AP Course

AP Comparative Government and Politics

AP Comparative Government and Politics asks you to compare political systems rather than rank them. The course uses China, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, and the United Kingdom as regular cases. These notes are original Marlow Works starters. Keep descriptions factual and check the official course page for the current framework.

5 units10 lessons27 terms

Start studying Practice this course All AP courses

Skills to practice

Compare institutions across cases
Describe regime and government change
Read data on participation and development
Apply concepts without ranking countries

Units

Current unit structure with original lessons. Weights come from the official course page and should be re-checked there.

Unit 1 of 5 · 18–27%

2 lessons

Political Systems, Regimes, and Governments

States claim territory and authority. Regimes are the lasting rules for using that authority.

States, regimes, and governments
Democracy and authoritarianism as ranges
Federal and unitary systems
Sources of legitimacy

State, regime, government — Three layers of political organization that students often flatten into one word.
Authority, legitimacy, and how power is arranged — People obey for different reasons. Maps of power are federal, unitary, or something in between.

Open unit 1

Unit 2 of 5 · 22–33%

2 lessons

Political Institutions

Executives, legislatures, and courts turn rules into daily power.

Presidential and parliamentary executives
Legislatures and lawmaking
Judiciaries and review
Bureaucracies and the military

Executives and legislatures in conversation — Who hires the chief executive, and who can fire them, is a comparative question.
Courts, agencies, and who implements the rules — Judiciaries and bureaucracies can constrain power or extend it.

Open unit 2

Unit 3 of 5 · 11–18%

2 lessons

Political Culture and Participation

Beliefs, identities, and the ways people try to influence politics.

Political culture and socialization
Cleavages and identity
Conventional and unconventional participation
Civil society

What people believe, and how they learn it — Political culture is the shared map of what authority should look like.
Participation and the space beside the state — People vote, protest, join groups, or stay silent. States set the costs of each choice.

Open unit 3

Unit 4 of 5 · 13–18%

2 lessons

Party and Electoral Systems and Citizen Organizations

Rules for converting votes into seats shape parties, and parties shape those rules in return.

Single-member and proportional systems
Party systems
Election administration
Interest groups and social movements

How votes become seats — Districts, thresholds, and lists change who can win.
Parties, interest groups, and movements — Organizations link citizens to the state—or stand in for them.

Open unit 4

Unit 5 of 5 · 16–24%

2 lessons

Political and Economic Changes and Development

Reform, rupture, and development policies change both markets and political authority.

Reform versus revolution
Globalization and sovereignty
Economic liberalization
Development and inequality

How systems change—and how they stay themselves — Gradual reform, sudden rupture, and managed adaptation are different paths.
Development, resources, and outside pressure — Growth, oil, and global markets change what states can do and what citizens expect.

Open unit 5

Course countries

Descriptive comparison only—not a ranking.

Country	Regime	Executive	Legislature
China	One-party socialist republic led by the Chinese Communist Party	A president and a premier operate within a party-state; the CCP general secretary holds the most concentrated political authority	National People's Congress, with local people's congresses below it
Iran	Islamic Republic that pairs elected offices with clerical oversight	An elected president runs much of day-to-day government; the supreme leader holds final authority on major political and security questions	Majles (Islamic Consultative Assembly), with legislation and candidates subject to Guardian Council review
Mexico	Federal presidential republic with competitive elections	A directly elected president who heads the government	Bicameral Congress of the Union: Chamber of Deputies and Senate
Nigeria	Federal presidential republic	A directly elected president	Bicameral National Assembly: Senate and House of Representatives
Russia	Federal system with a dominant presidency	A president with broad formal and informal power; a prime minister leads the government	Federal Assembly: State Duma and Federation Council
United Kingdom	Constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy	A prime minister and cabinet drawn from Parliament; the monarch is head of state	Parliament, with the House of Commons as the politically decisive chamber and the House of Lords as a revising chamber

Vocabulary

Search the full glossary

Practice

Original Marlow Works questions for this course. They are not College Board items.

1 of 3Political Systems, Regimes, and Governments · easy · multiple choice

Which comparison of regime type is most accurate for the AP Comparative course countries?

Original Marlow Works item — not a College Board question.

Take your time—this is practice, not a test.

Study tools

Mixed practice Flashcards Glossary Resource library

Related resources

External links with reuse status. Marlow Works is independent and does not copy restricted exam or textbook material.

CC BY — attribution required
Introduction to Political Science
Open political science background for institutions and behavior.
Open Textbook Library listing · CC BY · accessed 2026-10-01
Open source

Official curriculum

Use these College Board pages as curriculum references. Marlow Works is independent and does not copy official sample questions or copyrighted exam text.

AP Comparative Government and Politics course pageLast verified 2026-10-01

Skills to practice

Units

Political Systems, Regimes, and Governments

Political Institutions

Political Culture and Participation

Party and Electoral Systems and Citizen Organizations

Political and Economic Changes and Development

Course countries

Vocabulary

State+

Nation+

Unitary system+

Devolution+

Illiberal democracy+

Theocracy+

Coup+

Regime+

Government+

Legitimacy+

Federal system+

Parliamentary system+

Presidential system+

Judicial review+

Bureaucracy+

Political culture+

Practice

Study tools

Related resources

AP Comparative Government and Politics course page

Introduction to Political Science

Official curriculum