American key terms
1. Political socialization
2. Universal suffrage
3. Checks and balances vs. Separation of powers
4. Electoral college
5. Judicial review
6. Unitary vs. Confederal system
7. Layered Cake or Dual federalism
8. Marble Cake or Cooperative federalism
9. Picket-Fence or Centralized Federalism
10. Necessary and proper clause
11. Establishment vs. Free exercise clause
12. Writ of habeas corpus
13. Affirmative action
14. Civil rights vs. Civil liberties
15. De facto vs. De jure segregation
16. Plurality vs. Majority
17. Federalist 10
18. Primary and Front loading
19. Soft vs. Hard money
20. Reapportionment vs. Redistricting
21. Trustee vs. Instructed Delegate representation
22. Filibuster
23. Conference committee
24. Advice and consent
25. Impeachment
26. Bureaucracy
27. Iron triangle vs. Issue Network
28. Judicial activism vs. Judicial Restraint
29. Justiciable controversy vs. Political questions
30. Efficacy
Theory key terms
1. Political theory
2. Human nature
3. Liberty (positive vs. negative)
4. Communism vs. Socialism
5. Capitalism
6. Anarchism
7. Fascism
8. republicanism
9. Natural rights
10. Social contract
11. Conservatism
12. Authoritarianism
13. Consent
14. Liberalism
15. Progressivism
16. Democracy
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Republic
Representative democracy
Libertarianism
Ideology
Totalitarianism
Polity
Plato
Aristotle
Cicero
Machiavelli
Hobbes
Locke
Rousseau
Marx
Comparative Politics key terms
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Authoritarianism
Totalitarianism
Parliamentary Systems vs. Presidential Systems
Political Culture
Fascism
Socialism
Proportional Representation vs. Single Member District
Democratization
Political Ideology
Theocracy
Civil Society
State vs. Nation
Colonialism
Nationalism
Pluralism
Ideology
Development/ Dependency
Vote of Confidence
Coalition Government
Ethnic conflict
Coup
Revolution
Neo-Colonialism
Corporatism/ Neo-Corporatism
Devolution
Stability
State capacity
Social Movements
Constitution
Capitalism
World Politics key terms
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Sovereignty
Realism
Liberalism
Constructivism
Marxism
Terrorism
Anarchy
Norms
Globalization
Hegemon
Security Dilemma
Democratic Peace Theory
Balance of Power
Prisoner’s Dilemma
Collective Action Problems
State
Protectionism
Unilateralism vs. Multilateralism
Deterrence
Hard vs. Soft Power
Non-governmental Organizations
IMF/ World Bank
Genocide
United Nations
International Court of Justice
Imperialism
Appeasement
Diplomacy
International law
Human Rights
Methods
1) Explain the difference between a qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approach. If I give you a
research question could you tell me which approach would be best?
2) Explain the difference between positivism/post-positivism, social contructivism, and pragmatism.
3) Be able to derive hypotheses from a research question. Identify the dependent, independent and
intervening variables.
4) List the key components of an introduction to a research paper. What is the purpose of a Review of
the Literature section? What is included in a Methods section?
5) If I give you a variable and how it is coded be able to tell me whether it is binomial, ordinal, or
continuous (Ratio).
6) Be able to interpret a frequency table and tell me the best measure of central tendencies (mode,
median, mean, standard deviation).
7) Be able to look at a line, bar, pie chart and interpret them. What is a box plot and a histogram, when
would I use these?
8) Explain the process of re-coding variables. Why is it a bad idea? Why do people do it anyway?
9) Discuss the difference between a sample and a population.
10) Discuss the difference is between reliability and validity.
11) What is a correlation coefficient? What does it tell me? What doesn’t it tell me?
12) What is a regression coefficient, what does it tell me what doesn’t it tell me?
13) Why is statistical significance so important?