Foundations of Comparative Government and Politics Free Online FlashCards

What is power in comparative politics?

Power is the ability of a political actor to influence behavior, control resources, shape decisions, or achieve desired outcomes.

How does authority differ from power?

Authority is the recognized and legitimate right to exercise power, usually within a lawful jurisdiction.

What is political legitimacy?

Legitimacy is the belief that a political system, government, institution, or policy has the right to rule or make decisions.

Define sovereignty.

Sovereignty is supreme political authority: internally, final authority within a territory; externally, legal independence from other states.

What four features define a state?

A state is a political organization with a defined territory, permanent population, government, and sovereignty or a claim to supreme authority.

How does a nation differ from a state?

A nation is an identity-based community, while a state is a political and territorial organization with government and sovereignty.

What is state capacity?

State capacity is the ability of public institutions to implement decisions and achieve policy goals.

Distinguish a regime from a government.

A regime is the system of rules, institutions, and practices governing how power is acquired and exercised; a government is the group currently exercising authority.

What defines a parliamentary system?

A parliamentary system fuses executive and legislative authority because the executive usually depends on legislative confidence.

What is a federal system?

A federal system constitutionally divides authority between national and regional governments.

What features generally define a democratic regime?

A democratic regime generally features competitive elections, broad participation, leader removal, civil and political rights, opposition, accountability, and rule of law.

What are the five stages of the policy process?

The policy process moves through agenda setting, formulation, adoption, implementation, and evaluation.