AP Comparative Government and Politics / Political Institutions
Lesson
Courts, agencies, and who implements the rules
Judiciaries and bureaucracies can constrain power or extend it.
Learning goals
- Describe variation in judicial independence across course countries.
- Explain why implementation by agencies and security forces matters.
Explanation
Some courts can strike down laws or review executive acts. Others mainly apply law as the political leadership defines it. The UK Supreme Court can interpret statute and rights questions but sits in a system of parliamentary sovereignty. Iranian courts operate inside a legal order shaped by Islamic jurisprudence and political control.
Bureaucracies turn statutes into licenses, schools, and taxes. Militaries and security services can be professional, politicized, or historically interventionist. Nigeria’s past military governments are part of the institutional story even after the return to civilian rule. Implementation is politics, not paperwork.
Key terms
- Judicial review. The authority of a court to interpret higher law and, in some systems, invalidate conflicting acts.
- Bureaucracy. The administrative organizations that implement policy.
Common mistakes
- Exporting the U.S. Supreme Court model onto every judiciary.
- Ignoring the military because it is not a “branch” in a textbook diagram.
Practice
Original Marlow Works items. Check the answer explanation after you try.
Identify one institutional difference between a parliamentary executive (United Kingdom) and a presidential executive (Mexico), and explain one political consequence of that difference.
Original Marlow Works item — not a College Board question.
Take your time—this is practice, not a test.
Answer explanation
Why is “does this country have courts?” a weak comparative question?
Answer. Almost every state has courts. The useful question is how independent they are and what they may review.
Function and autonomy vary more than the mere existence of a bench.
Related resources
External links with reuse status. Marlow Works is independent and does not copy restricted exam or textbook material.
Official / link only
AP Comparative Government and Politics course page
Official five-unit framework and country comparison scope.
College Board · All rights reserved · accessed 2026-10-01
Open sourceCC 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