Terms from MT1-Final

Question 1

primordialism

Answer 1

A theory of ethnic identity that sees ethnicity as being “natural” or fixed, as having always existed, and as defined by kinship, language, or phenotype.

Question 2

constructionalism

Answer 2

A theory of ethnic identity that sees ethnicity as being “created” or “constructed” through social and political processes

Question 3

instrumentalism

Answer 3

a theory of ethnic identity that sees ethnicity as a device that groups or individuals use to unify, organize, and mobilize populations to achieve larger goals.

Question 4

democratic deconsolidation

Answer 4

The gradual erosion of democratic norms, support, practices, and/or institutions in an otherwise established and long standing democracy

Question 5

democratic breakdown

Answer 5

going from democracy to a full blown autocracy

Question 6

democratic erosion

Answer 6

a backsliding of democracy that happens over time

Question 7

populist leader

Answer 7

a leader claiming to represent the people in their struggle against the political elite

Question 8

institution

Answer 8

humanely designed constraints that structure political, economic, and social norms

Question 9

rational choice institutionalism

Answer 9

Institutions as rules meant to solve problems of aggregating or coordinating preferences

Question 10

historical institutionalism

Answer 10

institutions emerge as a way to solve problems, however because they are sticky if they do not function properly they are embedded into society and can produce path dependent and unintended consequences

Question 11

sociological institutions

Answer 11

Institutions influence behavior by providing cognitive scripts through which others’ actions can be interpreted

Question 12

institutional strength vs. enforcement

Answer 12

Strength is how stable or consistent an institution is
enforcement is how well the institution carries out policies or laws and allows for accountability

Question 13

informal institution

Answer 13

restrictive social norms, clientelism, and ad-hoc non state organizations. Socially shared rules, usually unwritten that are created, communicated, and enforced outside of officially sanctioned pathways

Question 14

dual legitimacy

Answer 14

difficulties may arise in systems where the presidency is separate from the legislative branch since both have claim to legal authority and can lead to deadlocks

Question 15

vote of no confidence

Answer 15

a vote showing that a majority does not support the policy of a leader in a parliamentary system

Question 16

vote of confidence

Answer 16

a vote showing that a majority does support the policy of a leader in a parliamentary system

Question 17

cohabitation

Answer 17

occurs in a semi-presidential system where the president and parliament are from two different parties and cannot agree on cabinet members

Question 18

lame duck effect

Answer 18

when the successor of a president is already selected but the president must fulfil the rest of their term but during this inbetween time the president doesn’t work efficiently or at all

Question 19

Premier-presidential system

Answer 19

a system where the voters elect the president and the parliament. The cabinet members are selected by the president and the parliament, but survival only depends on the parliament

Question 20

Presidential-parliamentary system

Answer 20

The cabinet members are elected by the presidency, but the survival is dependent upon the parliament and presidency

Question 21

district mangitude

Answer 21

the number of representatives to be elected to a legislative body in each district

Question 22

duverger’s law

Answer 22

single member district plurality systems lead to two party systems

Question 23

strategic effect

Answer 23

how the mechanical effect influences the “strategic” behavior of voters

Question 24

mechanical effect

Answer 24

the way votes are translated into seats

Question 25

alternative vote

Answer 25

voters are able to rank their 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th vote. In the end there is one winner in each district via “absolute majority”

Question 26

consociationalism

Answer 26

A form of governance that seeks to regulate the sharing of power in a state that comprises diverse societies by allocating these groups specific representation within the political system

Question 27

segmented autonomy

Answer 27

delegation of personal status code to individual communities. Allows for communities to make their own communities based policies according to their beliefs

Question 28

Lebanese civil war

Answer 28

overtime the demographics changed but the government did not so violence erupted due to underrepresentation of minority groups. Result of consociationalism

Question 29

preferential voting

Answer 29

a system of voting whereby the voter indicates his order of preference for each of the candidates listed on the ballot for a specified office. If no candidate receives a majority of rst preferences, the first and second preferences, etc. may be counted until one candidate obtains a majority.

Question 30

single transferable vote

Answer 30

single ballot system that allows citizens to rank their choice of votes but also not ignore when candidates get more than they need then the extra votes count to allow for other candidates to be elected.

Question 31

centripetalism

Answer 31

The process of electoral incentives, arena of bargaining, and the development of centrist, aggregative, and multiethnic political parties or coalitions in order to focus competition at the moderate center rather than the extremes by making politicians do more than just shop for votes in their own community.

Question 32

civil society

Answer 32

the sphere of organized, non-governmental, non-violent associations that exist outside the state, market, and family

Question 33

civic community

Answer 33

communities populated with dense civic associations and characterized by high levels of cooperation and civic engagement

Question 34

amoral familism

Answer 34

social action is persistently oriented to the economic interests of the nuclear family.

Question 35

social capital

Answer 35

networks of mutual trust and reciprocity developed through interpersonal ties

Question 36

uncivil society

Answer 36

a set of institutions within civil society that challenge liberal democratic values by promoting exclusivist, ideologies, predatory practices, or violence

Question 37

Weimar republic

Answer 37

German government post WWI

Question 38

Michels’ iron law of oligarchy

Answer 38

the principle stating that large organizations will naturally tend towards centralized elite control, undermining rank-and-le engagement in the organization

Question 39

bridging social capital

Answer 39

social capital that links individuals across multiple cleavages or categories of difference

Question 40

bonding social capital

Answer 40

social capital that exists among individuals within a single, homogenous community

Question 41

ethnic group

Answer 41

a group of people who see themselves as united based on a shared belief in a common ancestry and common ascriptive traits

Question 42

nation

Answer 42

a group of people linked by unifying traits and the desire to control a territory that is thought of as the groups national homeland

Question 43

nationalism

Answer 43

identification with ones nation and support for its interests, especially to the exclusion or detriment of other nations

Question 44

primordialism

Answer 44

a theory of ethnic identity that sees ethnic identity as being “natural” or fixed, as having always existed, and as defined by kinship, language and phenotype.

Question 45

constructivism

Answer 45

a theory of ethnic identity that sees ethnicity as being created or constructed through social and political processes

Question 46

instrumentalism

Answer 46

a theory of ethnic identity that sees ethnicity as a device that groups, or individuals use to unify, organize, and mobilize populations to achieve larger goals

Question 47

ethnic entrepreneur

Answer 47

someone who uses their ethnicity to gain/accomplish a goal

Question 48

ethnic security dilemma

Answer 48

the ethnic security dilemma discusses miscommunications between countries between countries and how the misrepresentations of a countries action’s can lead to war

Question 49

effective number of parties

Answer 49

The effective number of parties theory was introduced by Laasko and Taagepera which provides for an adjusted number of political parties in a country’s party system. The idea behind this measure is to count parties and, at the same time, to weight the count by their relative strength. The relative strength refers to their vote share of the effective number of electoral parties (ENEP) or the parliament effective number of parliamentary parties (ENPP).

Question 50

BJP

Answer 50

The Bharatiya Janata Party (‘Indian People’s Party) is one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. This has become the sole voice of Hindu majoritarian politics.

Question 51

congress party

Answer 51

This is the Indian National Congress (INC) which is a political party in India with very widespread roots. It was established in the late 19th century. It was the party of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlel Nehru. After India achieved independence from Britain in 1947, the Congress Party dominated India’s politics for two decades.

Question 52

intercommunal civic associations

Answer 52

civil society organizations that group individuals across multiple cleavages or categories of difference

Question 53

intracommunal civic associations

Answer 53

civil society organizations that group individuals from the same community

Question 54

contentious politics

Answer 54

extra-institutional political activity meant to effect change in the social, economic, or political agenda of the government, regime, or state.

Question 55

The j-curve

Answer 55

social and political unrest was precipitated by a brief period of sharp decline in economic development after a prolonged period of economic growth and improvement. A manifestation of relative deprivation

Question 56

relative deprivation theory

Answer 56

The idea that a key motivation to protest is one’s economic condition/grievances relative to others’ condition

Question 57

free rider problem

Answer 57

A challenge whereby those who stand to gain from collective action (protest, provision of public goods, etc.) do not have to participate to receive benefits

Question 58

political opportunity structure

Answer 58

Whether the political system is open (where people have opportunities to express their political ideals) or close (where people aren’t allowed to express themselves) or somewhere in the middle. The exact middle is where people would protest the most

Question 59

slactivism

Answer 59

When people support a political idea or social cause through online social media or online petition that characterizes little effort or commitment.