Nation, State, Regime, and Government
In comparative politics, this is a political organization with a defined territory, population, and institutions that exercise sovereignty.
What is a state?
This type of regime is characterized by free, fair, competitive elections, protection of civil liberties, rule of law, and multiple parties.
What is a democratic regime?
This term describes the process of moving from less democratic to more democratic rules and practices.
What is democratization?
In comparative politics, this is the ability to get others to do what you want, even if they’d rather not.
What is power?
In this type of system, power is constitutionally divided between national and subnational governments, each with some protected powers.
What is a federal system?
This concept refers to the belief among the population that a regime or leader has the right to rule.
What is political legitimacy?
Providing effective policies and services, allowing meaningful participation, and respecting civil liberties are all ways to do this to legitimacy.
What is sustain legitimacy?
This term refers to a group of people with a shared identity—such as culture, language, or history—who see themselves as a “we.”
What is a nation?
Power is concentrated and competition is limited or nonexistent in this type of regime, which also restricts civil liberties.
What is an authoritarian regime?
When democracy becomes stable, widely accepted, and seen as “the only game in town,” it has reached this stage.
What is democratic consolidation?
This is the recognized right to use power, often grounded in law, custom, or accepted rules.
What is authority?
In this system, power is concentrated in the central government, and local governments can be created or abolished by the center.
What is a unitary system?
This type of legitimacy comes from constitutions, lawful procedures, and elections—people believe the rules themselves are fair.
What is rational-legal legitimacy?
Corruption, economic crisis, unfair elections, and human rights abuses are all examples of these, which can erode legitimacy.
What are threats to legitimacy?
These are the rules and norms that determine how power is gained, maintained, and exercised, for example democratic or authoritarian.
What is a regime?
Also called “illiberal,” this regime type has elections and some rights on paper, but features biased media, harassment of opposition, and weak rule of law.
What is a hybrid regime?
This concept describes how authoritarian regimes adapt and survive by making limited reforms without truly democratizing.
What is authoritarian resilience?
When authority is based on long-standing customs, monarchy, and “we’ve always done it this way,” it is this type.
What is traditional authority?
Mexico and Nigeria share this combination of regime structure and territorial organization: presidential system and this type of power distribution.
What is federal?
Economic growth, security, and good public services are the basis of this type of legitimacy.
What is performance legitimacy?
This term describes persistence and predictability in political processes—institutions functioning regularly and low levels of violent conflict.
What is political stability?
This term refers to the current group of leaders and officials who run the state within a given regime.
What is the government?
This AP country is often classified as authoritarian, with a one-party Communist regime and a unitary system of government.
What is China?
A negotiated transition, reform process, or election that changes regime type without widespread violence is an example of this kind of regime change.
What is peaceful change (or a peaceful regime change)?
Control of resources such as oil wealth or a large tax base is an example of this kind of source of state power.
What is a material source of power?
This term describes when a central government in a unitary state grants more decision-making power to subnational units, but can still retract it.
What is devolution?
The Islamic Republic in Iran and Communist ideology in China are examples of legitimacy rooted in this broad category.
What is religious or ideological legitimacy?
Terrorism, insurgencies, organized crime, international sanctions, wars, and refugee flows are examples of these kinds of factors that can affect stability.
What are external or nonstate factors (affecting stability)?
This phrase refers to the overall set of institutions and practices that make and implement public policy in a country.
What is a political system?
This AP country is a democracy with challenges, has a presidential system, and a federal structure, and is located in Latin America.
What is Mexico?
Repression and censorship, co-opting elites, and manipulating constitutions and elections are strategies used for this purpose.
What is preventing democratization (or preventing regime change toward democracy)?
Control over the military and police is crucial because loss of control over these actors can threaten this key attribute of the state.
What is sovereignty (or state power based on control of security forces)?
One advantage of this system is that it can help manage diversity by giving regions autonomy; one disadvantage is unequal services and policy complexity.
What is a federal system?
Legitimacy that is based mostly on delivering strong economic results can be described this way—impressive while times are good, but easily damaged in a downturn.
What is high but fragile legitimacy (or fragile performance-based legitimacy)?
When ethnic, religious, and regional cleavages reinforce each other and large groups feel permanently excluded from power, this kind of “winner-take-all” dynamic tends to undermine this key feature of political systems.
What is political stability?
FINAL JEOPARD!
Too "Legit" To Quit
A regime that relies heavily on a single revolutionary hero or populist figure for support is building legitimacy on this personality-centered foundation, which often proves fragile once that leader dies, ages, or loses credibility.
What is charismatic legitimacy?