AP COMPARATIVE GOVERNMENT AND
POLITICS 2026 REVISION NOTES AND
STRUCTURED POLITICAL SCIENCE OVERVIEW
GUIDE
◉ code law. Answer: a written set of laws that apply to everyone
under a government
◉ communism. Answer: a theory or system of social organization
based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership
being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.
◉ competitive elections. Answer: elections that are regular, free, and
fair and that offer a real possibility of the incumbent government
being defeated
◉ confederal system. Answer: A system consisting of a league of
independent states, each having essentially sovereign powers. The
central government created by such a league has only limited
powers over the states.
◉ conflictual political culture. Answer: the citizens are sharply
divided, often on both the legitimacy of the regime and solutions to
major problems
, ◉ consensual political culture. Answer: citizens tend to agree on the
appropriate means of making political decisions and to agree on the
major problems facing the society and how to solve them
◉ conservatism. Answer: a political or theological orientation
advocating the preservation of the best in society and opposing
radical changes
◉ constitutional courts. Answer: Federal courts created by Congress
under Article III of the Constitution, including the district courts,
courts of appeals, &specialized courts such as the U.S. Court of
International Trade
◉ co-optation. Answer: allocation of power throughout various
political, social, and economic institutions
◉ corporatism. Answer: A method of co-optation whereby
authoritarian systems create or sanction a limited number of
organizations to represent the interests of the public and restrict
those not set up or approved by the state.
◉ correlation. Answer: a statistical relation between two or more
variables such that systematic changes in the value of one variable
are accompanied by systematic changes in the other
POLITICS 2026 REVISION NOTES AND
STRUCTURED POLITICAL SCIENCE OVERVIEW
GUIDE
◉ code law. Answer: a written set of laws that apply to everyone
under a government
◉ communism. Answer: a theory or system of social organization
based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership
being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.
◉ competitive elections. Answer: elections that are regular, free, and
fair and that offer a real possibility of the incumbent government
being defeated
◉ confederal system. Answer: A system consisting of a league of
independent states, each having essentially sovereign powers. The
central government created by such a league has only limited
powers over the states.
◉ conflictual political culture. Answer: the citizens are sharply
divided, often on both the legitimacy of the regime and solutions to
major problems
, ◉ consensual political culture. Answer: citizens tend to agree on the
appropriate means of making political decisions and to agree on the
major problems facing the society and how to solve them
◉ conservatism. Answer: a political or theological orientation
advocating the preservation of the best in society and opposing
radical changes
◉ constitutional courts. Answer: Federal courts created by Congress
under Article III of the Constitution, including the district courts,
courts of appeals, &specialized courts such as the U.S. Court of
International Trade
◉ co-optation. Answer: allocation of power throughout various
political, social, and economic institutions
◉ corporatism. Answer: A method of co-optation whereby
authoritarian systems create or sanction a limited number of
organizations to represent the interests of the public and restrict
those not set up or approved by the state.
◉ correlation. Answer: a statistical relation between two or more
variables such that systematic changes in the value of one variable
are accompanied by systematic changes in the other
