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AP* COMPARATIVE GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS: AN ESSENTIAL COURSEBOOK

SEVENTH EDITION

by Ethel Wood

WoodYard Publications *AP and Advanced Placement are registered trademarks of the College Entrance Examination Board which was not involved in the production of and does not endorse this book.

AP Comparative Government and Politics: An Essential Coursebook, Seventh Edition Published by WoodYard Publications 285 Main Street Germantown, NY 12526 Ph. 610-207-1366 Fax 610-372-8401 [email protected] http://woodyardpublications.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE..........................................................................................

PART ONE: CONCEPTS...............................................................1 Chapter One: Introduction to Comparative Government and Politics: A ConceptualApproach.......................................................1

Questions for Concepts for Comparison..........................................8

PART TWO: COUNTRY CASES..................................................9

Advanced Democracies..................................................................9 Chapter Two: Government and Politics in Britain.............................9

Questions for Britain.......................................................................15 Chapter Three: The European Union..............................................16

Questions for the European Union..................................................18

Communist and Post-Communist Regimes.................................19 Chapter Four: Government and Politics in Russia..........................19

Questions for Russia........................................................................25 Chapter Five: Government and Politics in China..............................27 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Newly Industrializing and Less Developed Countries................34

Copyright 2015 by Ethel Wood

Chapter Six: Government and Politics in Mexico...........................35

ISBN 978-0-9895395-5-5

Questions for China.........................................................................32

Questions for Mexico......................................................................40

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Chapter Seven: Government and Politics in Iran...........................416 Questions for Iran............................................................................472 Chapter Eight: Government and Politics in Nigeria........................482 Questions for Nigeria......................................................................534 PART THREE: SAMPLE EXAMINATIONS............................545 Sample Examination One................................................................546 Sample Examination Two................................................................566 MASTER CHARTS.......................................................................584 INDEX............................................................................................588

Why Comparative Government and Politics?

I taught social studies classes for many years, mostly at Princeton Hig School in Princeton, New Jersey. Like most social studies teacher my experience included classes in United States history and gover ment. I have also published review books, textbooks, readers, an web materials that have required me to do extensive research in var ous types of American studies. Needless to say, I believe that an ed cation in these areas is incredibly important for high school student and every secondary curriculum should include them. So why is com parative government and politics particularly significant?

The 21st century has taught us that we cannot ignore the world aroun us. Happenings around the globe now directly impact our lives, an social studies teachers and students around the country face the cha lenge of interpreting complex, puzzling events. The AP comparativ course focuses on government and politics in other countries and pr vides a theoretical framework to compare political systems around th world. It is my hope that this book will help students to grasp som thing of the political complexities of our global environment, and ga some understanding of both commonalities and differences amon modern political systems. In today’s world, we cannot afford not know. Ethel Wood Germantown, NY October 2015

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Other Books by Ethel Wood

PREFACE: THE COMPARATIVE GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS EXAMINATION

American Government: A Complete Coursebook AP European History: An Essential Coursebook, 1st and 2nd editions AP Human Geography: A Study Guide, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd editions AP United States History: An Essential Coursebook, 1st and 2nd editions AP World History: An Essential Coursebook, 1st and 2nd editions The Immigrants: An Historical Reader Introduction to Sociology Multiple Choice and Free-Response Questions in Preparation for the AP United States Government and Politics Examination, editions 1-7 Multiple Choice and Free-Response Questions in Preparation for the AP World History Examination, editions 1 and 2 Teacher’s Guide - AP Comparative Government and Politics The Best Test Preparation for the Graduate Record Examination in Political Science The Presidency: An Historical Reader

The AP Comparative Government and Politics Examination adminis tered by the College Board in May lasts for two hours and 25 minute and consists of the following parts:

• 55 multiple-choice questions (45 minutes allowed; 50% o AP grade)

• a 100-minute free response section consisting of 8 question (50% of AP grade)

The multiple-choice questions cover all the topics listed below, and test knowledge of comparative theory, methods, and government an politics in Britain, Russia, China, Mexico, Iran, and Nigeria. On th exam, the College Board no longer subtracts one-fourth of the num ber of questions answered incorrectly from the number of question answered correctly to come up with your score. Since there is n penalty for guessing, it is advisable to answer all questions the bes that you can. The free-response questions are of three types:

• Definition and description (25% of free-response grade) Students provide brief definitions or descriptions of five con cepts or terms, briefly explaining their significance. Student may have to provide an example of the definition or descrip tion in one or more of the six core countries.

• Conceptual analysis (one question; 25% of free-respons grade) – Students must use major concepts from comparativ politics, explain important relationships, or discuss the cause and implications of politics and policy.

• Country context (two questions; 50% of free-response grade each question 25%) – These questions focus on specific coun tries, and require students to use core concepts to analyz one country or compare two countries.

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The recommended total time for definition and description terms is 30 minutes; for the conceptual analysis question, 30 minutes; and for each of the two country context questions, 20 minutes. However, there are no time divisions among the free-response questions. Instead, a total of 100 minutes is allotted to answer all of them. Generally, multiple-choice questions are distributed fairly evenly among the six countries. In addition, many questions are not countryspecific, but instead test knowledge of the major concepts. According to the College Board, the topics of the multiple choice questions are distributed as follows: Introduction (methods, purpose of comparisons).............................5% Sovereignty, Authority, and Power.................................................20% Political Institutions.......................................................................35% Citizens, Society, and State............................................................15% Political and Economic Change.....................................................15% Public Policy...................................................................................10% This newly revised 7th Edition of AP Comparative Government and Politics: An Essential Coursebook is designed to help you prepare for the exam by giving you a sound footing in comparative concepts as well as country-specific information about the six core countries. The book is divided into three parts: • Part One – Introduction to Comparative Government and Politics: A Conceptual Approach • Part Two – Country Cases: Advanced Democracies (Great Britain), Communist and Post-Communist Regimes (Russia and China), and Less-Developed and Newly-Developing Countries (Mexico, Iran, and Nigeria) • Part Three – Practice Examinations: Two complete practice exams, each with 55 multiple-choice questions and 8 free-response questions

Your best preparation for the exam is to know your stuff. The que tions do require reading and writing skills, but the surer you are of t material, the more likely you are to answer the questions correctl This book provides the concepts and information, as well as plen of practice questions that will prepare you for the exam. The mo important things are that you learn something about comparative go ernment and politics, and that you learn to love it, too!

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PART ONE: CONCEPTS FOR COMPARISONS

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• Analyzing and interpreting basic data for comparing politic systems

WHAT IS COMPARATIVE GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Comparative government and politics provides an introduction to the wide, diverse world of governments and political practices that exist in modern times. Although the course focuses on specific countries, it also emphasizes an understanding of conceptual tools and methods that form a framework for comparing almost any governments that exist today. Additionally, it requires students to go beyond individual political systems to consider international forces that affect all people in the world, often in very different ways. Six countries form the core of the course: Great Britain, Russia, China, Mexico, Iran, and Nigeria. The countries are chosen to reflect regional variations, but more importantly, to illustrate how important concepts operate both similarly and differently in different types of political systems: “advanced” democracies, communist and post-communist countries, and newly-industrialized and less-developed nations. This book includes review materials for all six countries. Goals for the course include: • Gaining an understanding of major comparative political concepts, themes, and trends • Knowing important facts about government and politics in Great Britain, Russia, China, Mexico, Iran, and Nigeria • Identifying patterns of political processes and behavior and analyzing their political and economic consequences • Comparing and contrasting political institutions and processes across countries

Most people understand that the term government is a reference the leadership and institutions that make policy decisions for a cou try. However, what exactly is politics? Politics is basically all abo power. Who has the power to make the decisions? How did powe holders get power? What challenges do leaders face from others both inside and outside the country’s borders – in keeping power? S as we look at different countries, we are not only concerned about th ins and outs of how the government works; we will also look at ho power is gained, managed, challenged, and maintained.

College-level courses in comparative government and politics vary style and organization, but they all cover topics that enable meanin ful comparisons across countries. These topics are introduced in th pages that follow, and will be addressed in greater depth when each the countries is covered separately. The topics are: • The Comparative Method • Sovereignty, Authority, and Power • Political and Economic Change • Citizens, Society, and the State • Political Institutions • Public Policy TOPIC ONE: THE COMPARATIVE METHOD

Political scientists sometimes argue about exactly what countri should be studied and how they should be compared. One approa is to emphasize empirical data based on factual statements and st tistics, and another is to focus on normative issues that require valu judgments. For example, the first approach might compare statisti

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that reflect economic development of a group of countries, including information about Gross National Product, per capita income, and amounts of imports and exports. The second approach builds on those facts to focus instead on whether or not the statistics bode well or ill for the countries. Empiricists might claim that it is not the role of political scientists to make such judgments, and their critics would reply that the empirical approach alone leads to meaningless data collection. The approaches give us different but equally important tools for analyzing and comparing political systems. As with research in any social science, comparative government and politics relies on scientific methods to objectively and logically evaluate data. After reviewing earlier research, researchers formulate a hypothesis, a speculative statement about the relationship between two or more factors known as variables. Variables are measurable traits or characteristics that change under different conditions. For example, the poverty level in a country may change over time. One question that a comparative researcher might ask is, “Why are poverty rates higher in one country than in others?” In seeking to answer this question, the researcher want to identify which variable or variables may contribute to high levels of poverty. In other words, the researcher is trying to discover causation – the idea that one (or more) variable causes or influences another. So a credible hypothesis might be that higher poverty levels are caused by lower levels of formal education. In this hypothesis, one variable (the poverty level) is called the dependent variable because it is caused or influenced by another variable (the level of formal education), which is called the independent variable. A correlation exists when a change in one variable coincides with a change in the other. Correlations are an indication that causality may be present; they do not necessarily indicate causation. Comparative researchers seek to identify the causal link between variables by collecting and analyzing data. How do we go about comparing countries? The model most frequently used until the early 1990s was the three-world approach, largely based on cold war politics. The three worlds were 1) the United States and its allies; 2) the Soviet Union and its allies; and 3) “third world” nations that did not fit into the first two categories and were economically underdeveloped and deprived. Even though the

Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, this approach is still taken t day by many comparative textbooks, whose comparisons are bas on democracy vs. authoritarianism and communism vs. capita ism. Even though this method is still valid, newer types of compa isons between countries are reflected in the following three trend

• The impact of informal politics – Governments have form positions and structures that may be seen on an organization chart, but these formal elements are not all that there is to p litical systems. For example, in formal terms Great Brita is led by a prime minister and has a House of Lords and House of Commons. In comparison, the United States has president, a Senate, and a House of Representatives. You m directly compare the responsibilities and typical activities each position or structure in Britain to its counterpart in th United States. However, you gain a deeper understanding both political systems if you connect civil society – the wa that citizens organize and define themselves and their interes – to the ways that the formal government operates. Inform politics takes into consideration not only the ways that poli

cians operate outside their formal powers, but also the impact that beliefs, values, and actions of ordinary citizens have on policy-making. • The importance of political change – One reason that the three-world approach has become more problematic in recent years is that the nature of world politics has changed. Since 1991, the world no longer has been dominated by two superpowers, and that fact has had consequences that have reverberated in many areas that no one could have predicted. However, it creates an opportunity to compare the impact of change on many different countries. • The integration of political and economic systems – Even though we may theoretically separate government and politics from the economy, the two are often intertwined almost inextricably. For example, communism and capitalism are theoretically economic systems, but how do you truly separate them from government and politics? Attitudes and behavior of citizens are affected in many ways by economic inefficiency, economic inequality, and economic decision making. If citizens turn to the government for solutions to economic problems and government does not respond, they may revolt, or take other actions that demand attention from the political elite. Keeping these trends in mind, in this book we will study countries in three different groups that are in some ways similar in their political and economic institutions and practices. These groups are: • “Advanced” democracies – These countries have well established democratic governments and a high level of economic development. Of the six core countries that we study in this course, Great Britain represents this group. • Communist and post-communist countries – These countries have sought to create a system that limits individual freedoms in order to divide wealth more equally. Communism flourished during the 20th century, but lost ground to democratic regimes by the beginning of the 21st century. Russia (as a post-communist country) and China (currently a communist

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country) represent this group in our study of comparative government and politics. • Less-developed and newly-industrializing countries – We will divide the countries traditionally referred to as the “Third World” into two groups, still very diverse within the categories. The newly-industrializing countries are experiencing rapid economic growth, and also have shown a tendency toward democratization and political and social stability. Mexico and Iran represent this group, although, as you will see, Iran has many characteristics that make it difficult to categorize as one or the other. Less-developed countries lack signific...