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Politics & Ethnicity Exam #1
stupid test
83
Political Studies
Undergraduate 2
07/24/2013

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Term
What's the definition of ethnicity ?
Definition
An identity that draws from the cultural characteristics of an ethnic group which can include multiple elements.
Term
What are the elements of an ethnic group ?
Definition
concept of common ancestry, historical memories, some kind of common culture, attachment to a homeland;either to settle or ancestral , feel solidarity with fellow group members.
Term
What do different theoretical notions help us to do ?
Definition
Different theoretical approaches help us understand different facets of cultural and political behavior.
Term
What is Patterns of Causation ( Causality) ?
Definition
the relation between an event (the cause) and a second event (the effect), where the second event is understood as a consequence of the first
Term
What is a dependent variable (DV) ?
Definition
A variable whose value depends on that of another. It's the things/people/group we are trying to explain. For example: Let's say the question is " Why do African-Americans vote democratic?" So, our D.V. would be African Americans. You just gotta think about what makes what happen.
Term
What is an independent variable (I.V.) ?
Definition
A variable whose variation does not depend on that of another. for ex: The war is because of religion. Our I.V. would be religion. independent variables are often denoted by X, and dependent variables are often denoted by y .
Term
What are the 4 approaches to ethnicity ?
Definition
Instrumentalism, Constructivism, Institutionalism, and Essentialism. (ICIE InCoInEs)
Term
What is essentialism ?
Definition
Ascriptive characteristics , they feel like conflict is caused by historical enmities. ("ancient hatreds" ). Essentialists feel like "we are born with these differences. They are ascribed to us by birth.
Term
What is the whole idea of a "common kinship' , and which approach to ethnicity does it come from ?
Definition
Ethnicity gets people to unite with people they don't even know , but they might because of their shared identity.
Term
Which group assumes that a historical record exists between ancient groups ?
Definition
Essentialists. It's that ancient-hatred term.
Term
Which group thinks of ethnicity as a historical memory that divides people ?
Definition
Essentialists
Term
To primordial scholars, what role does ethnicity pay ?
Definition
To primordial scholars, ethnicity is the biggest factor to them when breaking down groups, and predicting stuff. They use their predictions based on ethnic demography. They believe that ethnicity is the reason for all occurences.
Term
Essentialists feel like ethnic groups have an emotional bond to one another, but what is it that they cannot explain ?
Definition
Essentialists/Primordialists cannot explain why some groups fight in certain areas, but not in others. For ex: how blacks/whites get along in other regions, but not in America.
Term
Which group focuses on what divides people, instead of what brings people together ?
Definition
Essentialist/Primordialists
Term
What is instrumentalism ?
Definition
Instrumentalists feel that ethnic mobilization is a tool for the political elites to pursue interests. It's elite, rather than mass driven.
Term
Which group is considered to utilize the concept of " Acynical manipulation of a mass population's ethnic diversity" ?
Definition
Instrumentalists.
Term
Why does an Instrumentalists feel like ethnicity exists ?
Definition
Instrumentalists feel like ethnicity exists because of the political interests of the elites, and elite manipulation.
Term
Jack Snyder is very much a what ?
Definition
instrumentalist
Term
Which group feels like political elites have an enormous amount of power to determine the importance of ethnicity ?
Definition
instrumentalists.
Term
Unlike Essentialists/Primordialists , what can instrumentalists do ?
Definition
Instrumentalists can give an explanation for variation whereas essentialists cannot.
Term
Which one of the 4 approaches is very easy to measure ?
Definition
Instrumentalism.
Term
What is Constructivism ?
Definition
It's typically used to describe the D.V. "why does ethnicity exist?" . Kind of seeming like society is shaping us ,because we must assimilate to the dominant ethnicity.
Term
Which one of the approaches is a good way to explain why ethnicity exists ?
Definition
Constructivism .
Term
Which group feels as if modern capitalism contributed to the development of ethnicity and nationalist expectations ?
Definition
Constructivism.
Term
What has a long time of explaining why ethnicity is important now and then ?
Definition
Constructivism.
Term
What is assimilation ?
Definition
A person's identity is transformed into something else.
Term
Which group best helps us to better understand the process of assimilation ?
Definition
Constructivists.
Term
Do constructivists scholars really want assimilation to happen though ?
Definition
No, they don't.
Term
What is institutionalism ?
Definition
Institutionalists would say that there's not a direct arrow between ethnic conflict, and ethnic diversity. They feel like there are a lot of intervening variables.
Term
Which group feels like , "If you have the right political institutions, then you can avoid/midigate ethnic conflicts" ?
Definition
Institutionalism
Term
Which groups feels that if you have a democracy, there will be less conflicts ?
Definition
Institutionalism.
Term
What do institutonals feel like political institutions can always do ?
Definition
they feel like political institutions can always intervene in order to change a predicted outcome.
Term
Which group feels as if political structures/institutions have the most control on the outcomes in the state ?
Definition
Institutionalists.
Term
What are political institutions ?
Definition
orgs or entitites that are self-perpetuating , and add predicatability to politics. ( self perpetuating example:we know we have to vote for our president every 4 years in november )
Term
What are the 2 main territorial structures ?
Definition
federalism and unitary systems .
Term
What is federalism ?
Definition
political system divided amongst regions/states . Power is meaningfully divided in these systems. States have power, there is a decentralized government.
Term
What is a unitary system ?
Definition
A system where gov't authority is centralized. We usually measure this by who has the power to tax.
Term
What are the two different electoral systems ?
Definition
PR- Proportional Representation , and SMD- Single Member District System
Term
We want to design a political institution to achieve what type of outcomes in a state ?
Definition
Outcomes such as : representative, stable, flexible, and governable.
Term
Which electoral system is the "first past the post' concept present in ?
Definition
Single member district
Term
How many parties will a Single member district result in ?
Definition
2 parties
Term
some people feel like the more political parties you have, then the what ?
Definition
the harder it is to govern the state .
Term
What are the two executive systems ?
Definition
Presidential system , and Parliamentary system.
Term
In any presidential system, who is the executive leader ?
Definition
the President
Term
In any parliamentary system , who is the executive leader /
Definition
the prime minister
Term
In any SMD electoral system , it always results in how many political parties ?
Definition
2-3 political parties
Term
In any PR electoral system, it always results in how many political parties ?
Definition
5-7 political parties.
Term
Who can veto a law? a prime minister or a president ?
Definition
only a president can veto a law,. a prime minister cannot.
Term
what's an example of a parliamentary with a smd ?
Definition
the u.k.
Term
what's an example of a presidential with a smd ?
Definition
the U.S.
Term
What's an example of a presidential with a pr ?
Definition
brazil and argentina
Term
in which type of system are coalitions governments created ?
Definition
in a parliamentary system with a PR
Term
What is gellener's definition of nationalism ?
Definition
Conception that the political unit and the cultural unit should be congruent.
Term
What is Snyder's definition of nationalism ?
Definition
the doctrine that a people who see themselves as distinct in their culture, history, institutions, or principles should rule themselves in a political system that expresses and protects those distinctive characteristics.
Term
How do ethnic groups become nations according to Barany ?
Definition
Barany says that The society/group must have certain characteristics critical for mobilization.
Term
How do ethnic groups become nations according to both Snyder and Barany ?
Definition
State contexts provide opportunities for ethnic mobilization and conflict.
Term
Overall , how do ethnic groups become nations ?
Definition
ethnic mobilization.
Term
What is Snyder's Process of Democratization / his independent variable?
Definition
Snyder has a logical process. 1) political elites use democratic process to manipulate masses to mobilize votes. ( But Snyder says: political leaders use ethnic mobilization as a way to monopolize power. But he's an instrumentalists, so of course he feels that way.)@) mass media, permitted freely in democratic regimes, becomes a technological tool for mass communication and thus mobilization
Term
What are Barany's views ? His independent variables ?
Definition
Barany feels as if political opportunity is provided by the state structure in the form of regime change. Barany feels as if it takes more than just political opportunity. His i.v. is basically based on the characteristics of the group itself.
Term
What is a regime ?
Definition
a mechanism of organizing power inside of a state.
Term
What is the main characteristic of a democratic regime ?
Definition
Free, fair, competitive elections , where ppl can select hpolitical decision makers.
Term
What is "the stateness problem"
Definition
when groups inside the population reject the territory of the state. Politics by consent is difficult to construct if territory of state is disputed. It's an issue of regime transformation.
Term
Name some different types of regimes.
Definition
authoritarian , democratic, totalitarian, etc.
Term
What's a current example of the stateness problem ?
Definition
the current democratization in Iraq. As the system transforms into a democratic regime, we can predict a stateness problem.
Term
What's a way to avoid the stateness problem ?
Definition
One way to avoid the stateness problem is to give some ppl some power to their own governance over their territory. Find cooperative ways to get them to want to stay within the state.
Term
What's the idea behind the stateness problem ?
Definition
The idea is that multiple ethnic groups will hurt democracy. It will be much harder to create a nation-state here. When a place is undergoing regime transformation, diversity hurts democracy.
Term
According to Snyder, does diversity hurt democracy ?
Definition
Yes , under the right circumstances.
Term
According to Barany , does diversity hurt democracy ?
Definition
Political opportunity for mobilization exists during regime change, but that is not a sufficient condition.
Term
According to Linz and Stepan , does diversity hurt democracy ?
Definition
Not necessarily, if the correct institutions are put into place.
Term
According to Fish and Brooks, does diversity hurt democracy ?
Definition
No, because other factors are more determinant in this situation.
Term
As ethnic diversity increases, the quality of democracy does what ?
Definition
the quality of democracy decreases.
Term
Which scholars agree that as ethnic diversity increases the quality of democracy decreases ?
Definition
Jack Snyder , Barrany , and Linz/Stepan. Brooks and Fish do NOT.
Term
Why do Brooks/Fish disagree with the statement that "as ethnic diversity increases, the quality of democracy decreases" ?
Definition
They feel like it's waay too simplistic. They feel like what about ethnic diversity ? economic development ? oil states ? islamic ? former british colonies ? Brooks and Fish feel like there are so many other relevant factors that can contribute to the dependent variable of the quality of democracy.
Term
On a graph of does diversity hurt democracy , describe would it would look like ,and it's outcomes .
Definition
Ethnic diversity ( the iv , is on the X axis ) ,and quality of democracy ( the d.v. is on th Y-axis). The graph shows that as ethnic diversity increases, the quality of democracy decreases.
Term
What does Lijphart feel that we can do in terms of designing multi-ethnic democracies ?
Definition
Lijphart feels that group autonomy and powersharing is important. Lijphart feels as if " we can fix it with institutions!" .
Term
What are some good things to have when deigning a multi-ethnic democracy?
Definition
List p.r. electoral system ,smaller districts, parliamentary, executive powersharing, federalism, and non-territorial autonomy.
Term
Wat did the Lithuania and Russia study show ?
Definition
that demography matters , and that institutions matter. Ethnic diversity does NOT always cause party fragmentation.
Term
What is a threshold ?
Definition
minimum percent of seats required for representation in a p.r. system.
Term
What's the Linz/Stepan take on federalism ?
Definition
The whole demos-constraining, and emos-enabling concept. The coming together ( like U.S.) versus the Holding together (like spain/india) aspect.
Term
Which country uses asymmetrical federalism to engage ethnic minorities ?
Definition
Spain
Term
What is asymmetrical federalism ?
Definition
one or more of the states has considerably more autonomy than the other substates, although they have the same constitutional status. The division of powers between substates is not symmetric
Term
what is autonomy ?
Definition
the right or condition of self-government
Term
Linz/Stepan feel that demos-enabling does what ?
Definition
demos-enabling federalism helps maintain unity. Demos-constraining implies problems for stateness.
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