PS350 Comparitive Politics Final
Ethnicity:
"an identity category in which membership is determined by attributes associated with descent" (Kanchan Chandra, 2006)
Cultural sources of political identity (Max Weber)
- Non-economic factors also play a role in politics and political identity in particular - Examples: ethnic groups, religious groups, etc.
Economic sources of political identity (Karl Marx)
-As countries industrialize, the division between the two new classes—the burgeoisie and the proletariat/workers (the haves and have-nots)—intensifies - Workers realize they all belong to the same economic class that is oppressed in the capitalist political system -Hence, economics determines political identity
Why are we attached to political and ethnic identities?
-Primordialist understanding of identity: your identities change little in a lifetime but may change between generations -Constructivist understanding of identity: the social and political context shapes your identities, identities change during your lifetime
Ways to resolve the collection action problem
1. Coercing Coercion involves the use of force or the threat of force: people must participate whether they want to or not (e.g. some unions such as the Screen Actors Guild) Most civil society organizations (e.g. social movements, interest groups, and political parties) do not compel participation 2. Appealing: engaging people's emotions, moral sensibilities, altruism, or civic duty to participate (e.g. most NGOs such as Doctors Without Borders) 3. Enticing: in exchange for participation, the individual receives some private good (e.g. a t-shirt) Private good: an item that benefits an individual and that only some individuals can enjoy (rivalrous and excludable), such as merchandise or dinner invitations Public good: an item that benefits an individual and that everyone can enjoy (non-rivalrous and non-excludable), such as street lighting or national defense 4. Leadership I Initiating collective mobilization requires leadership Leaders often use existing or emerging forms of collective identity to generate a sense of solidarity (and thus induce people to participate)
In others, individuals and groups engage in violent political organizations because opportunities and interests align:
1. Cultural grievances (cultural/ethnic/religious motivation, e.g. Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka) 2. Greed (economic motivation, e.g. conflicts over minerals in the DRC)
Why are poorer colonies then richer now and richer colonies then poorer now?
1. Geography hypothesis: climate, disease, natural resources, access to the sea (factor endowments more generally) affect work effort and productivity and hence long-run development (e.g. Montesquieu, Jared Diamond, Jeffrey Sachs) AJR don't directly engage with the factor endowments explanation of S&E 2. Institutions hypothesis: if a a broad cross-section of society has secure property rights, if rules/laws/institutions in that society encourage investment (e.g. low risk of expropriation), then that society will prosper
Why are the US and Canada rich and much of Central and South America poor? Some explanations
1. Identity of the colonizer: if British, rich; if Spanish, poor. I In fact, the Caribbean regions was rich regardless of colonizer while Northern US and Canada were poor for centuries 2. Institutions (protection of property rights, business-friendly legislation, etc.), low corruption, high levels of public investment I Sure, say S&E, but why do some places have better institutions than others? 3. Factor endowments, meaning initial conditions in geography (e.g. soil/quality of land, weather) and economic factors (e.g. amount of labor), differed across colonies and they are key for long-term development
What explains gender policies?
1. Public opinion attitudes, civic values 2. Interest groups Some oppose gender-equality policies (e.g. the Catholic Church in Europe) I Others promote gender-equality (e.g. Planned Parenthood) 3. Political legacies of previous regimes (e.g. Communism: Russia offers long paid maternity leave at full wage.)
What is at the root of distrust and social inaction? What are Banfield's early hypotheses?
1. Simple self-interest. Free-riding, lack of selective incentives (Olson, 1965) 2. Simple ignorance 3. Subsistence economy (no surplus) so no time for "public spiritidness" 4. Manipulation of political and/or landed elites
Three types of organizations that engage in collective action
1. Social movements 2. Interest groups 3. Political parties
Why do welfare states exist?
1. To prevent social unrest (in both democracies and autocracies) 2. Due to politicians' electoral incentives (in democracies) The median income is lower than the mean income (i.e. the distribution is right-skewed because a few are really rich) and yet we all have one vote, so democratic systems favor economic redistribution by design Providing welfare is popular in most countries, especially among the poorer half of the population 3. People/governments realize that welfare programs constitute a social insurance against market failures and hence these programs provide public goods that would otherwise be under-provided. Examples: The German state provides job-training programs because they realize that the private market may not do so/may not want to spend money on low and medium-skilled workers who need to re-train to find a job All OECD states (except for the US and Mexico) provide universal health insurance because they realize that the market may try to exclude or charge high premiums to people with a poor health
Why is redistribution lower than expected in democracies?
1. Wealthy individuals and firms have more money to lobby for policy, especially important in countries where private money is key to campaigns (e.g. USA) 2. Capital/money is mobile (unlike land), so capitalists (unlike landowners) can move their assets abroad, including offshore banks (c.f. Panama Papers) 3. Voters prefer to keep tax rates lower than they "should" because they believe they will be richer in the future 4. Poor voters ideologically favor or are comfortable less redistribution because "one gets what one deserves" 5. Voters know that extreme economic equality (income tax of 100%) would be detrimental to growth (chapter 11): no incentives to work
Genocide:
A coordinated plan seeking to eliminate all members of particular ethnic, religious, or national groups through mass murder The Genocide Convention was approved by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 1948 and subsequently ratified by almost all countries (a dozen African countries and some Asian countries have not). Signatory countries are expected to prevent and punish actions of genocide.
Political parties
A group of people who have organized to attain and hold political power Characteristics Professional membership Formally organized Focus on many issues; ideology Broad membership base (mass parties) vs. narrow membership base (elite parties) Mass parties: electorate and the organization are important (e.g. Social Democratic Party of Germany and many other social democratic/workers' parties) Elite parties: some liberal parties in Europe (e.g. Forza Italia in Italy, several center/liberal parties in Europe)
life satisfaction
A person reflects on their life and judges to what degree it is going well, by whatever standards that person thinks are most important for a good life.
Why can't people in Montegrano act collectively?
Amoral familism: "Maximize the material, short-run advantage of the nuclear family; assume that all others will do likewise" (p. 85) - Causes: high death rate, insecure land tenure conditions, absence of the institution of the extended family (p. 10) -Consequence: Unethical behavior outside the nuclear family is common, a part of the culture in Southern Italy according to Banfield
two-party system
An electoral system with two dominant parties that compete in national elections. (USA/ U.K UNTIL 2010)
The nation
An imagined political community imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign (p. 6) - Imagined: even the members of the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow members - Community: the nation is conceived as a deep, horizontal comradeship (regardless of the actual inequality and exploitation that may prevail in each) - Limited: even the largest of them, encompassing perhaps a billion living human beings, has finite, if elastic, boundaries, beyond which lie other nations - There is always another nation, an "out-group" , that is not part of your nation (the "in-group") - Sovereign: the nation is the ultimate power over that community because there is no God or power above the nation
The cultural roots of nationalism
Anderson Benedict suggests instead other cognates for "nationalism" (p.5): -Ethnicity, kinship, nationalism, religion -All are facets of one's political identity
Why are there Hindu-Muslim riots in India?
Argument: Democratic states protect minorities when it is in their governments' electoral interest to do so Main finding: From 1961 to 1995, higher levels of party competition in the 15 major Indian states are statistically associated with lower levels of Hindu-Muslim violence (p. 17) Mechanism: In India, vote pooling moderates even the behavior of nationalist parties that have no minority support, as long as these parties are forced to form coalitions with parties that do rely on minority votes (p. 7) External validity: 19th-century Ireland, post-independence Malaysia, post-communist Romania, pre-1960s US South (p. 18)
In some cases, individuals are forced?:
Army conscription (e.g. North Korea, South Korea) - Coercive recruitment (e.g. Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda)
Why is government intervention in the economy necessary?
At a minimum, to compensate for three main market failures: Market failure / Role of government 1. Underprovision of public goods (clean air) & club goods (education) / Provision of public & club goods 2. Monopolies, oligopolies / Prevent & break up monopolies, oligopolies 3. Externalities / Reduce negative externalities, foster positive externalities
Miguel: How can governments "build" the nation?
Background motivation: "Ethnic diversity produces subpar collective action outcomes" (i.e. people organize less than they should for their own good) and an underprovision of public goods (e.g. fewer roads and schools than needed) - How do central government policies affect interethnic cooperation? / This is a particularly important question in Africa, the most ethnically diverse and poorest continent (and one in which countries have witnessed much domestic conflict since independence)
What is Banfield's research method:
Banfield learns about these issues via 70 interviews and direct ethnographic observation (his data
The reversal of fortune in S&E
Barbados was 50% richer per capita than the US in 1700! Cuba 67% richer! By 1997, Barbados is 100% poorer per capita than the US (its GDPpc being 51% of the US) The picture applies to most Caribbean colonies, which were richer than the US until the 1800s but since then have been poorer Why the reversal of fortune? Factor endowments, say S&E
What are the sources of political identity?
Economic (Karl Marx) vs. cultural (Max Weber)
Political consequences of changes in gender attitudes
Economic and cultural development ("modernization") changes gender attitudes (less discriminatory toward females). Main economic consequence: growing female participation in the workforce I Main political consequences: 1. Women can vote (active suffrage), so politicians respond to them as well as men 2. Women can run for office (passive suffrage)
What best promotes economic development: a free market or an interventionist state?
Economic liberalism: laissez-faire economic policies, low taxes, low govt expenditure, free trade/low tariffs. Capitalist countries. Command economies: government determines economic policies, high taxes, high govt expenditures, high tariffs. Communist countries. Even so-called "free-market economies" like the USA and Singapore fall somewhere in between those extremes: no country is a free market In-between models: 1. Social democracy: a democratic system that combines capitalism with state intervention to provide public schooling, public health, public pensions and hence reduce inequality and increase equality of opportunity. Taxes in these countries tend to be higher than in capitalist democracies (e.g. Germany, Sweden) 2. State-led development: a strategy to promote economic growth that includes such policies as government coordination of private sector investment, forced savings, and preferential treatment to certain industries regarded as essential for national economic development (e.g. the Four Asian Tigers: HK, Singapore, S. Korea, Taiwan)
Why are we attached to political and ethnic identities? Constructivism
Emphasizes how change in the social context and compeition for power shape the policitization of identity. Assumes our identitys are malleable
Why are we attached to political and ethnic identities? Primordialism
Emphasizes kinship bonds, literal or metaphorical - as the building blocks of identity Assumes we're born with our identities or they're imprinted early in life and and cant be changed
Policies (continue to) influence women
Example 1: In recent decades, some countries have passed laws to eliminate the gender wage gap (e.g. Equal Pay Act of 1963 in the US), but others haven't (e.g. most non-democratic ones) Unadjusted gender wage gap: average difference in salary between working men and working women (in the US, females earn about 75 cents for every 1USD males earn). Adjusted gender wage gap: average difference after adjusting for differences in hours worked, type of job, education, experience, etc. (in the US, as Samuels explains, the adjusted gender wage gap is very small) Why does the unadjusted gender wage gap remain in the US and other countries with equal pay laws? Females are less likely to work full-time, choose lower paying careers, are still less educated, and child-rearing delays their professional advancement
Policies (continue to) influence women
Example 2: If governments guarantee enough weeks of maternity leave at full pay, women suffer less of a penalt
The collective action problem
Examples of collective action problems: 1. Should you join a demonstration against gun violence you support or get your homework done? 2. Should you donate to an anti-abortion/pro-abortion interest group you care about or use that money to go to the cinema? 3. etc. I All entail a similar trade-off: the collective action option may not directly benefit me and it has an opportunity cost, so I may choose to free-ride Opportunity cost: whatever must be given up (e.g. doing homework) to do or obtain something (e.g. joining a demonstration) (Mankiw's def.) Free ride: a benefit obtained at another's expense or without the usual cost or effort (Merriam-Webster's def.)
What best promotes economic development: a democratic or a non-democratic state?
In theory: Benevolent dictator/social planner>democracy>dictator Benevolent social planner is immune to short-term special interests and focuses on increasing economic development (p. 284-5) In practice: dictators are rarely benevolent or good social planners Important empirical findings: 1. Evidence that economic development causes democracy (e.g. Boix) 2. No evidence that democracy per se undermines or fosters development 3. Evidence that certain institutions/rules, such as the protection of property rights, foster economic growth (e.g. Acemoglu and Robinson). Those institutions are more common in democracies Taken together, these findings mean that there is little economic justification for dictatorship while there is a non-economic justification for democracy
Conclusion on political economy of development
Little evidence that democratic countries develop faster, but they do not developed slower either. Plus, some political institutions common in democracies (e.g. property rights) are good for growth The optimal level of state intervention for economic development is neither too high nor too low; the optimal level of state intervention depends on various preferences over the economy, policy, and politics
Religious identity and democracy
Loaded topic with important questions central to politics, such as: I Are religions easily compatible with democracy or is it instead a difficult marriage fraught with problems? I Are most Christian-majority countries democratic because they are majority Christian (causal) or despite being majority Christian (spurious correlation)? I Would democracy in Muslim-majority countries be less rare if fewer people in those countries were Muslim or if Muslims were less intensely religious? I Are religious voters more likely to support conservative parties? If so, why?
Research design: similarities - Miguel compares Kenya and Tanzania, two similar countries: shared geography, colonial history, neighboring colonies/countries, etc. -He compares two similarly rural and poor districts, one in each country
Main difference (according to Miguel): the Kenyan and Tanzanian governments followed radically different nation-building policies since independence (p. 331) : 1. National language policy: only Swahili in Tanzania was/is official; both Swahili and English are official in Kenya 2. Public school curriculum 3. Local government: traditional chiefs were removed in Tanzania but kept in Kenya
Modernization: non-literal and less intense religious belief
Modernization may lead to democracy because it makes one's political values more secular and therefore more compatible with democracy Following Islam's (or Old Testament) tenets literally and intensely, democratization may be more difficult I By contrast, "modern" religiosity is subordinate to the nation-state (cf. Anderson 1983) and thus more compatible with a democratic political regime "Hebrew and Christian bibles suggest far greater female subordination than is practiced anywhere today" (p. 176) (less literal following of scripture) I "Long-term paths of economic development shape the relative intensity of faith in a given country" (p. 188) I "Democracy emerged first where Christianity had evolved furthest from its roots-in Protestant Northern and Western Europe, where historical processes such as the Reformation, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the Industrial Revolution had the most impact" (p. 173) I By contrast, there has never/not yet been a similar "Reformation" in Islam that erodes the monopolistic power of the Islamic clerical class (Jared Rubin). I The printing press that allowed Luther to effectively challenge the Catholic Church only spread in the Muslim world in the 19th century
The cultural roots of nationalism
Nationalism arose only when three long-standing cultural conceptions were eroded between the 1500s and 1800s: 1. "Immense" religious/cultural communities united by a set of scripts (and beliefs)... Christendom with Church Latin I Islamic Umma with Qur'anic Arabic Middle Kingdom and Examination Chinese ... gave way to smaller national communities 2. The belief in divine rule by monarchs gave way to the belief in earthly/secular sovereignty 3. Increased literacy allows people to separate cosmology and the distant past from the less distant national history (e.g. by reading Jose Rizal). Nationalism links fraternity, power, and time All three are made possible by advances in technology (e.g. printing) and faster communications
Why risk your life by engaging in political violence?
Note that the incentives to free-ride are even higher than in peaceful collective action because the benefits are similarly collective and diffuse (e.g. regime change, secession) but the costs are much higher (you risk your life!)
Interest groups
Organized groups of citizens who seek to ensure that the state enacts particular policies (e.g. National Education Workers' Union in Mexico, Greenpeace worldwide, National Rifle Association in the US) I Characteristics: Professional membership More formally organized than social movements Focus on a single issue or narrow set of issues Rely on a relatively narrow base of supporters Interest groups, notably owners' and workers' associations, work differently in pluralist and corporatist systems Pluralism: societal interests organize freely in an unregulated fashion, so interest groups also mobilize and organize in a decentralized fashion I Corporatism: the state plays an active role in organizing groups and mediating between them
Social movements
Organized, sustained, and collective efforts that make claims on behalf of members of a group (e.g. environmental "green" movement, All Lives Matter) I Characteristics: Broad appeal usually Informal organization Emanate from civil society Limited funding usually
How stable are our political and ethnic identities?
Primordialism (e.g. Samuel Huntington) vs. constructivism (e.g. Daniel Posner)
Huntingotn civilization Division
Samuel Huntington categorized the world into 9 civilizations, arguing that the fault lines between them would shape international relations and serve as the driving force of conflict in the post-Cold War world.
Skocpol's explanation for social revolutions
State: What did pre-revolutionary 18th century France have in common with 20th century Russia and China? - Agricultural economies, i.e. majority peasants I Proto-bureaucratic autocracies (p. 41) - Absolute monarchies: Qing/Manchu dynasty (Emperor Puyi), Romanov dynasty (Tzar Nicholas II), Bourbon dynasty (King Louis XVI) - High structural economic inequality ⇒ monarchies perceived as illegitimate by most of the population I What did these factors led to? - A political crisis: mostly financial in France, mostly bellic in Russia, both in China - Ensued by violent social conflict - Victory of the mass insurgency - Long-lasting structural transformation of politics and society
Concepts: Taxation and redistribution
Taxes can be: I Progressive, proportional, or regressive 1. Progressive: the % you pay increases with earnings; redistributive Example: If you earn 50,000USD/year, your tax rate is 25%. If you earn 200,000USD/year, your tax rate is 40% 2. Proportional: everyone pays the same %; somewhat redistributive Example: If you earn 50,000USD/year, your tax rate is 25%. If you earn 200,000USD/year, your tax rate is 25% 3. Regressive: the % you pay decreases with earnings; not redistributive Example: If you earn 50,000USD/year, you pay 10,000USD. If you earn 200,000USD/year, you pay 10,000USD. Direct or indirect 1. Direct taxes: tax levied on income or profits. Typically progressive, at least in OECD countries 2. Indirect taxes: tax levied on goods and services (consumption, e.g. VAT). Not progressive. Definitions Comparative Politi
Christianity and democracy
The Catholic Inquisition (1100s-1800s), the best-known example of Christian totalitarianism (against Cathars, Lutherans, etc.) Second Vatican Council (1962-1965): the Catholic Church moves away from Biblical literalism and tries to join the modern world I Religious institutions (i.e. laws and norms) can change (e.g. Protestant Reformation) even if the Bible and Qu'ran do not I e.g. Inquisition abandoned. Last states to abolish the Inquisition? I The Catholic Church has always been slow to accept science (e.g. Copernican Revolution, Darwinian evolution) I The Catholic Church hardly leads modernization; instead, it eventually follows it. Note: That is an argument liberals routinely make about conservatives, i.e. that they slow down progress
Amoral familism:
The exaltation of family interests above all other moral considerations, originally coined by the sociologist Banfield to describe social relations in Sicily. Maximize the material, short-run advantage of the nuclear family; assume that all others will do likewise" (p. 85
Structural transformation
The process of transforming an economy in such a way that the contribution to national income by the manufacturing sector eventually surpasses the contribution by the agricultural sector. More generally, a major alteration in the industrial composition of any economy. Structural transformation: the reallocation of economic activity across the broad sectors agriculture, manufacturing and services Hungry Russian peasants in 1917
Industry/urban vs. land/rural cleavage
Urban/Rural
War is merely the continuation of policy by other means
We see, therefore, that war is not merely an act of policy but a true political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse carried on with other means. What remains peculiar to war is simply the peculiar nature of its means. Carl von Clausewitz, On War (1832)
Marxist vs. nationalist revolutions
Were anti-colonial movements (in the 1950s) in Vietnam, Indonesia, etc. Marxist revolutions... or nationalist revolutions? - After World War II, the main dichotomy was capitalism vs. communism, liberalism vs. Marxism - Until the 1970s, many saw these revolutions through Marxist lenses - Then two Communist countries fight each other! (p. 1) - Power of nationalism for collective action, e.g. World War I and II
Karl Marx
What defines Interests and Identity? Political identity and interests are a function of economic status. What drives mobilization? mobilization will occur along economic class lines, for example, bourgeoisie versus proletariat.
Max Weber
What defines Interests and Identity? Political identity and interests are a function of noneconomic group differences. What drives mobilization? mobilization will occur along non-economic status group lines, for example, one ethnic group versus another
Women in politics: female politicians influence policy
Why are female politicians (e.g. percentage of female legislators) important for politics and policy? 1. Female politicians break down old stereotypes (e.g. the "stay at home mom") and serve as aspirational role models for other women who may want to join politics 2. Democracies with more female legislators pass more laws benefiting women, children, and families (social legislation). Why? Women are more liberal than men on average, at least in wealthy democracies I Women politicians have different policy priorities, e.g. focus on women's rights
Islam and democracy
Why are so few Muslim and especially Arab Muslim countries democracies today? Some possibilities: 1. Islam and the Qu'ran (primordial explanation): I "This is what Allah says... 'Now go and strike the Infidel and devote to destruct all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey." (Surah 27:63) Of course, the Bible has its share of nasty passages, e.g.: "Happy is he who repays the infidel for what they have done to us-he who seizes their infants and dashes them against the rocks." (Psalm 137) 2. Arab and Muslim cultures are largely incompatible with democracy, e.g. gender norms (p. 175) (somewhat primordial) 3. Resource curse (p. 178) 4. Geopolitics (p. 180/189-190)
one-party system
a political system in which one political party controls the government and clearly dominates political activity limited contestation ( Japan 1950-2009)
multiparty system
a political system in which several major and minor political parties compete for political power and government offices ( Mexico , India)
Externality:
a side effect or consequence of an industrial or commercial activity that affects other parties without this being reflected in the cost of the goods or services involved Negative externality: antibiotic resistance, the pollution of surrounding areas by a chemical company Positive externality: open-source software, job growth in addition to the jobs at the company (e.g. Amazon comes to town)
Political cleavage:
a social or economic division that is politicized (i.e. that is important to understand politics) - Factors that separate society into groups. - Division over policy groups
Welfare state:
a state that promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens through redistributive taxing and spending programs
Class cleavage
after the industrial revolution, a conflict emerged between business owners and working class; led to socialist and communist versus conservative parties
Civil war (wars within states):
armed combat within the boundaries of a state between parties that are subject to common authority/government at the start of hostilities (by maybe not by the end, as in a successful secessionist civil war)
Revolution (Samuels):
armed conflict within a sovereign state between insurgents and the state and in which authority is forcibly transferred from the state to the insurgents, and the insurgents subsequently bring about wholesale political change
Regional cleavages
differing political views between people living in different geographic regions, populations compete for government resources such as money, jobs, and development projects, regional differences are linked to varying degrees of economic development central/ periphery regions
The FARC in Colombia:
from a violent political organization to a terrorist political organization
Print-capitalism
is a theory underlying the concept of a nation, as a group that forms an imagined community, that emerges with a common language and discourse that is generated from the use of the printing press, proliferated by a capitalist marketplace. How did capitalist printing lay the bases for national consciousness? (p. 44) 1. Printing created languages that united groups smaller than Christendom but larger than the spoken vernacular and regional dialects (e.g. Parisian French was selected for scripture among various French dialects in Northern France) 2. Printing gave vernacular/non-Latin languages an idea of antiquity central to nationalism I Printing is obvious for us, but was rare until the 1800s, most people were illiterate even in Europe 3. Printing created languages of power such that in each country one vernacular became the standard and the rest sub-standard, something critical to national unification (e.g. Parisian French becomes the language of power, Occitan a sub-standard language)
Patriotism:
love of, devotion for, support for, identification with, attachment to one's country In the US, patriotism has a positive connotation and nationalism a negative connotation because we conflate nationalism and xenophobia (the dislike of people from other countries or those that look different, as in fascist regimes)
non democratic one party
participation without contestation ( China, North korea, cuba)
Religious Cleavages
religious differences are intertwined, may exist between people of similar ethnic backgrounds, etc. 90% of Iranians are Shia Muslims, 10% are Sunni, and 1% are a combination of Jews, Christians, Zoroastrian, and Baha'i. These people face major cleavages. OR church/ State
Private sector:
the part of the economy that is concerned with individuals and firms; economic activity outside the purview of the state, whether by individuals or private corporations
Public sector:
the part of the economy that is concerned with the state; the government delivery of goods and services
Political economy:
the study of the relationship between economics and politics; how politics affects economic choices and how economics affects political choices
Economic development:
the sustained increase in the standard of living of a country's population as a result of improvements in infrastructure, education, health Economic development encompasses multiple aspects of people's well-being (e.g. life expectancy, level of education) and therefore is a broader concept than economic growth (which is often equivalent to growth in a country's Gross Domestic Product or GDP)
Ethnography
the systematic study of (the customs of) individual peoples and cultures. It is very common in some social sciences (e.g. sociology, social anthropology)
civic virtue
the tendency to form small-scale associations for the public good
Political violence:
the use of force by states or non-state actors to achieve political goals
Political identity:
the way individuals categorize themselves in politically relevant categories
Social revolution (p. 4-5):
transformation of a society's state and class structures; it leads to structural political and social change
Interstate warfare:
wars between states, the use of violence by states against other states to achieve political goals
