: an electoral system in which voters choose an individual running for office in each legislative district
EX: representative districts in US
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function (public)
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DEF: the things done by government to decide on, implement, and enforce policy decisions
EX: private functions are done by individuals and private organizations to further goals
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fusion of powers
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DEF: a system of governance in which the authority of government is concentrated in one body
EX: opposite of US with seperation among 3 branches
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generalization
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DEF: a description of common features of a chosen group or category of examples
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governance
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DEF: the characteristics of a regime or a government
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grassroots politics
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DEF: locally organized activism, as opposed to top-down, hierarchial organizing
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import substitution
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DEF: government policy that uses trade restrictions and subsidies to encourage domestic production of manufactured goods
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independent variable
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DEF: any one of the inputs, institutions, or processes that shape the results of government decision-making
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industrial policy
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DEF: a government's decisions and actions, which define goals and methods for the manufacturing sectors of an economy
EX: decisions regarding taxes, regulations, etc.
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inputs
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DEF: demands and support by individuals and groups upon the decision making process of government
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interest aggregation
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DEF: ways in which demands of citizens and groups are amalgamated into proposed policy packages
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interest articulation
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DEF: the methods by which citizens and groups can express their desires and make demands upon government
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interventionist
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DEF: describing an activist government and/or state that is involved in a wide range of political, economic, and social arenas
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iron triangle
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DEF: private interests, bureaucrats, and legislators
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Keynesian economics
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DEF: ideas of John Maynard Keynes that governments can manipulate macroeconomic demand through taxation and spending policies in order to foster stable growth
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