definitions Flashcards
social movement
a collective group united by a common purpose
contentious politics
ordinary people joining forces in confrontation with elites
when sustained= social movement
revolution
observed mass mobilisation and institutional change and a driving ideology carrying a vision of social justice
structural causes of revolution
long term, large scale trends that undermine social institutions and relationships
transient causes of revolution
contingent events or action- reveal the impact of longer term trends and galvanise revolutionary opposition to take further action. sudden events that push society out of stability eg spikes in inflation, defeat in war
populism
thin centred ideology that considers society to be separated into 2 homogenous and antagonist groups. pure people vs the corrupt with politics as the expression of the general will
legislative responsibility
a leg majority has the constitutional authority to remove the government from office without cause eg a vote of no confidence
parliamentary democracy
democracies which depend on a leg majority to exist and in which the head of state is not popularly elected for a fixed term
presidential democracy
democracies in which the government does not depend on a legislative majority to exist
semi-presidential system
the government depends on a legislative to majority to exist and head of state is popularly elected for a fixed term
collective cabinet responsibility
disagreement in private, once a decision has been made they cannot publicly disagree eg Robin Cook resigned over the decision to go to war in Iraq. not In presidential systems ministers are in charge of specific areas and do not direct the general cabinet will
surplus majority government
cabinet contains more parties than are necessary to control a legislative majority.a government could remove a party and still control a legislative majority
formateur
job to construct a government. sometimes this must be the leader of the maj party (Greece and Romania), however in other countries they have far more power
liberalism
freedom from arbitrary authority combination of negative and positive freedom
realist model of democratic peace theory
internationally the state exists in anarchy as no binding international law. fear is the root conflict of international war - rational to defect from cooperation as you cannot rely on other states
kant on democratic peace theory
perpetual peace will only be gained from ever-widening of liberal pacific union so all countries must agree to market orientated economy, preservation of judicial freedom and state must be republican- society with combined moral autonomy, individualism and social order
interstate war
largescale, institutionally organised lethal violence between internationally recognised sovereign states
normative democratic peace theory
locates democratic peace in democratic norms
structural accounts for democratic peace theory
attribute democratic peace to institutional constraints in democracies
alternative democratic peace theory
states in high pressure environments are less likely to be democracies because such states are more likely to be involved in wars and autocratic regimes allow for divisiveness
Weber’s definition of the state
community that claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of force
contractural state view
state created through a social contract with the individuals who make it up
predatory view of the state
a state is in the position to threaten violence over citizens and makes it possible for them to exploit citizens which according to the social contract, they have a duty to protect. state is an unintended consequence of the strategies employed by actors to maintain their power
extractive institutions
‘reason why nations fail today’- unsustainable growth only carried out for the gain for elites
