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POLI 212 > MIDTERM 1 > Flashcards

MIDTERM 1 Flashcards

1
Q

What is a state? Which author says this?

A

A state is a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of force within a given territory (Weber)

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2
Q

What does Weber’s definition of states mean (5)?

A
  1. Power to defend from external enemies and internal rivals
  2. A set of institutions to implement policies
  3. The population sees the state as legitimate
  4. Resources to exercise its power
  5. Sovereignty
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3
Q

What is sovereignty?

A

Ability to carry out actions and policies independently from external factors and internal rivals

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4
Q

What are external actors and internal rivals of the state?

A

External actors: neighbouring states, superpowers, powerful multinational corporations
Internal rivals: the Church, organised crime, rebel movements, oligarchs

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5
Q

What are involuntary reductions in sovereignty (5)?

A
  1. Invasion
  2. Installation of puppet government
  3. Domination by a more powerful neighbour who asserts “sphere of influence”
  4. Pressure by more powerful neighbour that limits the range of options a state has
  5. Globalization
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6
Q

What are voluntary reductions in sovereignty (3)?

A

International law
International organization membership
Economic interdependence

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7
Q

What is international law?

A

Countries choose to comply with conventions they sign on to and accept limits to their sovereignty as a result.

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8
Q

What is international organization membership? An example?

A

Countries delegate a part of their sovereignty to the supranational institutions. EU.

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9
Q

What is economic interdependence?

A

Tariffs and duties, monetary unions

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10
Q

What is Krasner’s view (5)?

A
  1. Sovereignty was never absolute: claims it’s dead due to globalization overestimate it in previous periods.
  2. Sovereignty emerged much later than the Treaty of Westphalia. Took longer for state to take out its main rival, the Church.
  3. International human rights doesn’t mean end of sovereignty (not fully enforceable)
  4. Globalization does not undermine state control (but changes its scope)
  5. The EU is a new model of a quasi-state that pools member states’ sovereignty.
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11
Q

What are public goods?

A

Good provided to and benefits all members of society.
Non-rivalrous (My consumption does not diminish the good)
Non-excludable (Once provided, all can consume)

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12
Q

What is the public good free riding problem?

A

If the good is non-excludable, why should I contribute? If too many ask/act on this, the good provision will collapse.

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13
Q

What does state size refer to?

A

State size: the extent of state role in the economy and society– how much does the state seek to regulate? (big or small)

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14
Q

What does state capacity refer to?

A

How well can the state do the things it sets out to do? State ability to fulfill tasks and to implement policies independently of internal rivals.

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15
Q

Characterize by size and capacity the US, late USSR, Scandinavian states and Early post Communist states.

A

Strong/small: US
Weak/big: late USSR
Strong/big: Scandinavian states
Weak/ small: Early post Communist states.

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16
Q

What is state building (4)?

A

Increasing state capacity
Institutions and processes to make the state work more efficiently
Deepening and strengthening shared beliefs/norms/conventions to reduce free-riding/coordination problems and increase efficiency of providing public goods
International organizations (EU, World Bank, etc) through conditionality

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17
Q

What is state failure? Author?

A

Extreme state weakness; State no longer capable/willing to provide main public goods: security
Rotberg

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18
Q

Explain the case study of Ukraine

A

State capacity believed to be low: high tax evasion by oligarchs, welfare state malfunctioning, corruption.
Prediction: Ukraine easily invaded by Russia easily
State capacity turned out to be higher: army stopped Russian advance immediately, economy continues functioning, trains run on time, “invincibility centers”, pensioners still receive pensions, new underground schools built, etc.
State sovereignty: Russia invaded to install a puppet regime (involuntary, complete loss of sovereignty); instead Ukraine wants to integrate in EuroAtlantic institutions (voluntary, limited loss of sovereignty)

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19
Q

What is a democracy? Which author defines it?

A

Rulers are elected in uncertain and irreversible elections and where every turnover in power is determined by an election.
Schmitter and Karl

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20
Q

What characterizes a democratic election (7)?

A

Fair
Clean
Competitive
Universal suffrage
No boycott by major political actors
Freedom of assembly and freedom of speech
Everyone accepts the results (while challenging irregularities)

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21
Q

What is a consolidated democracy? Author?

A

Political regime in which democracy as a complex system of institutions, rules, and patterned incentives and disincentives has become, in a phrase, “the only game in town.“ (Linz and Stepan)

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22
Q

What conditions are to be met to have a consolidated democracy (3)? Which author makes this claim?

A

Civil, Economic, and Political society
Rule of law
State bureaucracy (capacity)
Linz and Stepan

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23
Q

What is NOT democracy? Author?

A

Specific economic model
Particular set of institutions
Good governance
Not more stable and orderly by definition or in practice
Schmitter and Karl

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24
Q

What is a dictatorship?

A

A regime characterized by limited contestation and accountability and high concentration of power.

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25
Q

What are the types of dictatorships?

A

Military, personalistic, party-based, totalitarian, authoritarian

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26
Q

What is totalitarianism (3)? Author?

A

Eliminate all political, economic, and social pluralism
Unified, articulated, utopian ideology into every individual and mobilize all of society around it
Fusion of party and state: Party recruited office-holders (surveillance, repression)
Linz and Stepan

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27
Q

What is communism (3)?

A

Marxism-Leninism:
No political, economic, or social pluralism
Creation of a communist man
World system

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28
Q

What is the difference between communism and the Soviet Bloc’s actual regime? Author?

A

Neither the USSR nor the Soviet Bloc regimes ever claimed to have achieved communism; they kept putting out dates and then pushing them back.
Verdery

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29
Q

What does the economy of totalitarianism look like (7)?

A

State ownership of means of production
“Command economy” (central planning) Economies of shortage
No market=no meaningful prices
Overemphasis on growth and modernization (stakhanovite methods)
No small / medium-sized firms.
No entry and exit of enterprises

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30
Q

What is authoritarianism (2)?

A

Maintaining power is more important than implementing ideological project
Power through charisma, patronage, one-party structure, repression.

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31
Q

What is a military regime (4)?

A

Typically start through a coup
The military restricts political and civil liberties
Often engage in repression/extrajudicial killing of political actors as source of the previous instability.
Rarely lasts

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32
Q

What is a personalist regime (3)?

A

Charismatic leadership by one individual who is the ruler
Can be a personality cult
Usually regime ends when they die

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33
Q

What is a one-party rule (4)?

A

One party excludes other groups from power
Usually penetrate society and keep tabs on potential challengers.
Mobilizing support for the regime, distributing favours (clientelism).
Members of the party have privileged access to resources.

34
Q

What is the relationship between totalitarianism and one party regimes?

A

All totalitarian regimes have been one-party regimes, but not all one-party regimes are totalitarian

35
Q

What are examples of a one party rule?

A

Late-stage Soviet Union and Soviet bloc regimes had evolved into authoritarian one-party states. Portugal under Salazar and Russia under Putin.

36
Q

What are illiberal regimes (3)? Example?

A

Common authoritarian regime today
May hold elections, but playing field is skewed and incumbent is guaranteed to win
Incumbent is weakly constrained by rule of law or institutions
Erdogan in Turkey since 2003

37
Q

Are dictatorships durable (3)?

A

Social revolutions that have transformative ideologies and one-party states are very durable because they have a way to transfer power without falling (USSR, China, Vietnam, Cuba)
Personalist dictatorships can be durable if the leader lives long but they rarely pass on power so they end when dictator dies
Military rule and illiberal regimes usually are shorter because they are constrained by pressure to return to civilian rule (military rule) or pressure from growing opposition that is neither fully repressed (illiberal regimes)

38
Q

What is a hybrid regime?

A

Combine elements of democracy and dictatorship

39
Q

What is competitive authoritarianism (4)? Which author?

A

Democratic rules of the game are accepted, but aren’t followed much of the time
Competition and participation are high and electoral outcomes are unpredictable.
Actors are unable to consolidate authoritarianism.
Levitsky & Way : between low-quality democracy and missing democracy

40
Q

What are the arenas of competition in a competitive authoritarian regime (4)? Author?

A

Electoral arena
Legislative arena
Judicial arena
The media
In all these arenas, the incumbents try but fall short of imposing control.
Levitsky and Way

41
Q

When can competitive authoritarianism emerge? Author?

A

Competitive authoritarianism can emerge either from authoritarianism decaying or from democracy decaying
Levitsky and Way

42
Q

What are Levitsky and Way examples of hybrid regimes? What does this indicate?

A

Albania, Croatia, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine.
Today, none of these states fit the category; they have either consolidated democracies or authoritarianism.
This suggests that competitive authoritarianism isn’t a durable regime type.

43
Q

How to determine what form of government a country has

A
  1. Are head of state and head of government the same person or two different people?
  2. Are head of state and head of government elected? If so, how (directly/indirectly)?
  3. What’s the relative power of the head of state vs the head of government
44
Q

What are defining features of presidentialism (6)? Author?

A

President is head of state and head of government
Directly elected
Fixed term in office
Strong separation of powers
Govt/cabinet is selected by and responsible to the president
System of dual legitimacy
Linz

45
Q

What are defining features of parliamentarism (5)? What are example countries?

A

Executive and legislative branches are fused
Head of Government (PM) elected by the legislature
Executive does not serve fixed term in office
Head of state and head of government are two separate people
Head of state is not directly elected or powerful (president does NOT make the system presidential!)
Examples: Canada, most of Europe, Britain, Israel, Japan, India

46
Q

What are defining features of semi presidentialism (4)? What are examples?

A

The head of state (usually the President) and the head of government (usually PM) are two different people, both with real power
President is directly elected for a fixed term
PM is elected by the legislature
If president can appoint or remove PM this is a presidential system
Examples: France, Portugal, Poland

47
Q

What is cohabitation? When does it occur?

A

In semi-presidentialism, the PM and president are from 2 different parties.

48
Q

What are problems of presidentialism (4) ? Who states this? What is the alternative? Why?

A

Linz
Dual legitimacy: Possibility of divided government (president and legislature have their own electoral mandate)
Winner-takes-all: losers do not have a stake in the system and may reject democracy
Rigidity of fixed terms: fixed presidential term limits + unpopular president = lame duck effect
Aggrandizement of presidents
Parliamentarism is better for democratic regime stability: Power concentrated in the legislature where several parties share power

49
Q

Who comes to the defence of presidentialism? What point is made (3)?

A

Shugart and Mainwaring
Accountability to voters (Directly elected executive responsible to voters; independence in legislation)
Checks and balances (prevents one party dominance)
Smaller likelihood of extreme cabinet instability or disproportionate influence of extreme ideological parties

50
Q

What are electoral systems (4)?

A

A collection of rules that determine:
1. The number of candidates that are elected and the number of districts
2. The way in which voters express their views on the ballot
3. The way in which votes are counted and the way in which votes translate into victory
4. Regulations on campaign finance, political advertisement, registration, etc.

51
Q

What are the electoral systems? Author?

A

Proportional Representation: Parties gain seats in proportion to the votes won
Plurality systems: The candidate with more votes than any other single candidate wins
Lijphart

52
Q

What is Duverger’s law?

A

There will be only two parties under plurality and more than two under proportional representation.
Plurality system favors large parties, voters know that small parties are disadvantaged (strategic voting).

53
Q

How do electoral systems affect redistribution? Which author states this?

A

Proportional representation systems have more redistributive policies
FPP/plurality systems with two parties have less redistributive policies.
Iversen and Soskice

54
Q

What is a party?

A

Association of people who identify themselves and are joined together by a public label for the purpose of winning control of government by means of presenting their own candidates in elections for public office

55
Q

Where do parties come from? Which reading?

A

Dalton
Social cleavages led to the creation of parties that compete on debates that spring from the opposing interests.
Class voting declined across democracies and new cleavages emerged (post-materialist cleavages)

56
Q

What is a charismatic party?

A

Voter likes the leader, not the party (parties cannot survive their leader leaving politics)
No coordination costs, no organization
There could be charismatic leaders of non-charismatic parties (Trump in GOP)

57
Q

What is a clientelist party?

A

Voter expects, requests, and receives private rewards
Organization is necessary
Usually associated with corruption

58
Q

What is a programmatic party?

A

Voter expects public good
Organized and highly coordinated party
Well-developed ideological/party platform

59
Q

What are catch all vs niche parties?

A

programs designed to appeal to a wide section of society (US parties) vs. parties that focus on just one issue that some voters would be committed to (e.g. Green parties, anti-immigration parties)

60
Q

What is a cartel party?

A

Close links to the state
Focused more on governing than representing

61
Q

What is a business firm party?

A

Adapting and using the organizational models in business to politics

62
Q

What is a social movement party?

A

Emerges out of social movements protesting against political decisions

63
Q

Why do democracies need parties (3)?

A

Voters: information shortcut
Greater probability of anti-systemic figure coming to power
Parties condense possible issue conflicts into manageable set of policy choices

64
Q

What is a party system?

A

Two-party systems
Dominant party systems
Multi-party systems

65
Q

What are signs of party system institutionalization (7)?

A

All politicians belong to parties
Well-developed party organizations
High ideological cohesiveness in each party
Party system organized around cleavages
High levels of party ID
Low electoral volatility
High party discipline in parliament

66
Q

What do courts do? What types of cases are there?

A

Apply the laws to cases and adjudicate disputes by hearing evidence and applying the law to reach a decision.
Criminal cases, civil, administrative (citizen v state) and constitutional

67
Q

What is the difference between common and civil law traditions? Which reading?

A

Common law:
Professional judiciary, court hierarchy, Case law
Civil law:
Bureaucratic judiciary, Parallel court hierarchies, Codification, Legislative supremacy
Favoreu

68
Q

What functions do courts have (3)?

A

Constitutional review: The power to declare laws unconstitutional (Constitutional Court)
Balancing powers
Advisory review

69
Q

What is the rule of law (5)? Author?

A

Equal responsibility / protection under law
Governments are limited by universal laws
No one can trample citizens’ natural rights
Proscription of extra-legal punishment
Predictable and efficient implementation of laws on the books
O’Donnell

70
Q

What is not the rule of law

A

Type of institutional setup of judiciary
Law and order

71
Q

What is the relationship between rule of law and democracy? Author?

A

Democratic regime requires participation and contestation which require fundamental political and civil rights
Rule of law is more likely to guarantee respect for these rights
O’Donnell

72
Q

What is the relationship between rule of law and economic development?

A

Rule of law facilitates protection of property rights from encroachment by state or by competitors
Stable property rights facilitate long-term investment
Higher rates of investment facilitate economic growth and development

73
Q

What is an institution? Author?

A

An organization that is self-perpetuating and structures expectations about behaviour. They organize social, political and economic life.
The rules of the game in society are embedded in people’s lives and aren’t easily dislodged or changed.
Helmke

74
Q

What is a formal institution? Examples?

A

Created, communicated, and enforced through officially sanctioned rules that are relatively clear.
Rights and regulations and the constitution.

75
Q

What are informal institutions? Who defined them?

A

The (usually unwritten) conventions, social norms, customs, or traditions that shape thought and behaviour.
They are communicated and enforced outside official channels, but no less powerful because they are socially shared.
Helmke and Levitsky

76
Q

What are not informal institutions?

A

Weak formal institutions, behavioral regularities, cultural norms, or unofficial organizations.

77
Q

What is a complementary informal institution?

A

An informal institution with the same rules as a formal one. The institutions cooperate and overdetermine the outcome

78
Q

What are accommodating informal institutions?

A

Violate the spirit, but not the letter of the formal rule.
Violate the spirit of democratic representation through cartel-like behaviours, but they sustain formal democracy.

79
Q

What is a competing informal institution?

A

They prescribe different courses of action, actors often take the one prescribed by the informal institution

80
Q

What is a substitutive informal institution? What is the danger?

A

Outcome is compatible with formal institutions which are weak and the informal institution produces the outcome.
If an actor decides to violate the informal institution, there will be weak formal guardrails to stop them.

81
Q

Where do institutions come from (3)? Author?

A

Historical institutionalism: institutions have limited opportunity for change
Rational choice institutionalism: institutions are equilibria sustained only as long as they produce more benefits than costs for all actors involved. Change will happen if an actor no longer benefits from the institution.
Sociological institutionalism says institutions come from cultural norms and are very stable.
Helmke and Levitsky

POLI 212 (2 decks)

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