AP®︎ Comparative Government: Unit 3 Flashcards

The sphere of voluntary, meaningfully autonomous organizations outside direct state control through which people pursue shared interests, values, identities, or goals

A government-independent organization that works on issues such as human rights, relief, health, development, the environment, or government accountability

Civil society monitors and lobbies government, exposes official misconduct, represents shared interests, and gives citizens organizational and political skills

A diverse, autonomous, participatory, and legally protected civil society promotes democratization by informing citizens, building coalitions and civic skills, defending liberties, and holding government accountable

Governments restrict civil society through registration requirements, stigmatizing labels, official supervision, censorship, bans, forced dissolution, and repression of autonomous organizations

The collective attitudes, values, beliefs, and behavioral norms of a political system’s citizens, including expectations about authority, rights, participation, and the role of government

The political tension between maintaining stability, security, and obedience to law and protecting individual freedom from unnecessary government restraint

Geography, religious traditions, and history, which shape beliefs about government, individual rights, and citizen influence over policy

The lifelong process through which people acquire political beliefs, values, norms, and orientations

People, institutions, and environments that transmit political orientations, especially family, schools, peers, religious institutions, media, government, and civic organizations

Democracies permit competing socializing messages, while authoritarian regimes use greater state control and pressure to promote conformity with official beliefs

A prescriptive set of values and beliefs about the goals of government, public policy, and politics

Belief in individual civil liberties and freedom over governmental restrictions

Belief in limited government intervention in the economy and society, supporting privatization, free trade, deregulation, and elimination of state subsidies

Belief in abolishing private productive property and establishing near-total governmental control and planning of the economy

Belief in reducing income disparities and nationalizing major private industries while permitting private property and markets

An extreme nationalist ideology favoring authoritarian rule and the rights of the ethnic majority over ethnic minorities and political opposition

A political philosophy supporting the interests and rights of common people over elites through a people-versus-establishment appeal

The principle that established, consistently applied laws constrain government officials as well as citizens

The state’s use of law to enforce its authority without being meaningfully constrained by that law

Equality in social status, opportunity, and treatment together with equality in the distribution of income, wealth, resources, and material security

A system in which government plays a major role in protecting and promoting citizens’ economic and social well-being

The social valuing of self-expression and quality of life, generating pressure for goals such as environmental protection, equality, autonomy, and participation

Actions by individuals or groups intended to influence leaders, public policy, government operations, or a regime’s survival and legitimacy

Voluntary participation is freely chosen; coerced participation is required or pressured through laws, threats, sanctions, or social and political costs

Formal participation uses recognized government channels such as elections and referenda; informal participation applies pressure outside regular institutions through actions such as protests, strikes, or boycotts

Supportive participation reinforces a government or regime; oppositional participation seeks policy change, leadership replacement, institutional reform, or regime overthrow

The belief that one can understand and influence politics and that government will respond to citizen action

Political action using violence to pursue policy change, autonomy, secession, or regime overthrow, especially when peaceful channels appear blocked or ineffective

Elections can strengthen a regime’s rightful claim to rule by authorizing leaders and allowing voters to reward, punish, or remove them, while manipulated elections can weaken legitimacy

An institution or practice that lets citizens express grievances in a controlled way, reducing pressure for rebellion or revolution

Authoritarian regimes permit voting but manage participation and unfairly restrict meaningful competition so elections display support and preserve ruling-elite control rather than allow genuine turnover

Democratic electoral participation allows eligible citizens to vote freely among meaningful alternatives and hold leaders accountable through the possibility of electoral removal

A direct-democracy vote in which citizens decide a policy or constitutional question; it may promote democratic decision making, bypass the legislature, or shift responsibility for difficult decisions to voters

Major United Kingdom referenda include Scotland’s unsuccessful 2014 independence vote and the 2016 Brexit vote that led the country to leave the European Union

Candidates who compete against an incumbent or ruling party and offer voters an alternative government or political program

An election with meaningful alternatives in which opposition candidates can realistically campaign, win, take office, and exercise power

Democracies generally protect peaceful dissent while imposing limited order-based rules; authoritarian regimes prioritize control and suppress peaceful opposition more extensively

Guarantees of equal treatment and equal protection under law regardless of characteristics such as ethnicity, race, religion, or sex

Protections for individuals and groups against unjustified government interference, including freedoms of speech, press, religion, assembly, association, privacy, and due process

The ability of independent media to circulate political information, criticize officials, investigate abuses, and help citizens hold government accountable

Democratic regimes generally protect independent media but may impose limited restrictions involving libel, privacy, national security, public order, or ownership and broadcasting rules

Authoritarian regimes censor media by filtering and monitoring the internet, controlling licenses and publications, and dominating major broadcast outlets and opposition coverage

Iranian courts may suspend or revoke media licenses after a jury finds owners guilty of publishing anti-religious material or information detrimental to the national interest

The Russian government owns or controls most nationally important broadcast media and rigidly limits opposition news coverage

The open circulation of information about government decisions, proceedings, spending, and policy making

A regime with formally contested elections whose unfair, state-controlled conditions are designed to preserve the ruling elite

A hybrid regime with elections and some opposition activity but systematically unfair competition, weak civil liberties, limited media access, and low transparency; Russia is the course example

An enduring internal division, based on identity or social position, that structures relationships among groups in a society

A division based on socioeconomic position, such as income, occupation, property, education, or economic opportunity

A division among groups distinguished by shared ancestry, language, culture, or historical identity

A division between religions or between denominations within the same religion

A division among regions, nations, or center and periphery involving identity, unequal development, authority, or resources

Cleavages that divide people differently across issues, creating shared identities that can moderate conflict

Cleavages that place the same groups on opposing sides of several divisions, increasing polarization and the risk of conflict

China’s major cleavages divide the Han majority from ethnic minorities, the developed coast from inland and western regions, and advantaged urban residents from rural residents

Iran’s major cleavages divide the Shi'a majority from Sunni and recognized religious minorities and the Persian majority from ethnic minorities such as Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Arabs, and Baluchis

Mexico’s major cleavages divide the more developed north from the poorer and more Indigenous south and distinguish Indigenous communities from white and mestizo populations

Nigeria’s major cleavages divide its many ethnic groups, especially the Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo, and separate the predominantly Muslim north from the more religiously diverse south

A division between the ethnic Russian majority, culturally associated with Russian Orthodoxy, and the predominantly Muslim Chechens of the North Caucasus

The United Kingdom’s major cleavages include national and territorial divisions among its constituent nations, the unionist-nationalist divide in Northern Ireland, and racial and ethnic tensions associated with immigration and colonial history

The broader effort to separate a territory from a state, including demands for independence and sometimes substantially expanded autonomy

The withdrawal of territory from an existing state to establish an independent sovereign state

Regional or communal self-government over some affairs while remaining within the existing sovereign state

States respond to social cleavages through accommodation, guaranteed power-sharing, devolution of authority, or repression using legal restrictions, surveillance, detention, police, or military force

A regime gains legitimacy when it fairly represents and accommodates divided groups but loses legitimacy when exclusion, inequality, or repression convinces groups that its rule is unjust

A sovereign state containing multiple national, ethnic, religious, or territorially concentrated identity groups

Territorially concentrated and transnational identities can generate demands for autonomy, separatism, secession, or irredentism and can contribute to intergroup conflict, terrorism, civil war, or foreign encroachment