Comparative Politics Exam #1 Review

Theories can be classified as:

- deductive - inductive

2 types of democracy

1. American democracy 2. Parliamentary democracy

"Big 5" states

1. China 2. Russia 3. Iran 4. Saudi Arabia 5. Venezuela

Four main goals of comparative analysis and the comparative method:

1. Contextual description 2. Classification 3. Hypothesis Testing 4.Prediciton

Four types of political power

1. Politcal Coercion 2. Political Authority 3. Political influence 4. Political manipulation

Four additional concepts of power:

1. Raising of consciousness 2. Real interest 3. cultural and ideological hegemony 4. politcal socialization

'Pure' types

1. The Palace 2. The Forum 3. The Nobility 4. The Church

Four vital aspects of systematic research in comparative politcs

1. cases 2. units of analysis 3. variables 4. observations

patterns and sources of Barrington Moore's three routes

1. character of economic development 2. the nature of the emergent class coalitions 3. the role of the state and the different political outcomes. *refer to page 72 - table 2.1.2*

3 stages in the shift toward authoritarian:

1. democratic surge 2. authoritarian regimes that had regained their footing reacted to democratic forces pushing for governance systems that were more accountable and responsive- less corrupt 3. authoritarian surge

possible relationships between economic development and democracy?

1. linear relationship 2. curvilinear relationship 3. a 'step' relationship

Types of theory:

1. normative 2. empirical

3 types of political legitimacy

1. traditional legitimacy 2. legal-rational 3. charismatic authority

Cases sighted by Marsh & Fur..

Case 1: Globalisation Case 2: Multilevel Governance

Prediction

Comparison of countries and the generalizations that result from comparison allow prediction about the likely outcomes in other countries not included in the original comparison, or outcomes in the future given the presence of certain antecedent factors and conditions. Goal: informs public policy. Can help refine theories. Weakness: Since social sciences are so theoretical, we're basically doing really educated guess work and could very well be wrong.

Finer's Aristotelian approach

Finer adopts an Aristotelian approach to regime classification by identifying four 'pure' types of regime and their logical 'hybrids'. He makes the case as to why we should strive toward a polity. Claims that since the ancient past all forms of government have belonged to one of the following four basic types: the palace polity, the church polity, the nobility polity, and the forum polity. Each type is 'differentiated by the nature of the ruling personnel'

Classification

Grouping countries or political systems together based on how alike they are. Goal: organizes empirical evidence into easily-understood categories. Weakness: Oversimplification.

Summary of ontology, epistemology, and methodology.

Ontology- establishes what is knowable epistemology- how it is knowable methodology- how it is acquired systematically.

Methodology consists of:

Qualitative or Quantitative methods.

Normative Theory

Specifies how things in society ought to be, given a desired set of outcomes and philosophical position. Normative political theorists establish frameworks for realizing the common good and address key problems of society through theoretical argumentation.

Contextual Description

The process of describing the political phenomena and events of a particular country, or group of countries. Allows political scientists to know what other countries are like. Goal: more knowledge about the nations studied, more knowledge about one's own political system or both. Weakness: Comparativists tend to be highly in favor of their own country.

epistemology

The study of the nature of knowledge or how scholars come to know the world. this branch concerns what knowledge of the political world is possible and what roles of inquiry scholars follow in knowing the political world.

Why are the main goals of comparative analysis and the comparative method?

To better understand how the world works, the means by which a theory is derived and tested, including the collection of evidence, formulation and testing of hypotheses, and the arrival at substantial conclusion

methodology

Ways in which knowledge is acquired. it is also known as the study of different methods or systems of methods in a given field of inquiry.

Hypotheses testing

a function of comparison that allows the elimination of rival explanations about particular events, actors, structures, etc in an effort to help build more general theories. Goal: to build more general theories Weakness: Flaw methods of testing such as failure to eliminate control factors.

linear relationship

a positive linear relationship between economic development and democracy suggests that as the level of economic development increases, the likelihood that a country will be democratic also increases.

soft power

arenas in which authoritarian regimes today are projecting influence regionally and globally.

deductive

arrive at their conclusions by applying reason to a given set of premises

inductive

arrive at their conclusions through observation of known facts.

Positivism

based upon a foundationalist ontology- the world exists independently of our knowledge of it. Here they can establish regular relationships between social phenomena using theory to generate hypotheses, The goal of social science in this view is to make causal statements.

democratic surge

began with the "third wave" of democracy in the mid 1970s and kept pace into the first half-decade of the new century.

interpretivism

believed that the world is socially constructed. they focus on the meaning of behavior.

variables

concepts whose values change over a given set of units (income, political party identification)

politcal coercion

control of citizens by agents of the government using force or threat of force - citizens have no choice on their behavior towards this coercion.

cases

countries that feature in the comparative analysis

Charismatic authority

depends on the personal qualities of a political leader who appear as a kind of hero or saint and inspires his followers to accept his rule. Authority may die when the leader dies.

levels of anaysis

divided between the micro, individual level or the macro level (system level)

substantive conclusion

drawn from the theories and the collection of evidence.

legal-rational

enjoyed by the governments of most modern states. loyalty is given to an impersonal set of institutions (U.S. constitution)

collection of evidence

evidence drawn through examination of historical resources, etc..

micro level

examines the political activity of individuals

political authority

exercise by certain designated persons to make and implement blinding decisions.

political influence

exercise of indirect or direct influence over the personnel or decisions of governmental institutions or agencies

macro level

focuses on groups of individuals, structures of power, social classes, economic processes, and the interaction of nation states.

american democracy

here we define democracy in 3 ways: - populist: rule of the people - pluralist: competiton between sections and pressure groups -institutional: a set of institutions and processes

Traditional legitimacy

legitimacy enjoyed by tribal chiefs, princes and kings. personal loyalty to the chief or king or ruling family is a key factor of this type of legitimacy.

authoritarian surge

let by the "big 5" authoritarian states - the authoritarian powers have taken more coordinated and decisive action to contain democracy on a global level.

method

means by which a theory is derived and tested, including the collection of evidence, formulation and testing of hypotheses, and the arrival of substantive conclusions.

comparative analysis

methodology within political science that is often used in the study of political systems, institutions or processes

epistemological position

reflect's the researcher's view of what we all know about the world and how we can know it. This position also branches off into: positivism and interpretivism approaches. they argue that it is possible to separate empirical questions (questions about what should be)

ontological position

reflects the researcher's view about the nature of the world

Qualitative Methods

seek to show differences in kind

quantitative methods

seek to show differences in number been certain objects of analysis

empirical theory

seeks to establish relationships between two or more concepts in an effort to explain the occurrence of observed political phenomena.

All students of political science should...

should be able to recognize and acknowledge their own ontological and epistemological positions and be able to defend their positions against critiques from other positions.

Parliamentary democracy

system of democratic governance of a state where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support of the legislature.

political manipulation

the activity of shaping the political opinions, values and behaviors of others without the latter realizing this is happening.

units of analysis

the objects on which the scholar collects data, such as individual people, countries, electoral systems, social movements, etc..

Ontology

the study of being, Ontology concerns what can be studied, what can be. compared, and what constitutes the political.

'Hybrid' Types

this is 6 possible combinations of the 'pure' types of regime: 1. Palace-Forum 2. Palace-Nobility 3. Palace-Church 4. Forum-Nobility 5. Forum-Church 6.Nobility-Church most polities fit one of the 'hybrid' types. the pure palace and its variants have remained the most common throughout history.

formulation and testing of hypotheses

this method makes the decision rules and the rejection of rival hypotheses explicit.

curvilinear relationship

this suggests that a positive change in economic development is accompanied by a positive change in democracy. however, the degree to which democracy increases tapers off with higher levels of economic development.

a 'step' relationship

this suggests that there is a distinct level of economic development after which the likelihood of a country being democratic does NOT change.

observations

values of the variables for each unit, which can be verbal, visual or numerical.