Political Systems, Regimes, and Governments
What the exam is asking
This domain tests whether you can sort countries by regime type and describe how power is won, legitimized, and limited. Core vocabulary: state (institutions with a monopoly on legitimate force over a territory), regime (the rules and norms governing who holds power and how), government (the specific officeholders), sovereignty, legitimacy, and authority.
Know the continuum: democracy, hybrid/illiberal regimes, and authoritarian subtypes (one-party, military, theocratic, personalist, oligarchic). Be able to place the six course countries - UK, Russia, China, Nigeria, Mexico, Iran - and justify placement with evidence about competition, participation, and constraints on executives.
Traps
- Confusing regime with government: a regime can persist across many governments (Mexico's PRI era outlasted individual presidents).
- Assuming elections equal democracy. Iran and Russia hold elections; the test is whether opposition can realistically win and whether civil liberties are protected.
- Treating legitimacy as legality. Legitimacy is about belief and acceptance; a government can be legal but illegitimate in citizens' eyes.
- Forgetting fragility: Nigeria's state is strong on paper but contested by regional and religious identities, so capacity and legitimacy diverge.
Rule of thumb
When asked to classify a regime, name the mechanism of executive selection, the degree of competition, and the limits on power - three sentences, three pieces of evidence. Classification without evidence earns little credit.
Worked example
Question: Is Russia a democracy? Weak answer: "No, Putin is authoritarian." Strong answer: name the mechanism (competitive-looking elections with managed outcomes), the constraint (executive dominance over media, courts, and regional governors), and the concept (hybrid regime sliding toward personalist authoritarianism).