1.2 Defining Political Institutions

2 min read•june 18, 2024

Isabela Padilha

Kelly Cotton

AP Comparative Government 🗳️

90 resources

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Unit 1 - Defining Political Institutions

Vocab anyone?! This topic is all about vocabulary. At the end of this topic you'll need to know the different ways that political institutions are defined. Do not forget as we go over the different institutions that they represent the power dynamics between the government and the people. So here we go!

Topic 1.2 Terms

Political Systems—The laws 📜, the ideas 💡, and the procedures that decide who has the authority to rule and what the government's influence should be politically and economically.

States—Political organizations that combine a permanent population with governing institutions in a defined territory with international recognition.

Regime—A group in power who exercises power. Can be democratic 🙋🏾‍♀️ or authoritarian 👑

Government—The institutions and individuals allowed to make legally binding decisions for a state.

Nation—A group of people with items in common like language 🗣️, race 👦🏼👦🏽👦🏻, or religion ☪️.

Definitions are the key 🔑 to success in this class. You can't compare countries if you don't understand the terms and ways in which you are being asked to compare them. The College Board also wants you to show that you can explain and analyze! That means being able to discuss what a political system looks like in the countries of study. Here's a chart to help.

👸 Institution Examples

Term	UK - Examples	Russia - Examples	China - Examples	Iran - Examples	Mexico - Examples	Nigeria-Examples
Political System	Democracy	Constitution Authoritarian	CCP and/or Authoritarian	Theocracy and/or Authoritarian	Constitutional Democracy	Constitutional Democracy
State	UK	Russia	China	Iran	Mexico	Nigeria
Regime	Democratic	Authoritarian	Authoritarian	Authoritarian	Emerging Democracy	Emerging Democracy
Government	Unitary, but turning more federal	Federal but asymmetric	Unitary	Unitary	Federal	Federal
Nation	Scottish, Irish	Russian, Chechan	Han Chinese, Tibetans	Persians, Azeris	Mestizo	Hausa, Yoruba

This topic is all about providing you with a way to define political institutions. The rest of the unit will have you break each of these down in more detail and begin to examine each in the course countries.

💡For the AP Exam you will have to know the difference between all of these institutions very clearly. A good way to approach it is to think what each institution does in terms of power 👑. For instance, political sytems determine who has the authority to rule. A nation, on the other hand, does not necessarily have power implications since it exists through a commonality between people, including but not limited to language, aspirations, ethnicity, etc.

Essential connections: 🔁

A state consists of the combination of a population and the governmental system of a nation
A government's authority derives from the state's legitimacy to exercise power
A regime does not change after a transition of government. Regimes are supposed to be enduring.