AP Comparative Government

• A presidential system is a system of government where the executive branch is separate from the legislative branch and the president is elected by the people.
• The six countries studied in the book are the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Russian Federation, the People’s Republic of China, the United Mexican States, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the Federal Republic of Nigeria
• The multiple-choice section includes 55 questions to be completed in 60 minutes, while the free-response section has 4 questions to be completed in 90 minutes
• The State Duma of Russia's 7th Convocation, elected in 2016 and serving until 2021, had the United Russia party with the majority of seats (341 out of 450)

  
• The Communist Party was the second-largest party in the State Duma, with 43 seats

  
• The Liberal Democratic Party was the third-largest party in the State Duma, with 40 seats

  
• A Just Russia was the fourth-largest party in the State Duma, with 23 seats

  
• The Civic Platform party had one seat in the State Duma, and there was also one vacant seat

  
• The political system consists of three main components: the environment, the political system itself, and the outputs

  
• The political system takes inputs from the environment, produces decisions and actions, and feeds back outputs into the environment

  
• Russia's federal subjects include oblasts, republics, krais, autonomous okrugs, federal cities, and autonomous oblasts

  
• Different types of federal subjects in Russia are shown in different colors on the map

  
• The AP Comparative Government and Politics exam includes free-response questions that assess students' ability to define or describe political concepts, compare political systems, and analyze political behaviors
• The exam also includes quantitative analysis questions where students describe data, identify patterns, and draw conclusions based on the data presented
• The argument essay in the AP Comparative Government and Politics exam assesses students' ability to articulate a defensible claim or thesis and demonstrate their knowledge with a complete explanation
• "Barron's AP Comparative Government and Politics" by Jeff Davis, M.Ed., is a study guide for the AP Comparative Government and Politics exam, containing comprehensive content review and three practice tests

  
• The image shows the percentage of Russians who think that different systems of government would be a good or bad way to govern the country, including representative democracy, direct democracy, rule by experts, rule by a strong leader, and rule by military

  
• The composition of the State Duma of Russia of the 7th Convocation elected in 2016: United Russia party had the majority of seats with 341 out of 450, followed by the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, A Just Russia, and the Civic Platform party

  
• The block diagram of the political system consists of the environment, the political system itself, and the outputs, where demands and support for the political system come from the environment, the political system produces decisions and actions, and these outputs feed back into the environment

  
• In China, civil society is intertwined with the government, making it challenging to have a fully formed civil society separate from the Communist Party
• Civil society and NGOs in China started to emerge after the 1980s, providing social space for problem-solving outside of government control
• The new NGO law in China has created uncertainty for foreign NGOs and heightened fear of foreigners, with the Communist Party aiming to control and limit foreign influence
• The term "civil society" refers to independent organizations of people who have linked together to express a common interest or take mutual action
• Attachment is a strong reciprocal emotional bond between an infant and a primary caregiver

  
• Schaffer and Emerson's 1964 study on attachment aimed to identify stages of attachment and find a pattern in the development of attachment between infants and parents

  
• Participants in the study were 60 babies from Glasgow, and the procedure involved analyzing interactions between infants and carers
• Findings from the study showed that babies of parents or carers who displayed 'sensitive responsiveness' were more likely to have formed an attachment
• In a glacial environment, the two main forms of erosion are abrasion and plucking
• Abrasion is a sandpapering effect caused by small rocks embedded within the glacier rubbing on bedrock, leaving a smooth surface with scratches called striations
• Plucking occurs when meltwater from glaciers freeze around broken or cracked parts of rock, breaking it off from the bedrock or sides as the ice moves down the slope
• Plucking is most prominent when there are many joints in the rock, allowing water to penetrate and freeze in the cracks
• The main concern in the article about Nigeria relates to issues of corruption in the bureaucracy
• Neoliberals would likely recommend eliminating duplicated bureaucratic agencies and regulations to make it easier to do business in Nigeria
• Direct democracy is most closely approximated by the government staging a referendum on a controversial policy measure
• A clear distinction between democratic regimes and authoritarian regimes is that in democratic regimes, leaders can be voted out of office
• The EU, ECOWAS, and OPEC can all be classified as supranational organizations
• Bureaucracies commonly have nonelected positions, impersonal structures, formal qualifications for jobs, and a hierarchical organizational structure
• Britain is a country that uses both Single Member District (SMD) and Proportional Representation (PR) election systems to choose its national legislature
• Authoritarianism has shaped the political cultures of Russia, China, Mexico, and Iran the most
• The Revolution of 1979 in Iran resulted in a religious state, distinguishing it from twentieth-century revolutions in Russia and China