AP Comp Govt-Country Fact Sheet
Country Fact Sheet
Directions
Below is some key information you should know about each countries you studied in Comparative Politics. Use this chart to test
yourself and see what you need to review
Federal/Unitary
theocracy
Presidential, Parliamentary, or Mixed?
Head of State/Head of Government
*see above page numbers for the
information in these columns*
Name of Legislative Branch (Identify
both houses if applicable)
Name of Judicial Branch
Bureaucracy/Cabinet
Political Recruitment/Participation
Other important institutions (complete
only if applicable to the country)
IRAN REVIEW SHEET
Number of subunits
Name of Head of State (for example,
President)
- Supreme Leader, Council of Guardians,
Expediency Council
Powers of head of state, length of term
- Council of Guardians, Expediency
Council
-Powers of the leader (discuss fatwas like
caviar and chess, advisory authority of
Expediency Council)
Election of head of state, length of term
- Presidential Elections
Number of seats in legislative branch,
length of term, describe power of
legislative branch (rubber stamp,
powerful)
- Parliament (Majles)
How are judges selected?
- who appoints?
- Council of guardians
- Expediency Council
Describe bureaucracy
*this will require further research. Don’t
forget to discuss the following:
-POLICY OUTCOMES (Incoherent
Policies...use music as an example of how
complicated implementation of policy
sometimes is)
How are elites recruited?
- RECRUITING THE POLITICAL
ELITE (discuss role of personalism, how
clergy, nonclerical parliamentarians and
ministers, educational, and military
institutions recruited)
- Institutional Groups and Professional
Organizations (discuss Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps and volunteer
mobilization corps)
Summarize State Institutions Not
Mentioned in the Constitution(Supreme
1
Description of arrangement (for example,
devolution, etc)
- explain HOW a theocracy (include
terms: shari’a, ulema,
- Local Elections (this is not
comprehensive but will give you some
insight into how local governments work
in this federalist system
Name of Head of Government
- President
Powers of head of government
- Multiple Power Centers
- National Security Council
*this will need to be further researched
from outside sources*
Election of head of government
- Presidential Elections
Describe elections of legislative branch
- Parliamentary Elections
Describe type of power
*Describe judicial power by considering
outside sources…don’t forget the
following:
- Council of guardians
- Expediency Council
Judiciary’s abuse of power
Describe cabinet
What are various forms of participation?
- INTEREST ARTICULATION AND
AGGREGATION (Noninstitutional Forms
of Interest Articulation and Aggregation
(clientalism and patron-client networks)
AP Comp Govt-Country Fact Sheet
Media
Legitimacy
Features of the Constitution
Historical Evolution of Political
Traditions
Key Political Leaders and their Policies
Ethnic Cleavages
Political Parties (Identify/describe
platforms of 3)
Council for the Cultural Revolution)
Describe type of “feedback” citizens
receive
-Mass Media…how does it unify AND
divide Iranians? (Discuss TV, radio,
newspapers, and what happens to
journalists who criticize government?)
Describe levels of legitimacy Identify sources of legitimacy
Discuss role of religion and citizens’
reaction to it as a source of legitimacy.
Use the following to supplement, although
this is not totally exclusive:
459-464- HISTORICAL LEGACY
 - Twelver Shiism (explains how
theocracy established….pay
CLOSE attention to this section.
When was it written? Identify 3 unique features
 - Constitutionalism in Iran - An Honestly Undemocratic
 - Islamic Revolution (describe the Constitution…What does this phrase
principle of velayate-e faqih) mean?
(Identify 3 key events and briefly explain
how the events shaped current
government (revolutions for example)
- HISTORICAL LEGACY
 - Twelver Shiism (explains how
theocracy established….pay
CLOSE attention to this section.
 -Constitutionalism in Iran
 The Pahlavi monarchy
 Islamic Revolution (describe the
principle of velayate-e faqih)
 - Iran-Iraq War
Identify and describe at least 3 key
political leaders
Ruhollah Khomeini
Mohammad-Reza Shah Pahlavi
Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Mohammad Mossadegh
- Ali Khamenei
- Mohammad Khatami
-Muhamud Ahmadinejad
Identify the major ethnic cleavages in the Describe the results of these cleavages in
country political conflict and government
response; include a description of women
- Sunnis and Shiites (discuss beliefs and - discuss various women’s groups
know the differences between the two) Gender Relations (discuss key reproaches,
Islamic Penal Code of 1981, ad hoc
discriminations. Also, discuss how the
role of women has changed and increased
their participation in society, and changes
in perceptions over the role of women.
Finally, discuss “Islamic feminism”)
- BEFORE the revolution, there was the -Discuss the negative effect of
Tudeh party and the National Front party factionalism on political parties
- ELECTIONS AND PARTIES (the -why are parties limited in their role?
prerevolutionary legacy, post
2
AP Comp Govt-Country Fact Sheet
Electoral Systems
Role of Political Elites
Citizens
Interest Group System (identify
pluralist or corporatist)
Economic System
(identify capitalist, socialist, etc.;
identify major economic policies
government has adopted)
First World/Third World
Supranational Organizations
revolutionary parties (describe beliefs of
conservatives, pragmatists, and radicals)
- Islamic Republican party (IRP)
Describe the methods by which citizens
elect their leaders. Include length of
terms, frequency of elections,
-- Presidential Elections and
Parliamentary Elections
Identify elites (people with political
power) and describe the role
Describe attitudes towards government
(political socialization)
-- Who can vote before the Revolution?
-- POLITICAL CULTURE (discuss
citizen belief in conspiracies, relationship
with western world, ethnic nationalism,
patriotism, and nuclear technology)
-- extreme individualism
-- Policy Level
-- POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION
 Discuss Education System
(prerevolutionary textbooks,
cultural revolution, Islamic
economics, Islamic sciences, basij,)
The Military (how revolution and
Iran-Iraq war influence generation),
Religion and Religious
Institutions (VERY important),
and Family and Social Groups
-- Discuss “state educational system” and
literacy rates among population
Identify key interest groups
-- Bazaari merchants
-- Martyr’s Foundations, the Foundation
of the Disinherited, Society of the
Devotees of the Islamic Republic, and
Headquarters of the POWs
Identify state-owned industries, foreign-
owned industries, nature of privatization
-- Contrast 1980s and 1990s
-- Describe impact of Iran’s macro-
economic policy and the number one
worry of young Iranians.
Describe level of economic development
Identify supranational organizations that
country is a part of
- Foreign Policy (3 concentric circles)
- Supreme Council for the Islamic
Revolution of Iraq
3
Describe types of political participation
-- Presidential Elections and Parliamentary
Elections
-- Process level
-- INTEREST ARTICULATION AND
AGGREGATION (Noninstitutional Forms
of Interest Articulation and Aggregation
-clientalism and patron-client networks),
Institutionalized Forms of Interest
Articulation and Aggregation: Voting,
Institutional Groups and Professional
Organizations (House of Labor, Iranian
Chamber of Commerce, Industries, and
Mines), and Nonassociational Social
Groups, Demonstrations and Public
Protests (civil disobedience, protests, sit-
ins, demonstrations))
Describe their power and activities
See left column
Describe nature of private/public
industries
*Will require outside research. Don’t
forget below…
-- The legacy of Oil Wealth: A Rentier
State
Identify 5 socioeconomic indicators that
places the country in this category
-- Literacy Rates of population
-- Improvements in the countryside
-- Iranians struggle to make ends meet.
How and why?
- “Third Worldists” approach to foreign
policy -
Discuss impact of supranational
organizations on sovereignty and on
development
- Discuss relations with United States and
how American economic embargo has
AP Comp Govt-Country Fact Sheet
- Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(explain)-Nukes more and more
important on exam
Public Policy Identify and describe 3 recent policies
- Population Growth Policies (birth rates),
health care, improvements in the country
side, provision of basic services to people
- Islamicization of Society (what social
behaviors does it control?)
- Foreign Policy (summarize all aspects of
its approach to foreign policy)
pay special attention to nuclear
program of Iran (and research more
current events regarding this program)
Other
affected the airline industry.
Identify and describe most pressing
current problems
- CURRENT POLICY CHALLENGES
(describe view of “west”, post
revolutionary reality, role of oil reserves,
employment issues (and relate to
educational system), corruption, ethnic
minorities, and community and
development)
- Power Centers and the Difficulty of
Policy Coordination
-POLICY OUTCOMES (Incoherent
Policies...use music as an example of how
complicated implementation of policy
sometimes is)