Comparative Government and Politics: Institutions and Regimes
Core concepts
Comparative questions reward precise vocabulary for comparing states. Classify regimes (democracy, authoritarian, hybrid), executive–legislative relations (presidential, parliamentary, semi-presidential), electoral systems (single-member district plurality, proportional representation, mixed), party systems (dominant-party, two-party, multiparty), and state structure (unitary, federal, confederal). Duverger's law: plurality SMDs tend to produce two-party competition; PR tends to multiply parties and require coalitions. Parliamentarism fuses executive and legislative authority and allows votes of no confidence; presidentialism separates them with fixed terms, which Linz argued is riskier for new democracies. Lijphart contrasts majoritarian and consensual democracy, the latter using consociational devices - grand coalitions, mutual veto, proportionality, segmental autonomy. Distinguish state from nation and know Weber's types of legitimate authority (traditional, charismatic, legal-rational). For development, compare modernization theory, dependency theory, and rentier-state effects, and know Huntington's third wave and contemporary democratic backsliding. Case anchors help: the United Kingdom's uncodified constitution and fused powers, Germany's constructive vote of no confidence and mixed electoral system, federal Nigeria and India, Mexico's PRI hegemony (1929–2000).
Traps
Parliamentary systems can have judicial review without a codified constitution (the UK is the standard example). PR does not guarantee instability, but it does make single-party majorities rare. Federalism is a constitutional division of sovereignty, not mere administrative decentralization. Authoritarian regimes vary: personalist, military, single-party, theocratic, monarchical.
Rule of thumb
When asked how a system "prevents" some outcome, name the mechanism. Presidential fixed terms prevent easy removal but invite deadlock; parliamentary confidence votes remove executives but can dissolve legislatures.