Vocabulary • Important Themes and Concepts • The Key to Understanding Correlation • An apparent association between certain factors or variables • For example, there is a positive correlation between medical care and life expectancy Causation • When a change in one variable causes a change in another variable • For example, when the temperature drops below 32 degrees, water freezes Politics • A struggle for power • That gives the winners the ability to make decisions affecting others • Who gets what, when, and how Nation • A group of people • Psychological sense of identity • Based on cultural, geographic, or linguistic ties The State • • • • Institutions, people, and groups Have the power to effect change Including a monopoly of force Over territory Regime • Fundamental norms and rules • Established by administrations over time Sovereignty • A state’s ability • To carry out actions • Independently Legitimacy • Generally accepted view that the government has the right to rule • Traditional--the right to rule, because “it has always been that way.” • Charismatic--rule based on personality • Rational-legal--based on a widely accepted system of laws and procedures Democracy • A system of government where people choose policymakers in free, regular, competitive elections • Illiberal--procedural (holds elections) but without civil rights and liberties • Liberal--political competition, accountability, civil rights and liberties Institutions • • • • Executive Legislative Judicial Bureaucracy FPTP/SMD • Winner-take-all • The winner gets the one seat available in an election • House of Commons, US Congress Proportional Representation • Votes for parties, rather than candidates • Parties are represented in legislature according to percentage of votes received • Parties select office holders based on candidate lists Corporatism • When business, labor, and the government work closely in policymaking • This limits the influence of smaller groups Cooptation • Granting favors in exchange for a benefit • “Buying off” critics Cleavages • Factors that separate groups • Cross-cutting--a division that includes people with differences, strengthening society • Coinciding--a division that strengthens feelings of difference and discrepancy, weakening society Political Culture • • • • • History Values Beliefs Traditions Influencing political behavior Political Socialization • The means by which citizens learn about government and the political process • How people get their ideas about government and acquire their values about the political process Neoliberal Economics • Focus on the free market • Few restrictions on business or property rights