Political Regimes and Regime Change Free Online FlashCards

What is a political regime?

A regime is the enduring system of rules and institutions that determines how leaders are selected, how power is organized, and how political conflict is managed.

What features define a functioning democracy?

A functioning democracy requires meaningful, recurring, competitive elections, broad participation, political pluralism, civil liberties, rule of law, institutional constraints, and peaceful transfers of power.

What distinguishes presidential from parliamentary democracy?

In a presidential democracy, the executive and legislature usually have separate electoral mandates; in a parliamentary democracy, the executive normally depends on legislative confidence.

What is an authoritarian regime?

An authoritarian regime concentrates power in a leader, military institution, royal family, ruling party, or narrow elite while restricting meaningful political competition.

How should elections in authoritarian regimes be assessed?

The decisive test is whether opposition groups can compete fairly, criticize the government, organize freely, and actually win power—not merely whether an election occurs.

What is a hybrid regime?

A hybrid regime combines democratic forms, such as elections and limited opposition, with authoritarian practices that make competition unequal and accountability incomplete.

What is a key test for identifying a hybrid regime?

A key indicator is whether incumbents can actually lose office and leave power through elections. If state institutions make defeat extremely unlikely, the regime may be hybrid rather than fully democratic.

What does regime stability mean?

Regime stability is the ability of a political system to survive crises and transfer authority without violence, coups, civil war, or constitutional breakdown.

What factors commonly support regime stability?

Legitimacy, state capacity, institutionalization, economic performance, elite cohesion, adaptability, and security-sector loyalty can strengthen regime stability.

What is democratization?

Democratization is the process through which a political system becomes more democratic, including expanded rights, stronger competition, civilian control, and improved election administration.

What is democratic backsliding?

Democratic backsliding is the gradual weakening of democratic institutions, rights, and norms, often through legal or incremental attacks on courts, media, civil society, elections, or constitutional limits.

Why distinguish formal rules from actual practice?

Formal rules describe what institutions are supposed to do, while actual practice shows how power operates. Comparative analysis must examine both because constitutions may promise rights that institutions do not enforce.