Authoritarian Regimes
A theory that characterizes all governments by their location in a two-dimensional institutional space, one dimension is the size of the selectorate, the other the size of the winning coalition...
Selectorate Theory
These are formal organizations or practices with a political purpose or effect, marked by durability and internal complexity...
Institutions
This is the object of study in comparative politics...
Unit of Analysis
This is a state that is small in both population and territory...
Microstate
The extent to which citizens get to participate in the political process...
Inclusion
A dictatorship in which the leader, although often supported by a party or the military, retains personal control of policy decisions and the selection of regime personnel...
Personalist Dictatorship
This is an approach to the study of politics and governments that focuses on the structures and dynamics of governing institutions...
Institutionalism
A method comparing a small number of cases in order to better understand their qualities and to develop and investigate hypotheses, theories, and concepts...
Comparative Method
A State that is not recognized under international law even though it controls territory and provides governance, it exists in fact rather than under law...
De Facto State
A theory that predicts that countries dependent on revenue from natural resources are unlikely to democratize and are prone to corruption, poor governance, and civil war...
Political Resource Curse
A regime in which leaders hold elections and tolerate some pluralism and interparty competition, but violate minimal democratic norms so severely and systematically that they cannot be considered democracies...
Electoral Authoritarianism
When members of an institution take actions to conform to its norms, they are using...
Logic of Appropriateness
A research design based on using cases that are as different as possible, in effect controlling for the differences and isolating the causes of similarities...
Most Different System
This is a state consisting of multiple national groups under a single government...
Multinational State
The theory assuming that a state should become more democratic as it develops economically, and the democracy is more stable as development increases...
Modernization Theory
When the Dictator relies on repression to stay in power, but this repression creates incentives for everyone to falsify their preferences so that the dictator never knows their true level of societal support...
Dictator's Dilemma
The idea that political behavior reflects the choices made by individuals working to maximize their benefits and minimize their costs...
Rational Choice
A relationship between two or more variables or attributes...
Correlation
The process by which states build economic and political ties that result in some pooling of authority over areas of policy where they believe that cooperation is better than competition...
Regional Integration
A shared cluster of attitudes that are thought to promote democracy and democratic performance...
Civic Culture
A dictatorship in which a single party dominates access to political office and control over policy, though other parties may exist and compete in elections...
Dominant Party Dictatorship
This approach emphasizes the relationships among groups and networks within larger systems, the interests and positions of these groups shape the overall configurations of power and provide the dynamic of political change...
Structuralism
What bias occurs when allowing assessments, the choice of facts, and conclusions are impacted by the values of the researcher...
Value Bias
The belief that a group of people with a common national identity has the right to form an independent state and to govern itself free of external intervention...
Nationalism
The tendency of individuals to overreport “good behavior” and underreport “bad behavior”, often a result of social pressure, potential legal sanctions, and fear of retaliation...
Social Desirability Bias