Political science students can use these government flash cards to learn about the nuances of political parties.
There are 108 flash cards in this set (18 pages to print.)
To use:
1. Print out the cards.
2. Cut along the dashed lines.
3. Fold along the solid lines.
Sample flash cards in this set:
| Questions | Answers |
|---|---|
| An economic system in which individuals and firms exchange goods and services in a largely unfettered manner | market economy |
| The combination of a market economy with private property rights | capitalism |
| An economic system in which most prices, property, and production are directly controlled by the state | command economy |
| Those goods or services that cannot or will not be provided via the market because their costs are too high or their benefits are too diffuse | public goods |
| Phenomenon that occurs when markets fail to perform efficiently or they fail to perform according to other widely held social values | market failure |
| A cost or benefit of the production process that is not fully included in the price of the final market transaction when the product is sold | externality |
| The control of the entire supply of a valued good or service by one economic actor | monopoly |
| The control of the entire supply of valued goods or services by one economic actor in a sector of the economy in which competition would raise costs and reduce efficiency | natural monopoly |
| Named for British economist John Maynard Keynes, who argued that governments can reduce the "boom and bust" cycles of capitalism via active fiscal policy, including deficit spending when necessary | Keynesian theory |
| Government budgetary policy | fiscal policy |
| Government spending more than is collected in revenue | deficit spending |
| Simultaneous high inflation and high unemployment | stagflation |
| Economic theory that states only monetary policy can affect economic wellbeing in capitalist economies; rejects Keynesian policy, arguing instead for a reduced role for government in the economy | monetarist theory |
| The amount of money a government prints and puts into circulation and the basic interest rates the government sets | monetary policy |
| Theory of trade that argues that economic efficiency and well-being will be maximized if each country uses its resources to produce whatever it produces relatively well compared to other countries and then trades its own products with other countries for goods it does not produce | comparative advantage |
| Development policy popular in the 1950s-1970s that uses trade policy, monetary policy, and currency rates to encourage the creation of new industries to produce goods domestically that the country imported in the past | import-substitution industrialization (ISI) |
| A development theory supporting structural adjustment programs that argues developing countries should reduce the role of government and open themselves to global trade to allow the market to allocate resources to maximize efficiency and thereby economic growth | neoliberalism |
| Development programs created by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund beginning in the 1980s; based on neoliberalism | structural adjustment programs (SAPs) |
| To sell off government-owned assets to the private sector | privatize |
| A rapid increase in the flow of cultural symbols, political ideas and movements, economic activity,technology, and communications around the globe | globalization |
| In Germany, a postwar economic system that combines a highly productive market economy with an extensive and generous welfare state, as well as unusually active involvement of both business and labor in economic policy | social market economy |
| A system in Germany that requires unions to be represented on the supervisory boards of all German firms of more than 2,000 employees | codetermination |
| A state that seeks to create national strength by taking an active and conscious role in the development of specific sectors of the economy | developmental state |
| Government entities with monopoly control over the domestic and international marketing of key crops; usually found in Africa | marketing boards |
| The ability of the citizenry, directly or indirectly, to control political leaders and institutions vertical | political accountability |
| The ability of individuals and groups in a society to hold state institutions accountable | accountability |
| The ability of state institutions to hold one another accountable | horizontal accountability |
| The branch of government that must exist in all modern states; the chief political power in a state and implements all laws | executive |
| Branch of government that makes the law in a democracy | legislative |
| Branch of government that interprets the law and applies it to individual cases | democracy judiciary |
| A type of democratic system that concentrates power more tightly in a single-party executive with executive dominance over the legislature, a single legislative branch, and constitutions that can be easily amended | majoritarian democracy |
| A democratic system with multiparty executives in a coalition government, executive-legislative balance, bicameral legislatures, and rigid constitutions not easily amended | consensus democracy |
| Government in a parliamentary system in which at least two parties negotiate an agreement to rule together | coalition government |
| An individual or collective actor whose agreement is essential for any policy change | veto player |
| The official, symbolic representative of a country, authorized to speak on its behalf and represent it, particularly in world affairs; usually a president or monarch | head of state |
| The key executive power in a state; usually a president or prime minister | head of government |
| A term denoting a parliamentary system of democracy in which the executive and legislative branches are fused via parliament's election of the chief executive | parliamentarism |
| The head of government in parliamentary and semipresidential systems | prime minister (PM) |
| An elected member of the legislature in a parliamentary system | member of parliament (MP): |
| In parliamentary systems, a vote by parliament to remove a government (the prime minister and cabinet) from power | vote of no confidence |
| All cabinet members must publicly support all government decisions in a parliamentary system | collective responsibility |
| A legislature that has two houses | bicameral legislature |
| A term denoting a presidential system of democracy in which the executive and legislature are elected independently and have separate and independent powers | presidentialism |
| Constitutionally explicit division of power among the major branches of government | separation of powers |
| A term denoting a semipresidential system of democracy in which executive power is divided between a directly elected president and a prime minister elected by a parliament | semi presidentialism |
| Sharing of power between a president and prime minister from different parties in a semipresidential system | cohabitation |
| The right of the judiciary to decide whether a specific law contradicts a country's constitution | judicial review |
| Legal system originating in Britain in which judges base decisions not only on their understanding of the written law but also on their understanding of past court cases; in contrast to code law | common law |
| Literally, "let the decision stand"; in common law, the practice of accepting the precedent of previous similar cases | stare decisis |
| Legal system originating in ancient Roman law and modified by Napoleon Bonaparte in France in which judges may only follow the law as written and must ignore past decisions; in contrast to common law | code law |
| The belief and ability of judges to decide cases as they think appropriate, regardless of what other people, and especially politically powerful officials or institutions, desire | judicial independence |
| A problem in which a principal hires an agent to perform a task but the agent's selfinterest does not necessarily align with the principal's, so the agent may not carry out the task as assigned | principal-agent problem |
| Officials who serve at the pleasure of the president or prime minister and, among other things, are assigned the task of overseeing their respective segments of the bureaucracy | political appointees |
| Members of the legislature, usually in key committees, oversee the working of the bureaucracy | legislative oversight |
| Theory of reform of bureaucracies that argues for the privatizing of many government services, creating competition among agencies to simulate a market, focusing on customer satisfaction, and flattening administrative hierarchies | New Public Management (NPM) |
| Theory of reform of bureaucracies that argues for a more participatory and democratic process of determining regulations and service provision that fits local community needs; it relies on bureaucracy interacting with networks of citizens interested in a particular policy area | New Public Service (NPS) |
| Gaining an advantage in a market without engaging in equally productive activity; usually involves using government regulations for one's own benefit | rent seeking |
| In Japan, the "descent from heaven," in which senior bureaucrats get positions in the industries they formerly regulated | amakudari |
| Three sided cooperative interaction among bureaucrats, legislators, and business leaders in a particular sector that serves the interest of all involved but keeps others out of the policy-making process | iron triangle |
| Political systems in which the central government has sole constitutional sovereignty and power; in contrast to a federal system | unitary systems |
| Political systems in which a state's power is legally and constitutionally divided among more than one level of government; in contrast to a unitary system | federal systems |
| A federal system in which all subnational governments (states or provinces) have the same relationship with and rights in relation to the national government | symmetrical federal system |
| A federal system in which different subnational governments (states or provinces) have distinct relationships with and rights in relation to the national government | asymmetrical federal system |
| Partial decentralization of power from central government to subunits such as states or provinces, with subunits' power being dependent on central government and reversible | devolution |
| Individuals being unwilling to engage in a particular activity because of their rational belief that their individual actions will have little or no effect, yet collectively suffering adverse consequences when all fail to act | collective action problem |
| Formal, legal mechanisms that translate votes into control over political offices and shares of political power | electoral systems |
| Electoral system in which each geographic district elects a single representative to a legislature | single-member district (SMD) |
| The receipt of the most votes, but not necessarily a majority | plurality |
| Electoral system in which individual candidates are elected in singlemember districts; the candidate with the plurality of votes wins | "first-past-the-post"(FPTP) |
| Electoral system in which seats in a legislature are apportioned on a purely proportional basis, giving each party the share of seats that matches its share of the total vote | proportional representation (PR) |
| Electoral system in which each party presents a ranked list of candidates, voters vote for the party rather than for individual candidates, and each party awards the seats it wins to the candidates on its list in rank order | closed-list proportional representation |
| Electoral system in which multiple candidates run in each district, voters vote for the individual candidate of their choice, and the candidates with the most votes in the party get the seats the party wins | open-list proportional representation |
| An electoral system that combines singlemember district representation with overall proportionality in allocation of legislative seats to parties; Germany is a key example | mixed, or semiproportional, representation system |
| Electoral system in which multiple seats exist in each legislative district but each voter only votes for one candidate; Japan prior to 1993 was a key example | single, nontransferable vote (SNTV) system |
| Single member district electoral system in which voters rank all candidates rather than voting for just one | alternative-vote (AV) system |
| party system | The number of parties and each one's relative institutional strength |
| Parties that have a small membership of political elites who choose candidates and mobilize voters to support them; in contrast to mass parties | cadre parties |
| Parties that recruit as many members as possible who expect to have some control over their party and from whom the parties gain financial support, labor, and votes; in contrast to cadre parties | mass parties |
| A broad and charismatic appeal to poor people on the part of a leader to solve their problems directly via governmental largess; most common in Latin America in the early to mid-twentieth century | populism |
| Party system in which multiple parties exist but the same one wins every election and governs continuously | dominant-party system |
| Party system in which only two parties are able to garner enough votes to win an election, though more may compete; the United Kingdom and United States are key examples | two-party system |
| Party system in which two large parties win the most votes but typically neither gains a majority; a third party (the "half" party) must join one of the major parties to form a legislative majority; Germany is key example | two-and-a-halfparty system |
| Party systems in which more than two parties could potentially win a national election and govern | multiparty systems |
| Institutionalist argument by French political scientist Maurice Duverger that FPTP electoral systems will produce two major parties, eliminating smaller parties | Duverger's Law |
| Interest group system in which many groups exist to represent particular interests and the government remains officially neutral among them; the United States is a key example | interest-group pluralism |
| Also called societal corporatism; corporatism that evolves historically and voluntarily rather than being mandated by the state; Germany is a key example | neocorporatism |
| Organizations that bring together all interest groups in a particular sector to influence and negotiate agreements with the state; in the United States, an example is the AFL-CIO | peak associations |
| Corporatism mandated by the state; common in fascist regimes | state corporatism |
| Part of civil society; they have a loosely defined organizational structure and represent people who have been outside formal institutions, seek major socioeconomic or political changes, or employ noninstitutional forms of collective action | social movements |
| Social networks and norms of reciprocity that are important for a strong civil society | social capital |
| India, a movement to define the country as primarily Hindu; the founding ideology of the BJP party | Hindu nationalism |
| A relatively rapid transformation of the political system and social structure that results from the overthrow of the prior regime by mass participation in extra�legal political action, which is often (but not always) violent | revolution: |
| : Revolutions in which the outcomes are negotiated among political elites, each with the backing of a segment of the popu | revolutions from abov |
| : Revolutions in which a mass uprising of the populace to overthrow the government plays a central role | revolutions from belo |
| Political violence targeted at civilian noncombat | terrorism |
| The use of violence by nonstate actors for political ends | political violence |
| : A regime change typically involving a negotiated process that removes an authoritarian regime and concludes with a founding election of a new, democratic regime | transition to democrac |
| Leaders of an authoritarian regime who believe in repressing any opposition and preserving the status quo when faced with a demand for political liberalization or democratization | hardliners |
| Leaders of an authoritarian regime who are willing to consider compromising with opponents as a means to survive demands for democratizatio | softliners |
| Leaders of democracy movements who wish to achieve immediate and complete democracy and are unwilling to compromise with the existing regime | radicals |
| Leaders of democracy movements who are willing to compromise with the authoritarian regime to gain partial democracy | moderates |
| pact | In a transition to democracy, a conscious agreement among the most important political actors in the authoritarian regime and those in civil society to establish a new form of government |
| The opening of the political system to greater participation; typically before a transition to democracy | political liberalization |
| The first democratic election in many years (or ever), marking the completion of a transition to democracy | founding election |
| The widespread acceptance of democracy as the permanent form of political activity; all significant political elites and their followers accept democratic rules and are confident everyone else does as well | democratic consolidation |
| Political systems in which opposition parties are legal and elections take place, but full civil and political rights of liberal democracy are not secure | electoral democracies |
| Improvement in the quality of democracy, including the extent of participation, the rule of law, and vertical and horizontal accountability | democratic deepening |
| Democracies in which free and fair elections take place but neither vertical nor horizontal accountability is strong enough to prevent the emergence of elected executives with nearly unlimited power | delegative democracies |
