Exam II

Question 1

Conceptual definition

Answer 1

Dictionary definition: More general and indicates the main elements or dimensions of a concept

Question 2

Operational definition

Answer 2

Operationalize or observe: How exactly a concept will be measured

Question 3

Reliability

Answer 3

Whether a particular technique of measurement applied repeatedly to the same object would yield the same result every time. Consistency or repeatability of measures.

Question 4

What are techniques to deal with problems of reliability?

Answer 4

Test-retest method, split-half method, using established measures gleaned from a literature review, inter-coder reliability.

Question 5

What is the test-retest method?

Answer 5

Follow-up questionnaires for qualitative data, for quantitative data it would be testing and then retesting to ensure the same results.

Question 6

What is the split-half method?

Answer 6

Creating more than one measurement of any complex concept.

Question 7

What is inter-coder reliability?

Answer 7

Reliability of research workers when using several different coders.

Question 8

What is validity?

Answer 8

The extent to which an empirical measure adequately reflects the real meaning of the concept.

Question 9

What is face validity?

Answer 9

The extent to which an empirical measure jibes with our common agreements.

Question 10

What is content validity?

Answer 10

How much a measure covers the range of meanings included within a concept.

Question 11

What is the tension between validity and reliability?

Answer 11

Validity and reliability are often inversely related. The more richness or fecundity (increasing content validity) we allow for a concept, the more opportunity there is for disagreement on how it applies to a particular situation, reducing reliability.

Question 12

What is Levitsky and Way’s initial observation regarding regimes transitioning to democracies?

Answer 12

The regimes have remained in transition for an extended period of time and scholars should classify these regimes as distinct from one another in their hybrid state.

Question 13

What is competitive authoritarianism?

Answer 13

One type of a hybrid regime that does not meet the criteria for full authoritarianism, but either holds unfair elections, violates civil liberties, or has an uneven playing field. However it provides broad adult suffrage, and the authority of elected governments is not seriously restricted by unelected tutelary powers.

Question 14

What is full authoritarianism?

Answer 14

At least one of the following: Major opposition parties and or candidates are routinely excluded from competing in elections; large-scale falsification of electoral results makes voting meaningless; repression is so severe that major civic and opposition groups cannot operate in the public arena.

Question 15

What are open arenas of contestation in competitive authoritarianism?

Answer 15

Electoral arena, legislative arena, judicial arena, and news media.

Question 16

What do Levitsky and Way theorize regarding competitive regimes?

Answer 16

That proximity to the West leads to a more successful transition toward democratization.

Question 17

What are three origins of competitive authoritarianism that Levitsky and Way propose?

Answer 17

1. Decay of a full-blown authoritarian regime where the transition fell short of democracy: Sub-Saharan Africa.
2. Collapse of a full-blown authoritarian where the full authoritarian regime could not consolidate: Russia.
3. Decay of a Democratic regime: Peru, Venezuela, potentially US.

Question 18

What was Levitsky and Way’s central argument?

Answer 18

We must stop assuming that regime change leads to an endpoint of democracy and that non-democracies are “in transition”

Question 19

What are the two dimensions of inclusion that Dahl’s concept of polyarchy relies on?

Answer 19

1. Opportunities to participate in elections (vote)

2. Opportunities to compete for power (run for office)

Question 20

What are the seven institutional requirements of democracy according to Dahl?

Answer 20

1. Freedom of association
2. Freedom of expression
3. Right to vote
4. Right of political leaders to attract support
5. Alternative sources of information
6. Free and fair elections
7. Institutions that make policy depend on the popular vote

Question 21

What time period does Polity IV cover?

Answer 21

1800-2015

Question 22

What geographic region does Polity IV cover?

Answer 22

Covers the globe

Question 23

What scale does Polity IV use?

Answer 23

Autocracies from -10 to 0
Democracies 0-10
Additive on a scale of: -10 to 10

Question 24

What time period does Freedom House cover?

Answer 24

1973-2015

Question 25

What geographic region does Freedom House cover?

Answer 25

Covers the globe

Question 26

What scale does Freedom House use?

Answer 26

Political Rights: 1-7 Civil Liberties: 1-7 Adds up the two scores and divides to get the average of both scores. 1 is the greatest degree of freedom, 7 is the smallest degree of freedom.

Question 27

How does Freedom House assign country status'?

Answer 27

Free: 1.0-2.5 Partly Free: 3.0-5.0 Not Free: 5.5-7.0

Question 28

Does Polity separate civil liberties from civil rights?

Answer 28

No. Civil liberties are not indicators of democracy, they are outcomes of democracy.

Question 29

What are the three essential and interdependent elements in Polity IV?

Answer 29

1. Leader Recruitment 2. Checks on Power 3. Competition/Opposition

Question 30

What is Leader Recruitment?

Answer 30

Presence of institutions and procedures for citizens to express effective preferences about alternative policies and leaders.

Question 31

What are Checks on Power?

Answer 31

The existence of institutionalized constraints on the power of the executive?

Question 32

What are Competition/Opposition?

Answer 32

Guarantee of political participation

Question 33

What are the variables measuring democracy in Polity IV?

Answer 33

1. Leader recruitment 2. Executive constraints 3. Political Competition and Opposition

Question 34

How is leader recruitment measured in Polity IV?

Answer 34

The extent to which executive transfers of power are institutionalized; the competitiveness of executive selection; the openness of executive recruitment.

Question 35

How are executive constraints measured in Polity IV?

Answer 35

Constitutional restrictions; authority and independence of the judiciary; authority and function of the legislature.

Question 36

How are political competition and opposition measured in Polity IV?

Answer 36

Regulation of participation and competitiveness of participation.

Question 37

How does Polity IV measure autocracy?

Answer 37

1. Level of repression of competitive political participation 2. The regularity of which the chief executive is chosen by the political elite 3. Few institutional constraints on the executive

Question 38

How do measures of democracy differ?

Answer 38

1. The conception of democracy that underlies each 2. The data used to assess the regimes 3. The type of measurement they develop

Question 39

How does the conception of democracy that underlies each differ?

Answer 39

Substantive v. Procedural: Polity and Freedomhouse are grounded in substantive notions whereas Przeworski's conception is minimalist/procedural.

Question 40

How does the data used to assess the regimes differ?

Answer 40

The data often requires subjective assessment as many of the terms in the Freedom House and Polity questions are undefined. DD has four defined rules.

Question 41

How does the type of measurement they develop differ?

Answer 41

It's categorical, but transformed to a continuous scale: Polity is on a 21 point scale, Freedom House on a 7 point scale, and DD is only categorical.

Question 42

What are Coppedge et al's six challenges to conceptualization?

Answer 42

1. Definition: Too many different definitions 2. Precision: Not attentive to varieties of democracy 3. Coverage and Source: The databases only cover certain years and the data sources differ by country 4. Coding: Unclear coding criteria/subjectivity 5. Aggregation: How do we combine indicators into a single score (should some be weighted more heavily than others) 6. Validity and Reliability: Consistency of the measure and richness of the measure.

Question 43

What are causes?

Answer 43

Factors that raise the probabilities of an event occurring.

Question 44

What are deterministic relationships?

Answer 44

If some cause occurs, then the effect will occur with certainty (physical sciences)

Question 45

What are probabilistic relationships?

Answer 45

Increases in X are associated with increases in the probability of occurring (social sciences)

Question 46

What is the democratic peace theory?

Answer 46

Wars are less likely to break out between two regimes that are democracies than between countries where at least one is a non-democracy. It doesn't mean that democracies do not go to war with one another, but that they tend not to do so.

Question 47

What is the dependent variable?

Answer 47

Y: an outcome we hope to explain.

Question 48

What is the independent variable?

Answer 48

X: a factor believed to cause a change in the dependent variable.

Question 49

What are the four tests a causal claim must pass?

Answer 49

1. Covariation: a direct, inverse, or curvilinear relationship between X and Y 2. Spuriousness: When a relationship seems evident but it is fake/false 3. Cause/Effect (Sequence): X must cause Y 4: Mechanism: A "credible causal mechanism" must be identified that links X and Y. Without a mechanism, you have identified correlation, not causation.

Question 50

What is the problem of endogeneity?

Answer 50

The possibility that Y could cause X just as easily as X could cause Y.

Question 51

What is equifinality?

Answer 51

When multiple causes may lead to the same effect.

Question 52

What did Lipset find regarding democracy and development?

Answer 52

Economic development sets off a series of profound social changes that together tend to produce democracy. Wealthier states often have: higher levels of education and urbanization; more sophisticated and varied means of communication; larger middle classes, and greater social equality and mobility.

Question 53

What did Huntington find regarding democracy and development?

Answer 53

Agreed that modernization theory was right in predicting that economic development would lead to social change, but argued that modernization theorists were wrong in assuming social change would necessarily be benign or progressive and lead to democracy.

Question 54

What did Przeworski and Limongi find regarding democracy and development?

Answer 54

1. Democracy is a random process. The emergence of democracy is not a by-product of economic development. 2. Dictatorships die for multiple reasons, but per capita income has a strong impact on the survival of democracy. No democracy with per capita income over $6000 has ever been subverted. 3. In poorer nations when regimes shift, either democracies or dictatorships may emerge. 4. In the long run, as a result of economic development, there are more democracies.

Question 55

How did Boix and Stokes respond to Przeworski and Limongi?

Answer 55

If you start earlier than Przeworski and Limongi, economic development is correlated to democratization. P and L omitted variables from their analysis like international forces (the cold war). Boix and Stokes find that less income inequality there is more democracy, and development reduces the incentives actors face to choose dictatorship.