Comparative Politics Final

what does the heart of the difference between representative & direct democracy lie in

degree & form of mediation between voters & state

what are the stages of the democratic process

democratic transition & consolidation

bureaucracy

form of organization that has individuals operating & working under established, specified, complex rules - ideal: efficient, rational, precise impersonal, transparent

what role do institutions have in democratization

- shape behavior of actors (orgs, groups, rules, patterns, norms, values) - dysfunctional ones can undermine democratic or authoritarian states

how do working classes have leverage

- skilled labor: welders, engineers not as interchangeable; higher wages - scale of factories larger factories, means more workers, means more mobilization/combined power/organization into trade unions (political power, wages, conditions) - WWI

what are the lessons of Britain's democratization

- slowness industrialized & democratized slowly bc it was first, there was no ex. to follow as structure of economy changes & mobility changes that economics power expands political power & right to vote - peacefulness took place over long time colonization Britain was first - cooperative people of each class gave rights to the class underneath them - peasants bad for democracy got rid of their peasants, enclosure movement was brutal

what are the overall takeaways of the funnel of causality

- sometimes you don't want to know why the doer does what it does - the more you know about the doer the less you know about general phenomenon; why doers do what doers do - generalization vs accuracy - x = the vote - best place on funnel depends on what you need to know/what you want to accomplish - the more you know about why a doer does what a doer does, the less you know about why doers do what doers do - applicable to all social behavior

how do state powers differ in Britain & US

- specific state powers in US not Britain - "assemblies" in each province but they only deal w/ what the foreign gov doesn't want to completely dependent on authority of HOC, can be suspended - unconstitutional for prez to suspend powers of state gov state govs have specific granted powers in Constitution

what is the relationship between standards of living & development

- standards of living correlated w/ other indicators of development - evidence suggest inequality increases as income increases at certain stages of economic development specifically in moving from low-income stages to middle-income stages

how has the role of public education changed over time

- states initially endeavored to use public ed. to help create citizens teaches people about rights & duties attached to their status as members of society subject to state's authority - policymakers view education as way for state to enhance long-run global economic competitiveness of its society - educated workforce has more skills - states often heavily subsidize higher education bc they want to educate their workforce & view higher learning institutions as sources of tech innovation they hope will be economically beneficialc

regime change

any major change of regime type - including democratization, democratic breakdown, or certain types of authoritarian persistence in which one type of authoritarian regime gives way to another

institutionalism

approach to theorizing in comparative politics that places emphasis on institutions' power to shape individuals' behavior

agency-based theories

argue individual actors or small groups of actors are the drivers of changes in regime types (whether democratic or authoritarian)

political/conflict theories of state

argue rise of states was consequence of conflict

cultural theories

attribute democratization & democratic consolidation to cultural variables that may predispose some nations to democracy & prevent/hinder democracy in others

choosing a cabinet

Trump cabinet: - wealthy, private sector, party officials, lobbyists - not career bureaucrats or politicians - Trump perceives them as successful in their areas - his friends who have ~some~ qualifications - would never be in cabinet w/out connection Britain: - career politicians, senior politicians who rose they party ranks but want to be party leader/prime minister themselves one day - Johnson was in May's cabinet & waited for her to stumble to seize his chance - US devotion. vs British self interest

cases

basic units of comparative analysis of phenomenon to be studied

what are the danger of captive markets

bc Britain had no competition their quality decreased & were suddenly back in competition

why do US & UK have diff systems & institutions

bc they democratized differently

butterfly effect

can't know everything, something may seem like it has small effects but can lead to extreme results

what do civil rights/liberties ensure

citizens' ability to participate in civic life outside elections ex. First Amendment

what do power, falsifiability, and morality prevent

controlled experiments

if 2 things are alike in sociocultural world, can't know if they're the same or a coincidence

cultural relativity of general laws

GNI

measure of total income of all of a country's citizens whether living in home country or abroad

transition

movement from authoritarian regime to a democratic one ex. wave of democratization w/ end of Soviet rule in E.Europe in '80s ex. Arab Spring uprisings of 2011 might eventually lead to successful democratization - # of effected nations have taken steps but some respects democratization seems to have stalled - in most cases authoritarian persistence seems to be medium-term outcome - besides revolution can happen thru gradual, negotiated means ex. transition from Augusto Pinochet dictatorship to Chilean democracy in '90

why can't you do controlled experiments in political science

power, falsifiability, morality can't control anything

democratization

process of a regime becoming more democratic - including both democratic transition & democratic consolidation - democratic consolidation: process that leads from authoritarianism to democracy - democratic breakdown: process thru which a democratic regime partially or completely loses its democratic status

consolidation

process thru which a new democratic order becomes institutionalized & thus more likely to endure

what are the key functions of states

provide defense against external threats police internal threats tax document & sort populations manage economy 1

civil society

public zone/space at social life at least partially autonomous from state in which individuals are free to engage in deliberation & social movement activity - links directly to economic outcomes

institution

regularized or patterned activity that shapes the behavior of individuals & groups including formal orgs like state or political parties & informal institutions like norms & values

what kind of systems do the traits we consider 'democratic' truly come from

representative form of gov - either a constitutional republic or constitutional monarchy

culturalist approaches to development

see people's behavior in economy as shaped & controlled by beliefs, values, norms. habits

systemic/structural theories

situate nations in international environment where major powers or global trends may condition whether democracy emerges or not

civil society

space in society outside of the organization of the state in which citizens come together & organize themselves

what is one of the most important contrasts between diff forms of democracies

that between less direct (representative) democracy & direct democracy

what is Weber's definition of a modern state

the central political institution that exerts a "monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory"

regime type

the form of a political regime, such as democratic vs authoritarian - subtypes like personalistic dictatorships or totalitarian regimes

political economy

the interaction or interrelationship between politics & economy in a given country or internationally to include how politics affects economies & how economics affect politics

study something small to describe it very well & figure out causal problems

thick description

what's the true Achilles of democratic politics

voters dont REALLY know what's going on

Keynesian economics

when in depression, demand is low, give poor $ to spend on food, clothes, shelter to boost economy, production, demand, growth need to have big gov

Corn Laws repealed 1846

(corn=all grain) - tariff on importation of grain to promote English > foreign - landowners had all the power protected their interests bc they controlled Parliament - upper middle class factory owners oppose corn laws so they can pay their laborers less wanted free market for their textiles (those w/ best products at cheapest price want free market so there can't be tariffs on their goods-can rule the world) now had right to vote, legitimized - end of oligarchy free trade signals that land-owning classes DONT dominate political world factory owners had symbiotic relationship w/ rest of middle class (merchants etc)

Diamond's 12 step program for autocrats

(need to see all for full democratic breakdown) 1. demonize opposition as illegitimate & unpatriotic 2. undermine courts' independence 3. attack media's independence 4. take control of public broadcasting 5. strictly control internet 6. subdue elements of civil society 7. intimidate business community from supporting opposition 8. enrich crony capitalists 9. gain political control over civil service & military 10. gerrymander & rig elections 11. gain control ober election management bodies 12. repeat 1-11

Charles Tilly

- "war made the state & the state made the war" - warfare is critical driver of state building bc war demands extraction of resources from pop. & complex administrative systems - 3 forms of modern state development capitalized coercion produced strongest modern states competition eventually produces modern states in all 3 bc states proved better at fighting wars than other forms of gov

parties in Britain

- '51: Conservatives & Labors reached consensus until Thatcher, united under Blair, split again - Labor vs Conservatism internationalism vs patriotism (ex. Brexit) - socialism vs antisocialism supported gov ownership of means of production: natural monopolies & heavy industry natural monopolies: electric, water, gas in wartime gov needs to own plane manufacturing, coal, ship production etc companies regulated by gov in US - class interest vs property owning democracy - trade union power vs possessive individualism in Britain, trade union -> labor party affiliated but not the same in US trade union in favor of redistributing wealth

partisan identification approach

- 1-7 scale 1=Strong Dem, 2=Med.Dem, 3=Weak Dem, 4=Mod. - 70% accurate, 1950s-90s - do you identify w/ a political party? which one? how strongly? - if someone id's as Strong Dem they're more likely to vote Dem etc - partisan id result of childhood political socialization; we follow our parents - more of abstraction of reality: further from vote - advantages: provides 'why' applies to any election: travels well, more generalizable need less data - problems: doesn't work under a lot of independents doesn't explain how independents will vote when doesn't work leaves great suicide note: why are independents going up? doesn't take turnout directly into account subjective self-identifying scale not really a reflection of childhood socialization just compares how voted in last election

legacy of contestation before inclusion

- 1690: landowning elite took control of elected Parliament to check king's authority those who owned most land had right to vote (5% of pop) - 2 components of democracy: contestation & inclusion contestation: competition between elites for office/election inclusion: everyone has right to participate in political process some argue contestation before inclusion is best way to create stable democracy if theres inclusion before contestation people are frustrated by its meaninglessness if you do both at same time its chaos bc no rules can play by rules that already exist - England as landowning oligarchy no incentive for inclusion can have contestation but no inclusion

how was the right to vote expanded in the 1900s

- 1918: end of WWI millions died regardless of class if you were going to fight & die overseas, should have right to vote for who will send me there voting age 21 to 18 during Vietnam men 21 yrs+ & women 30 yrs+ - 1970s: 18 y/o voting age - Oxford & Cambridge deans had 2 votes rule is removed, one person one vote

political economy of Britain

- 1st major industrializer - one of 1st to establish a modern, growth oriented economy - developed over centuries from agrarian to industrial to post-industrial allows us to ask long-term questions about sequence - where some leading theories of political economy were first conceived

Great Britain

- England first to industrialize, one of first to capitalize, one of first to democratize - would most clearly see relationship in first case - industrialized/capitalized slowly bc was 1st wasn't trying to catch up easier to see what happened - relatively peaceful - just bc Britain was first doesn't mean others will do the same way - those in industrial societies have better quality of life wasn't true when industrialization first started how did brutality > democracy, better quality of life Tocqueville: "from this foul strain"

Acemoglu French Revolution

- France didn't have enclosures - revolution created potential for democracy no feudalism or divine right monarchy a revolution in the name of democracy made democracy less likely (losers, poor, no bourgeoise) revolutions often centralize, power vacuum - France: most dont have access to political power, very hard to get voice heard, centralized state immune to local gov, unusual forms of protests 2 national unions of high school students, better organized bc have to be farmers blocking traffic in Paris w/ sheep & tractors

human development: class lecture

- scale of quality of life - high correlation w/ GNI per capita - better gauge of whole nation not just 1% - even distribution of wealth/resources vs concentration in elites

global periphery

- Kohli works to overcome state-market divide by explaining successful economic development as fiction of both public sector & private capitalist enterprise - argues for importance of understanding state capacity & importance of constructive state intervention - places state prominently in title but not to exclusion of private actors - uses metaphor of chariot pulled by 2 horses: state & private business notes that where they pull in same direction development occurs but when they pull in opposite directions chariot won't move or falls - success: Korea, moderate success: Brazil, failed: Nigeria

what is the idea behind/of thick description

- Margaret Meade studied how rites of passage take place - Samoan children going thru puberty - had less bias w/ diff culture - less outside influence on culture than NYC - less variables, more control over observation - can get to essence of what influences rite of passage, provide better explanation - thick description: study something small to describe it very well & figure out causal problems

precursors to consensus

- National Unity Govs 1931-45 time of crisis, even tho one party has majority the 2 parties agree to cooperate to get thru crisis electoral truce relatively stable govs - gov's role in economy conservative Churchill - Attee wins 1945 large social welfare state - '51: conservative Churchill wins doesn't rollback social welfare state

what are the different places on the funnel of causality

- Newman's theory (100%) - Kelley theory (89%) - partisan identification approach (70%) - multivariate approach (60%)

negative consequences of Britain's transition

- Social Darwinism feudalism had reciprocal relationships Industrial Revolution led to no more poor laws it was repetitive work, labor required no skill & was interchangeable child labor, brutal living conditions, colonization upper middle class factory owners were first to benefit, wool producers needed them for profit

House of Lords

- TV & image should TV be introduced into House or Senate, first went to HOR bc more representative of people in Britain first went to House of Lords bc they're old, didn't think it would affect the system Lords appeared asleep, perpetuated image of half-dead men sound doesn't travel well in House of Lords built sound system speakers into back of benches - men actually had ears pressed up against speakers; weren't sleeping or dead just hard of hearing - composition until 1958 made up of 19 law lords (justices of the court of highest appeal), 26 bishops of Anglican Church, about 700 hereditary peers completely undemocratic institution - no separation of powers: judiciary in legislation - no separation of church & state - 700 non elected officials attendance, quorum: needed 3 ppl bc no one ever showed up dominated by conservatives - Life Peerages Act of 1958 added life peers (those who'd done lifetime of service to Britain) to House of Lords, supposedly cared about Britain's fate more political balance still no one was elected - appointed by Queen - powers until 1911 laws had to pass both houses now if House of Lords rejects but House of Commons passes 2x in same session it becomes law Britain historically embarrassed by House of Lords bc claims to be first democracy but one house of legislation is non-elected - Blair Interim Reform only 92 members of hereditary peers would be voting members, 75 chosen by fellow hereditary peers many reforms proposed but nothing has changed, still no elected officials no incentive to change bc majority Conservative

why are there diffs between US & UK structures of gov

- US is relatively new nation - when UK become democracy was peaceful, evolutionary not revolutionary never needed to start over structures of gov have stayed the same but functions have changed still have monarchy bc power reduced but never revolution to end it completely

world systems theory

- Wallerstein's theory of international politics in which each place on globe would fit into certain role in global economy - broke world into categories of states core, periphery, semiperiphery - core: economic & tech center, accumulate preponderance of profits from global production - peripheral: poor locations destined to supply basic inputs to world capitalist system mainly raw materials (minerals, foodstuffs), cheap labor - semi-peripheral: middle income nations 'allowed'/'encouraged' to industrialize to certain degrees to keep global system functioning

home architecture & staff

- White House is huge, so many staff, entire city block, all there to serve the president prez checked by Congress not cabinet/staff - Prime Minister's Office, could go up & knock on door, small side street indicative of what happens/who lives there ~75 civil servants work there, ~6,7 political advisors; not surrounded by 'yes people' prime minister checked by cabinet not House of Commons

Burn! background

- William Walker (Nicaragua 1940s) employee of British Navy, sent to foment slave revolt against colonizers (1830s-50s) - threw money into group & slaves started fighting each other for it when he asked for it back the slave gave it back - "anything the white man says is right, right?" "if I said your mother was a wh*re would it be true?", made him call his mother a wh*re - manipulated slaves into fighting, violence, killing out of hope & fear - "did we steal the gold to die up here or to be rich & free?" - Jose becoming brainwashed by Walker - refers to women as 'products' cost of wife vs black prostitute slave vs paid workers foreign gov vs independence manipulating both sides - gets man to commit assassination-> overthrow for freedom

procedural definition of democracy

- a conception of democracy contrasted w/ a substantive definition - emphasizes the minimal standards, procedures, rules a country should have in place, procedures or rules that govern political life - what most scholars use to define democracy - they say what makes a country democratic is that it follows certain procedures, rules, methods

definition of democracy

- a gov whose "most powerful collective decision makers" are elected by the people being governed - elections are periodic and competitive - elections are held w/ some degree of regularity and frequency to prevent lack of turnover, but not so often as to promote instability - multiple parties and candidates compete to ensure there's competition for votes and support and turnover between parties in power - essentially all of the adult population is able to vote - civil and political liberties are ensured to citizens - limitations on the power of elected decision makers & they share authority with other groups

social capital

- advantage individuals or groups hold by virtue of their social relationships - societies w/ extensive &/or beneficial social networks in political & economic life are said to have high levels of social capital - can build on itself & help reinforce development

what are the rules for doing comparative politics

- always replace systems w/ variables - use research design that controls variables

concept

- an idea comparativists use to think about the processes we study - abstract ideas we formulate to ask & answer questions

market-led development

- approach to economic management in which state aims to control economic behavior as little as possible - individual decisions of free & independent economic agents -> more efficient allocation of resources - as ppl try to maximize their own gains society as whole becomes better, allowing market to work freely -> prosperity - '80s & '90s

state-led development

- approach to economic management in which the state plays a prominent role in coordinating behavior of economic actors & intervening in the economy - development requires actor capable of coordinating disparate agents, planning for long term, supplying capital for big development pushes in low-income nations state is uniquely suited for this task - esp. prominent postWWII when Europe was reconstructed & new states emerged from colonialism around world - development scholars envisioned 'big push' in development in world's poorer countries where massive state-led investment would generate cycle of self-sustaining growths - popular '50s-'70s

How Democracies Die indicators of authoritarian behavior

- differentiate between violating Constitution & willingness to violate/rejection of Constitution - doing something illegal in name of civil rights - contestation of electoral results - diff between doing something some perceive to be rejection vs actual rejection - is Trump actually weakening democratic attitudes or will it go back to normal when its gone

dependency theory

- argues developing nations can't simply embrace free trade bc it'll lead to ever-increasing wealth disparities between them & advanced economies - depend on markets in rich world to sell their low-value goods while importing high-value goods from rich nations - in its earliest versions, held that low-income nations faced deteriorating terms of trade relative to capitalist countries at center of world economy would make goods from dependent countries ever less valuable - revised when it became clear some developing countries experienced 'partial' development, moving from world's periphery to semi-periphery acknowledges development is possible for low-income countries but argues their circumstances necessitate state's active involvement in economy to promote industrialization

Trust: Social Virtues & Creation of Prosperity

- argues economic modernization globally has been rooted in cultivation in trust societies w/ high levels of trust have been able to move beyond small. family owned, low income economic units, creating corporations that use their size to maximize productivity division of labor, specialization central to economic expansion & emergence of strong institutions in high trust societies accelerate growth

Brazil's economic political link

- as a sugar producer had slave economy - as a coffee producer freed slaves for seasonal wage labor single raw material export - Depression damages coffee markets expensive nonessential economy dependent on plantation owners devalued currency to incentivize buying coffee, didn't work, gov bought excess coffee to support plantation owners money was worthless, couldn't import goods, started creating these goods themselves urbanization, industrialization, mobilization no political institutions, tensions between old & new - grew too fast, military intervened bc industrialized too quickly borrowed $

bellicist theory of state

- associated w/ scholars like Tilly who argued interstate wars were decisive in creation of modern state - core idea: for states to rise 1. political admin must be at least partly centralized (no feudalism) 2. extraction of revenues from underlying pop. must be dramatically enhanced 3. develop ability to mobilize pop in collective endeavors - war useful to all 3 particularly once innovations in military tech changed conflict to make large armies necessary - states need revenue & to mobilize pop. to win war - threat of total warfare helps convince otherwise unwilling ppl to make sacrifices such war undermines power of non state actors like military nobility - modern states didn't develop in China or Islamic world first bc they didn't face frequent interstate total war against rivals but did have conflict had complex, bureaucratic, imperial structures that looked like modern states in many ways Europe's backwardness (internally divided, small kingdoms always fighting) -> powerful war machines, rulers established ability to tax & mobilize pop. marginalizing rivals in process

"Democracy in America" by Alexis de Tocqueville

- attributed America's economic vibrancy in part to variety of cultural characteristics incl. hardy frontier mentalities & inventiveness - focused on degree to which Americans had active civic lives "Americans of all ages, all stations of life & all types of disposition are forever forming associations." rich associational life (which may be consequence of institutions) can generate values & complex structures needed for diverse economy

new parties 1920s-90s

- before Great Depression neither US party got involved in economy, Hoover vs FDR New Deal - slavery -> Republican Party - why didn't Eisenhower roll back New Deal? - weren't many disagreements between parties until '80s - Clinton believed in moderation - periods of consensus -> polarization -> consensus - what a party does in power vs what it says it believes

Democracy in America by Tocqueville

- believed the protection of liberal rights & the functioning of democratic institutions depended on mores/values & feelings held in population democracy depends partially on 'political culture' - impressed by degree of participation in democratic politics & enjoyment in doing so in US - Americans' democratic tendencies shaped by social & institutional factors ex. pattern of immigration & nature of inheritance in US -> relatively higher levels of preexisting quality: nation had no real hereditary nobility (at least not like in Europe at time) - felt American political institutions at national level were largely well designed singling out US' administrative decentralization in NE local townships established political institutions that depended on participation & inculcated certain 'habits of the heart' in those who participated in them, awakening desire for deliberation - for any nation, prevailing tendencies in international system likely too affect chance of democracy - looking at snapshots of global situation at certain moments in time can convey importance of international environment

rule for doing comparative politics: replace systems w/ variables

- boiling point of water (lower at high altitudes - lower air pressure) focus on pressure not 'Santa Fe-ness' in Cleveland don't focus on every variable, focus on the thing that's relevant/differs across cases - The Adomo System non-systemic explanation of Nazism Nazism happened bc Germans have love/hate relationship w/ fathers led to them being assertive over Jews & Europe - American culture

experimental isolation

- boiling point of water: putting thermometer in hot water lowers the temp, put thermometer in first - using intervention to transform data Quebec/Scottish referendum always close polls favoring leaving, predicted no will win final results 'no': Quebec phenomenon

how can referenda be interpreted in terms of democracy

- can be seen as taking democracy closer to the people but side-stepping elected reps - increasing use of referenda, plebiscites, or ballot initiatives may be considered increasing use of direct democracy places great emphasis on direct citizen involvement in politics esp involving plebiscites &/or citizen assemblies - some evidence referenda can be used to promote anti-democratic outcomes while democracies may be increasingly using direct democratic initiatives they're not a necessary feature of representative democracy

how does Huntington reflect countries contribute to each others democratization

- emphasis on the 'learning' diff countries could do from one another "if they can do it so can we" - positive demonstration effects helped propel wave of democracy

describe the problem of social sciences: subjective or value impreganted aspects of social phenomena

- can never truly know why the doer does what the doer does - why do doers do what they do? may be they don't even know - subconscious influences that hide real truth, conscious vs. unconscious reasons - did you vote for Clinton bc you like her policy or bc ur a black college educated woman & 98% of this group did (structural) - pedophiles acting out of repressed memories, even they don't know - lots of couches: buy 200 million couches to psychoanalyze all voters for 35 yrs to discover why they voted the way they did - hindsight bias: imposing present on past

"can't know everything"

- can't know if two things are caused by coincidence - can't explain entirety of phenomenon using political science, but it's useful for explaining a part

what is the relationship between a capitalist economy & the govt

- capitalists may hide behind gov, act as support but capitalist monopolies run the gov - long term interests of capital more important than any gov, location etc

MDS: most different systems design

- cases are diff in every way but have the same outcome - can focus on what IS similar to explain - how TO explain democracy - diff cases to explain same outcomes

how is consolidation a challenging process

- challenging even in leading democracies - many nations that make transition to free & fair elections & civil liberties face difficulties in guaranteeing them for citizens - developing full democratic rights to all citizens & developing full notion of who is a citizen is historically complex process that can suffer setbacks as nations fail to consolidate or revert to authoritarian rule - may require consideration of how robust democracy becomes & if nation will maintain its basic standards of political & civil rights over time - to understand a democracy's quality & depth will necessarily examine its process of consolidation

why are historical trajections so important

- changes are path dependent (historical processes in which future developments are shaped or partially determined by events at previous stages in those processes) - the farther a society goes down a certain path the less likely it is to diverge from that path if nation develops by privileging # of state-linked businesses would be hard for gov to change this w/out some sort of crisis - history is sticky & can't be easily reversed - focus on how institutions produce collective actors & organize interests in contrast to individualism of rational institutionalism

origins of party systems

- changes in party in US history dont lead to dramatically diff policy in Europe makes bigger diff majority in House of Commons can get things done - political parties founded in Britain as clubs of like-minded legislators - lords - Whigs vs Tories debated over enclosures Tories non-enclosures - Liberals vs Conservatives Tories -> Conservatives middle class got right to vote - Labor vs conservatives working class got right to vote - freezing party systems - thawing party systems - first past the post system tends to result in 2 party system 3rd parties dont win enough thru out US to win, do well if they're regional

what are US' congressional voting trends compared to European voting trends

- citizens who vote in congressional elections ranges from ~40% in yrs w/out presidential vote to 60% in yrs w/ presidential election - much higher voter turnout than in the US some suggest US falls short on certain substantive aspects of democracy - US political & economic systems 1980s-2000 had higher levels of inequality than Europe but also had lower unemployment most years

what are the 3 forms of modern state development

- coercion-intensive: comes from agrarian Russia w/ little commercial development or concentrated capital czars used coercion to force pop. to fund wars by producing agricultural surplus - capital-intensive: Netherlands & some Italian city-states monarchs borrowed $ from merchants & paid for mercenary armies - capitalized coercion: Britain & France based on capital accumulation in large towns combined w/ large rural pops. that could also be coerced to produce rents according to Tilly produced strongest modern states

import substitution industrialization

- colonies dont always remain single exporters begin making consumer goods it used to import from mother country - capital intensive not labor intensive need machines not laborers dependent on West for tech people aren't getting jobs or wages to buy goods 'surface industrialization' happens bc multinational corporations want to take advantage of cheap labor in developing nations not self sustaining industrialization leading to growth acting on behalf of capitalists in west

what is the relationship between capitalism, industrialism, & democracy

- colonizers have higher GNI per capita than those colonized service sector vs agriculture - wealthier nations industrialized & became independent earlier - nations w/ high GNI per capita close to other high ones, poor ones near other poor ones - Iron Curtain still has effects; E/W Europe split - human development is scale of quality of life high correlation w/ GNI per capita literacy, life expectancy, log of GDP per capita better gauge of whole nation not just 1% even distribution of wealth/resources vs concentration in elites

relationships among capitalism, industrialism, democracy

- colonizers have higher GNI per capita than those colonized - wealthier nations industrialized & became independent earlier - nations w/ high GNI per capita close to other high ones, poor ones near other poor ones - Iron curtain still has effects E/W Europe split - colonizers, high GNI in service sector low GNI are agriculture higher human development correlated w/ service sector

what are the individual solutions to the probs of doing political science

- controlled experimentation - can't know everything - experimental isolation - funnel of causality

civil liberties essential to democracy

- freedom to speech & expression - freedom to access sources of info/freedom of press - freedom of assembly/to join interest groups & parties - about political action outside of the realm of electoral processes - center on rights of public not to be harassed by state - Bill of Rights

how have the nature of democratic transitions changed

- countries dont backslide the way they used to - used to just be military coups - today, rhetorically people realize govs can only claim to be legit if they have people's support & hold elections - leaders who want more power now slowly chip away at democratic powers (who can run, media etc) salami tactics: take a little slice till none is left, doesn't seem like you ever cross the line bc you do so gradually

Brazil

- country of future & always will be natural resources, biodiversity, water power should be one of richest in world but is just richest of poor - patrimonial country: politics based on social networks not ideology give votes to village's strongmen - 1530-1822: colonized mostly by Portugal - 1889: military coup - 1930: semi democratization till '64 - '64: military coup, authoritarian gov till '85 - '85: military ceded power, has been relatively democratic since

explanations behind cultural theories

- country's culture may be defined in many diff ways & by diff individuals or groups political cultures may be deliberately shaped by states & govs esp in non-democratic nations - not all arguments so transparently self-serving for authoritarian leaders some try to explain authoritarian persistence in Latin Americans rooted in alleged cultural tendencies toward 'corporatism' & 'authoritarian centralism' - political scientists rarely demonstrate x country or continent isn't democratic bc of some fixed cultural element that's static & unchanging sophisticated approaches don't attempt to - cultural scholars recognize values, norms, customs are shaped & reshaped over time, culture is dynamic - cultural diffs among countries may help explain some continuities over course of yrs; ideas & values also constantly shifting - cultural arguments may note Latin America long deemed to have male-dominated politics but also may note increased empowerment of women in many Latin American nations that have played role in process of democratization there

reasons for consensus

- creating conservative majorities - 1951: upper middle class (5% of pop) votes conservative working class (59% of pop) votes labor 52% to 44% continuing social welfare program was way to buy off working class vote (larger % of pop) - 1974: upper middle class 12%, working class 9% doesn't make sense anymore, no one to buy off w/ social welfare state Thatcher & Reagan: citizens paying for it w/ taxes but not using it

what has the turn to free market communities led to

- critiques of how it performed in many countries reducing state's role in economy associated w/ losses of formal jobs - higher unemployment & underemployment - higher inequality & crises like hyperinflation

Margaret Thatcher

- cut social welfare - "dry Tone in wet Conservative party" - if u give poor ppl $ they'll only buy food, clothes, shelter; won't stimulate economy - cut taxes, give them to the rich; will spend $ & stimulate demand - if you pay someone to do nothing you'll have to pay them even more to work - most of welfare state it entitlement policies (Social Security, Medicare)- can't cut it bc there's not that much $ there Thatcher cut small programs for weak people who can't fight back - sparked worldwide privatization trend used privatization to buy off working class - no competition bc all owned by gov - lots of low income housing in Britain (council housing) if you sell it to ppl they'll feel ownership towards it $ from selling -> more competitive economy took ppl who never owned stocks or homes & turned them into stocks & homeowners until then the way you bought off working class was by giving them social welfare - bottomless pit of $ instead Thatcher turned them into the middle class & bc she'd given them all that convinced them to vote Conservative unemployment & inflation still high "some people have it bad but those of us who have it good have never had it so good"

gov's role in economy

- cut spending cut taxes if u print less $ there'll be less inflation cut gov regulation if you cut budget can control the public sector borrowing rate - limit unions' power/destroy unions high unemployment helps; don't have to negotiate w/ unions if theres high unemployment & open jobs impact: educated, skilled lower rage UK broke back of trade unions, free market, forced whole political system to right, created Toni Blair socialist -> centrist move right would've happened anyway but she sped it up can't buy off working class in Britain anymore bc theres nothing left to privatize - monetarism if you're borrowing must attract more lenders by raising interest rates, make there be less to borrow limit interest rates if you cut money supply interest rates will rise

what are the proposed 2 additional criterion in determining if a nation is democratic

- democracies aren't overruled by outside power (colonizers) - democracies must maintain clear distinction between civilian & military rule

why does it not matter that Britain's constitution is unwritten

- democracy in UK has functioned very well, more peaceful & stable than US - what makes Constitution effective in US isn't the piece of paper it's the willingness of people/gov to abide by it & its authenticity same concept in UK-people's willingness to abide by unwritten doc - Britain has Bill of Rights but is just another law, same supremacy as all other laws, another one could negate it Patriot Act? Internment? diff is in US we hold out hope Supreme Court will declare laws unconstitutional laws aren't unconstitutional in Britain; future Parliament passes new law overturning

Huntington's Third Wave

- democratization occurs in 'waves' (historical periods in which lots of societies democratize & others in which societies tend more toward authoritarianism) - 1st wave: 1828-1926 - 2nd wave: 1943-62 - 3rd: 1974-90s - between the waves were reverse waves of authoritarianism - 2 types of external or systemic factors in explaining the 3rd wave 1. role of 'external actors' like EU, US, Catholic Church under John Paul II in fomenting democratization ex. US changed its policies in late '70s under Carter arguing respect for democracy & human rights needed to be emphasized w/ interests early 80s under Reagan the National Endowment for Democracy est. to assist global democratization 2. process of 'snowballing': democratizing regimes influenced one another thru example successful democratization in one nation showed it's possible elsewhere, provides models for how to achieve the transition during democratic wave, demonstration effects might even present pressure to democratize as authoritarian forms come to seem less legit

necessary conditions for Britain's democratization

- enclosure movement lords begin to enclose their fields, kick peasants off, declared it private property replaced peasants w/ sheep: don't require large workforce, wool > textiles, don't have to feed peasants - brutal for peasants: democracy only comes in great pain & suffering - created private property (doesn't exist in feudalism) if you own something you can do whatever you want w/ it w/out worrying about others' rights essential to capitalism, need to have surplus labor in cities unattached to property to become factory workers no surplus labor in rest of Europe- all tied to land - merchant classes w/ people being paid high wages they need a market to spend their % on, sheep fueled textiles - capital lords making $ off coal to invest in factories new tech/equipment disposable income - surplus wool engine of industrial revolution, textile trade, wage labor - agricultural innovation less land being used for food, less people working on land, more people in societies need to produce more food on less land w/ less people - need tech to do so - urbanization important for industrialization put factories where people are in cities good for democracy bc people are together & can communicate (not rurally isolated) - getting rid of peasants bad for capitalism, industrialism, democracy uneducated w/ no leisure time or education live in moral economy, feudalism set up to ensure their survival - removing conservatism changed dynamics of who was progressive/regressive feudalism is triangle, tilted for kings & lords vs peasants 0 likelihood for progressive political change - why would they want to change the status quo lords becoming wealthy in SPITE of king not bc of him if lords who are usually most conservative are questioning the king's authority, the wealthy are becoming progressive change more likely to occur, potentially more peacefully (greater control of military & industrial tech) - landlords as leaders of change - triangle of relationships lord-led revolutions more likely to succeed & more likely to succeed peacefully

what are the specific roles states play in modern political economies

- engage in economic management - invest in human capital education, public health - build infrastructure - intervene in economy to support those who might be vulnerable provision of welfare state services - efforts to ensure degree of social well-being

theory of state quality vs quantity

- evidence that state-led or state-directed development had worked effectively in places where quality & professionalism of state was high - theory that quality of state might matter more than quantity of state in determining how economy develops - high performance in East Asia over several decades & China by 2000s & 2010s - showed that some of strongest economies may have high levels of state involvement

what are the exceptions modernization theory has trouble explaining

- ex. India is world's largest democracy & remains poor democratized well before its recent yrs of economic growth - how can it explain how democratization often happens rapidly & in waves?

how does Britain explain everything & explain nothing

- first case, can't generalize off one or first class

Lipset

- first to demonstrate relationship between economy & democracy w/ strong empirical evidence showing that a range of development variables are correlated w/ democracy - modernization theory predicts causality will move from economic development to the creation & consolidation of democratic institutions tries to specify causal mechanisms thru which growth might be expected to promote democracy - pointed to numerous potential mechanisms like literacy & education main idea: economic development leads to strong middle class which promotes democratization & democratic stability if he's right proponents of democracy should be very attentive to social & economic factors like higher income inequality since smaller middle class might weaken democratic institutions

rational institutionalism

- focuses on institutions' implications for individuals' strategic choices - holds that political & economic outcomes are best explained in terms of individuals' responses to their institutional environments - emphasizes economic logic

describe the problem of social sciences: can't do controlled experiments

- for science to be science it's great to do controlled experiments - hard to do in political science: can't control anything - can't be done bc of power, falsifiability, morality - how did you just vote vs how you voted in 2016 are diff answers

Brazil's democratic consolidation

- for yrs alternated between authoritarianism & transitory attempts of democracy - in recent decades its democracy has achieved noteworthy consolidation - despite concerns about corruption & high levels of political cynicism, relatively few fear authoritarianism's return - one of world's largest & most influential nations

why did Great Britain democratize

- form of technology radical for time but intellectually accessible to middle school education & not extremely expensive family could invest in one could look at tech & understand its structure/how it worked - could build it themselves "cottage industry" helped families become wealthy - emerging class mobility people who didn't have anything had new opportunities to move up classes

Diamond's answer to ?: why do some people have more 'cargo' than others?

- found answers in nature & geography - in Africa ppl faced natural disadvantages from their environment none of large resident animals could be domesticated; held back advances in farming, precluded development of cavalries - European farming & militaries both advanced w/ use of horse which couldn't survive in Africa bc of endemic parasites - in Eurasia people could expand their pops along continent's long E/W axis allowed migration & growth - African peoples were prevented from migrating & expanding by varying climates along continent's N/S axis - argues geographic & climatic forces led European peoples to develop the powerful societies that colonized & dominated rest of the world

political rights essential to democracy

- free & fair elections - most individuals can vote - regularly scheduled/periodically held elections - elections have multiple political parties or some choice - elections are open to most any individual to run for office - may be seen as directly related to electoral processes & presume that peaceful transfers of power don't take place in accord w/ electoral decisions

Reform Act of 1832

- gave upper middle class factory owners right to vote now 5% of pop could vote - no property requirements just tax requirements - new symbiosis

facilitating conditions that helped Britain democratize

- geography oceans help trade, tech, colonization water power from rivers (textile mills) island nation less prone to invasion; helped w. centralization of power coal to fuel Industrial Revolution no borders within Europe-trade & communication - having strong navy colonization > economic conditions for democratization continuity of state historically, militaries used to suppress native pops., navy is offshore suppressing others - Norman Conquest William the Conqueror: last successful invader of England 1066 sent lords to countryside to govern on his behalf to establish his authority - symbiotic relationship (kings & lords) king needs lords bc he has no divine right or claim to authority they need him bc he chose them to be lords & gave them power coronation charter outlined relationship between kings & lords Magna Carta considered by some to be 1st great democratic doc; distribution of power 1272 community of the realm; mini Parliament to help king make policy - Black Plague helped emergence of capitalism feudal structure & its impact: peasants produce food, lord will give ox to family to harvest, produce enough to survive, surplus goes to lord, lord has vested interest in keeping peasants alive broke down feudal system: lot less labor force, labor has more power bc there's more demand for them, lords entice w/ wages heart of birth of capitalism: people sell labor for wages, can buy things, creates demand for market to buy goods, $ only has value if you can spend it

where does power lie in Great Britain

- govt 80-100 most senior members in House of Commons run bureaucracy but never meet as group - cabinet 18-25 front benchers decide on legislation which is very likely to pass (gov bills) cabinet responsibility - prime minister ministerial responsibility: anything that happens on your watch is your responsibility varying personalities of prime ministers sometimes heads of gov subject to bureaucracy, can't get things done within their own countries ex. Carter's mouse in Oval Office prime minister usually works their way up thru party "a creature of the House of Commons" presidents aren't creatures of Congress, people don't owe them favors

describe problem w the resource curse

- high value commodities can potentially produce corruption - distort formation & functioning of key institutions - crowd out investment in other areas & affect country's currency in negative ways

describe the problem of social sciences: cultural relativity of general laws

- if 2 things are alike in sociocultural world, can't know if they're the same or a coincidence - ex. vectors (same direction), sprinting (same speed 0-2 & 60-62 means same speed), politics (compare UK & US over time) - butterfly effect: can't know everything, something may seem like it has small effects but can lead to extreme results

what is the relationship between economic development & democracy

- if people don't have resources they're reliant on dependent on whoever provides them w/ resources - if there's wealth there's $ for social programs - democracy is political version of capitalism & vice versa - industrialism > new, rising, wealthy class to challenge state's authority - participating in democratic processes costs time & $

Newman's theory

- if people touch box next to Trump's name they'll vote for him - explains how not why - so close to vote as to be indistinguishable from vote; no perspective

MSS: most similar systems design

- if you look at 2 identical things you can't say whether they're identical or diff in one way - you can assume that's not a similarity & isolate variable to figure out cause - identical twins: treated exactly similar, don't know why both one the Nobel Prize if one dropped out & became homeless you can focus on diffs that lead to diff outcomes - how NOT to explain democracy - same cases to explain diff outcomes

local gov in Britain

- in Britain historically no city government London divided into local councils, neighborhood govs based on x people The Greater London Borough Council coordinated & regulated between local govs abolished by Thatcher, made into aquarium; US prez could never do that - London now has a mayor

why should capitalism result in greater democracy

- in agricultural society 5% owns 90% of land, elites control resources - huge inequalities in capitalism but poor can still have leisure time to organize, be literate, people on top can't control access to resources - ground is more fertile for democratization if there's relatively even distribution of resources (leisure time, $, military tech, literacy, communication) needed to engage in politics

human capital

- indicators of individuals' overall wellbeing and standard of living not only based on human capital & macroeconomic performance - represent accumulated skills & investments people have made in their own capacities - health: life expectancy, infant mortality, infection & morbidity rates, accessibility of healthcare, health insurance coverage - education: literacy rate, school enrollment & completion, quality of education, standardized test scores - UN's annual Human Development Index

what was key in England moving from monarchial oligarchy to constitutional monarchy

- industrial revolution, textile phase one of 2 great changes (1st: hunter-gatherers to agrarian)

enclosures force choices

- king sides w/ peasants: big mistake peasants want to go back to feudal system court of requests & star chamber: roving courts that tried to make judgment in favor of peasants to get their land back

why did the Industrial Revolution happen & why in Great Britain

- labor only nation w/ surplus labor for factories - wool commodity that drove revolution resulting in textiles - capital $ to invest in factories bc of textile industry - navy can colonize, trade - captive markets colonies only buy ur products, trade, labor - access to resources enclosure movement led to symptoms that made Great Britain especially prepared for Industrial Revolution - water networks 1st phase of revolution was water power, trade - classes merchants invest & are middle class

how does having access to sea/being landlocked affect nations

- landlocked countries rely more on relations w/ neighbors for global trade & distances to global markets - logistical challenges of being landlocked might hinder growth - development might be favored in areas w/ natural harbors or oceans as barriers for attackers N.America favored but locations in tropics seen as hindrance to development reasoning is plausible -> racist - geography's impact on development mat not be constant over time geographic factors may be advantage or disadvantage only when coupled w/ certain techs or institutions

House of Commons

- laws passed by House of Commons are supreme law of the land - 650 members, 650 parliamentary constituencies whichever candidate wins plurality is elected that constituency's members of House of Commons - Prime Minister from Commons no direct election by people outside Commons only people in constituency where person from other constituencies don't vote for a person running in a diff constituency if they win that district/party they'll be prime minister your party has to have majority in House of Commons to become prime minister if prime minister lost majority there'd be a vote of no confidence, prime minister would have to resign - 5 yr terms end early vote of no confidence prime minister could ask for early dissolution of House of Commons from Queen if really popular so they could get reelected for 5 more years: "snap elections" unpopular prime ministers usually serve 5 yrs, popular ones serve 3.5-4 yrs 2011: law House of Commons have to serve full 5 yr terms unless 2/3 majority of House of Commons requests it - no snap elections or early dissolutions used to be one ideology within each party, Brexit cuts across party lines 6 wk campaigns vs 2.5 yrs in US no term limits even for prime minister - architecture: benches set up in oppositional way, don't face speaker but each other Speaker of House is non-voting, nonpartisan referee extremely crowded, intense, hot house attitude prime minister & leaders of opposition sit across from each other w/ their front benches, prime minister's cabinet & opposition's shadow cabinet - prime minister's weekly question time: gives opposition some power - limited power of debate: not a real power, entertaining but no one actually changes their votes/attitudes in HOC people largely vote along party lines - gov bills vs private member bills private member bills are irrelevant gov bills are important since end of WWII gov bills have 97% chance of passing House of Commons, even weakest gov was 91% - to be gov need majority in House of Commons - candidates usually picked by party leadership if want to become party leader, need to be a good party citizen - vote along party lines (over 98% of time) historically US parties would vote across party lines which has changed - dont have relationships w/ constituencies

oil rich countries

- least democratic - economy dependent on oil-owned by gov-they make the $ - no one pays taxes bad for democracy, no vested interests - gov pays off people/protestors - gov buys military force to control - non-diverse economy, no industrialization, service sector it's in the economic workforce that people organize

empirical arguments

- link cause & effect - answer why the political world operates the way it does

3 factors of human development index

- literacy, life expectancy, GDP per capita - literacy shows how widespread education is/distribution how many have skills to work in industrial/post-industrial society - life expectancy tells you about quality & accessibility of healthcare - GDP per capita measures nation's wealth logarithm shows exponential growth, which happens in wealth but not literacy rates of life expectancy using log lowers GDP's influence so rate between factors is equal

Chilean example of consolidation

- many might consider the elections & peaceful transfers of power between presidents in 2010, 2014, 2018 signs of how successfully consolidated Chilean democracy was after 20 yrs

what are individuals' roles in democratization

- many political outcomes traceable to actors by major individual decision makers, powerful leaders are they shaped & conditioned by other factors (economic development, institutions) or just individual choices? ex. Mandela's role in democratization in S.Africa in '90s: - emphasis on specific individuals & groups tends to be focused more on specific transitions in certain nations than on broad patterns of democracy globally - transitions '70s-80s highlighted importance of divisions within authoritarian leadership as a cause of democratization some argue democracy comes about when splits within authoritarian regime leads to emergence of 'softeners' which interact w/ pragmatists in opposition to form powerful coalition for moving towards democracy comes at expense of hardliner authoritarians & to disappointment of 'maximalists'/radicals in pro-democracy movement who oppose any cooperation or negotiation w/ authoritarian regime - important interest groups or pressure groups can exercise their collective power in ways that facilitate democratization or democratic breakdown trade/labor unions might call strike & immobilize nation & its economy, helping to bring down a regime business groups/investors might boycott a regime, refusing to invest & ruining economy to push politics to breaking point religious movements & reps, human rights campaigns, ethnic solidarity movements, college students

how did Marx view the state

- modern state represents interests of bourgeoise (owners of capital) - capitalists create state so they can manipulate circumstances that will max. their profits exploiting labor

5 theories of what causes democratization

- modernization theory - cultural theories - systemic/structural theories - domestic institutional theories - agency-based theories

"Income & Democracy" Acemoglu

- most countries were non-democratic before Industrial Revolution: "increases in various measures of standard living forecast gradual rise in democracy. In contrast, democracies that are w/out proper economic development...tend not to last." - statistical association between income & democracy is cornerstone of modernization theory - Lipset suggested democracy was both created & consolidated by broad process of 'modernization' involved changes in industrialization, urbanization, wealth, education - issue of reverse causality: maybe democracy causes income - potential for omitted variable presence: some other factor may determine both nature of political regime & potential for economic growth - 2 strategies to investigate causal effect of income on democracy: 1. control for country-specific factors affecting both income & democracy by including country fixed effects - fixed effect regressions aren't overall solution for omitted variable biases but well suited towards study of relationship between income & democracy esp. in postwar era - if omitted characteristics are time-invariant, fixed effects will remove them & that source of bias - idea is move beyond simple cross-country examination & investigate within-country variation - is x country more likely to become (relatively) democratic as it becomes (relatively) richer - more closely related to Lipset's modernization theory which emphasizes individual countries should become more democratic if they're richer, not simply that rich countries should be democratic - 1st result once fixed effects introduced: positive relationship between income per capita & various measures of democracy disappears, no relationship between changes in income per capita & changes in democracy 2. use instrumental-variable regressions to estimate impact of income on democracy, experiment w/ 2 potential instruments - 1st: use past savings rates - argument: variations in past savings rates affect income per capita but shouldn't have direct effect on democracy - 2nd: use changes in incomes of trading partners - creates matrix of trade shares & constructs predicted income for each country using trade-share weighted avg incomes of other countries - predicted income has considerable explanatory power for income per capita & shouldn't have direct effect on democracy - no evidence of causal effect of income on democracy - probs: savings rate might be correlated w/ future anticipated regime changes democracy scores of country's trading partners correlated w/ income level might have direct effect on democracy - even tho there's no correlation between changes in income & democracy in post-war era there's + association most societies nondemocratic 500 yrs ago w/ broadly similar income levels those who've become more democratic are those who've grown faster - political & economic development paths are interlinked & jointly affected by various factors societies embark on divergent political-economic development paths at critical juncture points - diffs in European colonization strategies major determinant of divergent development paths of colonial societies

what is a state

- most important kind of political organization in modern politics - characterized by centralized control of use of force, bureaucratic organization, provision of # of public goods - modern states have extensive bureaucracy, centralization of violence, impersonality

new institutionalism

- name given to the turn to institutional theory in past several decades in economics, poli sci, sociology - focuses on broader set of institutions ex. property rights, in societies where right to property is well established & secure people likely to behave in ways that promote development if they're not secure, development may be hindered if gov can seize house at any time won't put $ into it if secure you're more likely to, creating economically secure society - institution of strong property rights would promote investment bc allows individuals to reap rewards of their investments in long run

why did the French have a revolution

- no enclosures grapes vs sheep - financial Louisiana was very expensive - tax mobility no taxes from wealthy - gov collapses from above - simultaneous collapse from below

why did consensus die

- no working class anymore in some industrial sense of world- post industrial society - catalyst economic collapse oil boycott 1970s; minor effect on Britain loss of empire: access to resources, labor, captive markets - wars covering competition, good for industrial economy

proponents of direct democracy

- often favor some representative democratic institutions see them as complementary others see as an alternative some worry "participatory" (direct) forms don't always include sufficient safeguards for individual voices & that they can give rise to collective decisions that don't protect political minorities' rights

rule for doing comparative politics: use research design that controls variables

- overcome cultural relativity - MSS/MDS

elements of substantive defs

- participation, social inclusion, civil society involvement - equity, equality by gender, race, etc - accountability (inc. lack of corruption) & institutional performance - public knowledge & awareness - poverty, inequality, other economic outcomes

Britain & France's diff paths to present

- people reveled in the violence of the French Revolution saw it as just, necessary, majestic - British don't celebrate the Glorious Revolution but French celebrate revolution Glorious Revolution was relatively peaceful, led to more democracy French said they celebrate revolution bc it led to French democracy, untrue: 170 yrs of violence & counter violence

describe the problem of social sciences: value oriented bias of social inquiry

- people's social & political bias are impossible to keep out of study, observations, interpretations, results etc - experimenter bias - way easier to be emotional about politics than gravity - marbles in head experiment

how one could try to create conservative majority now

- play to cultural anxieties (UK Brexit) - try to create myth you can resuscitate the industrial economy (wont last) - same people voted for Brexit as Trump: identify how to make working class vote

limitations on committees

- powerful in US not in Britain - bc they vote along party lines members dont have as much power or as much of a voice

what is the overall solution to the problems of doing political science

- problems are problems for hard and soft sciences - physics has just come up w/ set of rules to manage - diff between political science is quantitative not qualitative - differences are relative

democratic consolidation

- process thru which after a transition from authoritarianism a polity strengthens its democracy - typically longer-term than transition - may be seen as process by which democracy & its political & civil rights become normal/habitual for citizens happens when democracy is 'the only game in town': no major political groups advocating for return to authoritarianism or overthrow of democratic system may have happened when populace as whole has rejected idea of authoritarianism & supports democratic regime more mechanical indicator: when nation has 'turned over' its gov 2+ times; the people who used to govern lose election & step aside, those who replace them eventually lose & step aside good sign democracy accepted by all major political actors & has become routine

taxing in Britain

- property taxes are progressive Thatcher wanted to limit local gov, didn't want rich people to pay more, didn't want $ spent on left-wing things equal taxes; unpopular but passed HOC to be introduced only in Scotland as test case; dont vote for Thatcher anyway then instituted throughout UK -> revolts -> resign - US prez could never have power of taxing one area & not another

political rights

- relate directly to electoral processes - include what's often considered the most fundamental democratic right: right to vote in free & fair elections - also include features that underpin & extend right to vote - citizens can present themselves or candidates for office - should be allowed to join diff political parties in their running for office, shouldn't be required to join an official single party

multivariate approach

- religion, age, income, education - 60%, 1950s-90s - applies to any democracy globally - religion historically most predictive of voting patterns - if a person belongs to a minority religion they're more likely to vote for left - over last 20 yrs religiosity is potentially more important than religion itself official religions become bureaucratic & ostracized US is unique bc open marketplace of religion > new religious ideas & religious revivals religion in US is a business; want more followers religious groups are immigrant groups; sense of belonging, religiosity decreases with each generation & more likely to change religion - older people more likely to vote right to protect their vested self interests & status quo - more accurate in predicting individual's behavior the more you need to know about that specific person the less you know about all doers & why they do what they do

what is the relationship between religion & development

- religiosity may matter most all religious institutions can bind people together & increase trust & cooperation, leading to positive political, social, economic outcomes - many linking arguments operate thru intervening or mediating variables religious beliefs affect certain behaviors or institutions that in turn affect economics

dependent development

- states want to develop - deepening: going from manufacturing cheap consumer goods to tech prob: doesn't have economic infrastructure: ports, skilled laborers, urban areas w/ education, electricity relatively brutal gov says they'll create infrastructure in exchange for plaint labor force: Devil's bargain gov capable of controlling, organizing - have to borrow $ from west to build infrastructure -> debt -> inflation not getting promised economic growth, no way to control pop. depoliticization for economic growth

Marxian arguments of development

- structure of international economy will place some powerful countries in favorable position of capitalist accumulation other countries & world regions subjected to role of providing low wage labor & resources tho small # of elites in low-income countries may be complicit w/ interests of rich countries - many adopted such perspectives to account for underdevelopment in third world believe international economy has been a 0 sum game in which one person's gain is another's loss

Kelley theory

- studied presidential elections 1940s-80s to explain who & why people vote - create list of likes/dislikes about candidates, higher score is voted for - removed from vote bc its abstraction of reality - for it to be reality every person who votes must do it & follow results - need to abstract from reality to answer 'why' - all social science theories are abstractions - all theories w/ causal explanation must be abstraction of reality bc can't predict everyone - assumes all issues are equally weighted in everyone's minds - Michigan also asks importance of issue 1-100 - Kelley ran again weighted, accuracy 89% to 75% if adds extra factor & accuracy goes down he shouldn't use it bc it's less predictive of reality - good for any specific election but not generalizable; doesn't travel well if a factor disappears/reappears does that mean it wasn't/isn't important? doesn't travel well bc so close to x

what was the economy like in many Latin American countries in the '80s

- suffered from economic crises driven by accumulated debts - less than decade later communism collapsed in Central Europe & Soviet Union broke apart - led to sense in many advanced capitalist countries that communism & state planning as economic model has been discredited - many prominent institutions advocated for economic liberalization in developing nations or moves toward free-market economics - 80s & 90s: many developing countries moved toward free-market systems main question: how far & fast changes can be made bc: changes bc of free market economies, theory that quality of state might matter more than quantity of state

rule of law

- system that imposes regularized rules in a polity - key criteria: equal rights, regular enforcement of laws, relative independence of judiciary, law consistently applied to all

"Should we make political science more of a science or more about politics?" Rogers Smith

- tensions between making genuinely scientific contributions by advancing knowledge in rigorous ways within specialized subfields & addressing substantive political issues of general interest in accessible way - should prioritize the latter: help disciplinary & general public understandings of important substantive political issues become better informed & reasoned - to adopt this priority is to pursue the main tasks of political science as scientifically as possible but involves trade-offs in terms of resources - all scientific inquiry is undertaken to serve human interests - people should be concerned about how our work affects or might affect them & their interests - political science limited in how far it can reach precise results on wide range of significant political ?s - core value of all scientific inquiry is intellectual honesty not methodology

the monarchy in Britain

- the monarchy head of state not head of gov prez is head of state & head of gov head of gov runs nation, has political power head of state represents nation, hosts dinners etc Prime Minister is head of gov Queen needs to affix seal to law can't veto; people would rise up, would need to abdicate throne, would undermine self as nonpartisan head of state Christmas speech why exist 1. structures & functions: monarchy is a structure, structures have remained but functions have changed 2. preserve good 3. Disneyworld explanation: Americans have Disney; people all around the world come to see Magic Kingdom but Britain has the real thing, it's a moneymaker, tourism 4. Hollywood explanation: Americans have Hollywood as distraction from their lives/daily probs, Brits don't have Hollywood their stars move there, that's what the royal family is to them 5. decline in popularity: never seen as the branch people are most proud of, not likely to become bicycle monarchy tho

falsifiability

- the testability of a theory or hypothesis - good hypothesis could be logically demonstrated to be false by evidence - idea that for an explanation to be meaningful it must be contestable - to argue something is true only means something if there's a chance is could be incorrect & proved wrong

English Civil War

- theological vs socioeconomic explanations Protestant, Catholic, Puritans (Cromwell), Anglican fueds who benefited vs who didn't benefit from enclosures enclosing landlords & merchants vs non enclosing landlords & kings

how do modernization scholars argue economic change drove democratization

- thru emergence of such factors as middle class (bourgeoise) & literate population - urbanization over decades & centuries turned former lords & peasants into small businessmen who demanded greater political say w/out being reactionary or revolutionary - new support for idea that democracies become more stable & secure when they're relatively wealthy - poor nations that lack stabilizing force of robust middle class will tend toward authoritarianism - in absence of modernization process, no democratic push can emerge - societies divided between small, wealthy elite & impoverished masses will be prone to reactionary, noninclusive politics dominated by former or revolutionary mobs where latter can seize power neither group has an interest in leaving political power to the other only economically modernized societies w/ their relatively moderate middle classes can strike balance between these extremes - according to some versions of modernization theory the economic & social forces of modernization that shape democracy don't only occur at one point that triggers a democratic transition rather, economic development may also support the persistence of democracy once democracy is established

development terms

- underdeveloped ('30s): giant national park, untouched by civilization - developing ('50s-60s): moving forward towards western standards - underdeveloped (70s): lagging behind where they should be, something holding them back (dependency theory), west is exploiting them - lesser developed (80s): more neutral, assumption they'll become like west is unfair, not a bad thing - developing: moving towards growth, hope is eternal

who voted for Brexit

- voting leave associated w/ older age, white, low educational attainment, infrequent use of smartphones/Internet, receiving benefits, adverse health, low life satisfaction - voters' behavior strongly associated w/ individual skepticism towards institutions (ex. Euroskepticism) or intolerance against foreigners - immigration from E.Europe potential driver of support for UK Independence Party - some who favor leave may feel left behind economically or culturally similar patterns for Tea Party & Trump those dissatisfied w/ their financial situation more likely to vote leave - ethnic minorities strongly in favor of remaining in EU - very young most likely to vote remain - rise in populism & favor for Brexit can be attributed to generational shifts away from mainstream political parties last 30 yrs - marital status, tech use, dependence on income support & state benefits all systematically linked to individual voting behavior those w/out smartphones/don't use Internet tend to support leave those repeatedly seeking healthcare or receiving income support more in favor of Brexit - Brexit predominantly white phenomenon compared to ethnic minorities - Labour voters w/ observes that put them in leave camp (male, older, less educated, likely to be employed) more likely to express preference in status quo-remain in EU voters w/ similar socioeconomic profiles who ID w/ Conservative party likely to vote Leave suggests potential importance of other characteristics not in data set (ex. psych. traits like openness, attitudes toward national identity) - demographics & employment characteristics most relevant for prediction

controlled experimentation

- we do what astrophysicists do Hawking can't change reality but can see if reality supports his theories - controlled investigation - radios & mental illness correlation not causation if it was correlation would be seen outside the UK - lessons of investigation if you're going to use controlled investigation, you need a falsifiable theory

class lecture: dependency theory

- when you have a country that's not yet a colony, European nations twist the economy to serve their interests - turn economy into single raw material exporter - "Burn!" created chain of core periphery relationships core: colonizer; periphery: Keymatta core: plantation owners, merchants; periphery: people who cut the cane $ flows from periphery to core for every core there are many peripheries but for every periphery there is 1 core fosters authoritarianism periphery can't negotiate an open market like core; can get best price from many peripheries, exploitative every core w/in periphery protected by larger core, undemocratic

how do the different original state structures/plans continue to affect today's states

- where mass settlement wasn't possible (geography, disease) colonizers set up states that worked to extract resources w/ little investment (ex. Africa) - places easier to settle (N.America) ended up w/ stronger state structures -> colonial states -> independent states in 1800s, 1900s - states originally designed to extract resources tend to continue that way today w/ negative consequences - those actively settled by colonizers tend to develop into systems more capable of promoting development

why did the founding gov of the US not turn into an oligarchy

- white men w/ property could vote, agriculture based economy - US had frontier, in Europe there wasn't a lot of unowned land (feudal system) - plantation owners mirrored feudal lords - white men w/out land could move West, settle land, become free farmers to produce food for survival & sell surplus US was built on competition, capitalism, independence - if you have independent wealth you can spend money & time on skills to be politically involved - in Europe, education controlled by elite, in authoritarian regimes state controls communications - today military tech controlled by state in colonies militia was the people; if the army is the people its very hard for the state to suppress people - white were only ones who had access to resources printing presses, frontiers, guns, property, ability to organize - land is key

how does Burn! answer the 3 questions

- why so economically less advanced? - why so prone to political violence? - why so less democratic? - sent by British to Portuguese colony to spark revolution planned by Santiago who'd been killed so Britain can gain the sugar, undermine the Portuguese chose Jose Dolores - doesn't tell Dolores to lead revolution; he didn't know how to, tells him to steal gold from bank had to steal soldiers to protect him & the others - Walker sets up confrontation by telling the Portuguese he knows where the robbers are & then giving the robbers weapons - Dolores fights back & kills to soldiers, has to protect the rest of the slaves he'd endangered from the Portuguese turns himself into revolutionary - Walker convinces Portuguese to join revolution, says slavery is waste of money, wage labor is more efficient, compares to wife vs prostitute says they'll be killed if they dont join, have to protect themselves says colony should be independent free-trade open market - Walker convinces Sanchez to to assassinate colonial governor, declares colony independent & slave free, Sanchez made interim prez angers Dolores, negotiates new constitution & says no to each proposal by Portuguese who owned land? who could vote? what happens to the weaponry? do Dolores & co. stay the military? - Walker convinces Jose to give up his arms & go along w/ Constitution who's going to educate pop.? who's going to handle trade? they are uneducated, unskilled, need economic elite & educated to lead for economic development/democracy agreed but said to remember they cut the cane - ended up exactly the same; workers still paid low, treated poorly, manual labor, unskilled, life situation not substantially improved one form of oppression for another Mr. Shelton from sugar company really runs gov not Sanchez-basis of economy, dependent upon it Dolores reignites revolution, Walker brought back to quell revolution - Vietnam is inspiration for 2nd half of movie Vietcong relied on local villages for food, shelter Walker says they need to burn down peasant villages supporting revolutionaries Sanchez says no need to support poor not wipe them out, wants to take back power from Walker - Walker & Shelton have military coup, execute Sanchez Walker: may end up burning whole island but we represent sugar industry's interests, dont want revolution spreading to other islands Walker says dont kill Dolores; you'll turn him into a martyr, symbol of revolution spare him if he recants -> silence rather than songs

reverse causality problem

- x <-- y - 2 variables are correlated but causal argument linking them may be opposite of what anticipated - reversing causality has potential to lead to disastrous consequences

falsifiability problem

- x = y - arguments that are 'too correct' - one common prob is confusing cause & effect between 2 variables w/ 2 variables that are the same by definition - if x is measuring the same thing as y they'll correlate perfectly not bc x > y but bc x=y - common prob is defining 2 variables that are so nearly the same that the causal argument is meaningless

endogeneity problem

- x causes y & y causes x - endogeneity: the name given to any circumstance in which 2 variables exhibit mutual or reciprocal effects - problem is circulatory: happens when 2 variables have mutual or reciprocal effects - the chicken & the egg - present in many social phenomena, becomes prob when we mistakenly claim one variable causes the other - want to understand how endogenously linked variables interact over time

intervening variable problem

- x leads to z, z leads to y, x indirectly leads to y - potential problem but not always problematic not problem if we can specify argument & steps - problem when we miss an intervening variable leading to a wrong interpretation - eating fatty foods > high cholesterol > higher risk of heart disease

spurious correlation problem

- x--> ?<--y - some variables correlate w/ one another even in absence of any causal relationship - many that seem to be this prob will be omitted variable probs upon further investigation - lucky superstitions

omitted variable problem

- z leads to x & y - we observe an empirical analysis between x & y & assume this means one creates the other, when both are attributed to a 3rd factor - 3rd factor is confounding or lurking variable - ruling out z variables its presence can bias our estimate of x's effect on y

what are the 2 points that are agreed upon in terms of democracy

1. many political scientists share intuitive sense of which global geographic units are relatively more or less democratic 2. commonly accepted defs of democracy emphasize political rights & civil rights

what are the 5 problems of doing social sciences

1. can't do controlled experiments 2. cultural relativity of general laws 3. experimental intervention in reality 4. subjective or value impregnated aspects of social phenomena 5. value oriented bias of social inquiry

what are the several ways social capital works

1. density of network ties may generate trust - shared ties help people build & maintain reputations - in dense networks in which those you know already know each other people have a lot to lose - info flows quickly in dense networks -> economic benefits - bonding capital 2. bridging capital: set of benefits that come from networks extending out to reach new ppl & places - sometimes beneficial when trade between previously disconnected subgroups becomes possible - sometimes benefits accrue mainly to small # who are the bridges & can act & profit as 'brokers'

describe the problem of social sciences: experimental intervention in reality

1. experimenter changes reality - how can you study reality if your presence changes reality? - "tell me 10 things about x": even if you only like 2 things you'll think of 8 more - if you wanted to study a remote tribe never interacted w/ civilization, your presence exposes them & ruins experiment 2. results change reality - results of study > observations > changes in policy > changes reality - Warren's study of reality of bankruptcy > her trying to change reality of bankruptcy > not objective, like studying gravity

most important meanings of sovereignty

1. sovereignty as control over some territory 2. sovereignty as source of legitimate authority (related, derived partly from basic feature of state that it exerts monopoly on use of force)

why do we focus mainly on GDP growth per capita to examine causes of development

1. these measures are most commonly used in studies of development 2. GDP growth per capita often goes hand in hand w/ other indicators of development in particular countries that grow in terms of GDP per capita often also advance on other social indicators w/ better health, more education, higher levels of happiness, lower poverty not true in all cases & higher GDP isn't only determinant of these other indicators but most often is the determinant of other indicators & is more comprehensive than many of other indicators often used to find single measure

Middle Class Reform Acts 1867 & '84

28% then had suffrage in Great Britain

what is the true influence of a nation's transition

HOW Britain transitioned has to do w/ what kind of democracy it is today - how you got to the present matters, speaks to structure

which branch of gov is the most powerful

US: - no clear, obvious right answer - changes often - checks & balances - depends on historical moment - under FDR executive was most powerful - Warren court: judiciary was most powerful - if Congress is gridlocked or same party as prez, executive has more power - when both houses of Congress are opposite party as prez, legislative is powerful - in a democracy there's (pure/impure) checks & balances works bc one branch can't overpower the others, leads to stability & longevity - sometimes no branch is powerful to get things done

how do we know the powers of diff gov branches

US: Constitution UK: unwritten constitution - evolutionary not revolutionary no moment they needed to start over, draft new doc - 3 pillars 1. tradition: Queen's speech if something is done some way it'll tend to continue to be done that way never been revolutionary moment to change tradition monarch & her troops can't enter House of Commons, is the people's body; sends her black Tod to it to invite members to House of Lords to hear speech whole charade of banging on door, horses, clothes etc calls it 'the other place' as to not recognize each other's authority 2. laws passed by Parliament in US laws are laws unless Supreme Court rules unconstitutional any law passed by Parliament is supreme law of land bc unwritten constitution; no way for law to be unconstitutional - even if law legalized/mandated murder, not unconstitutional - no one law is more authoritative than another, all supreme British laws must be aligned w/ treaties no higher set of laws (constitution) you have to meet when drafting other laws "laws are functions of interests of EU" - why some wanted Brexit - 300 page regulation for what is Danish butter cookie in EU means Britain has to pass complementary law 3. writings of constitutional scholars ex. Erskine May in UK bc tradition isn't written down occasionally they'll write it down & incorporate into unwritten constitution referenced by Parliament de facto incorporation

what system of gov are the US & UK

US: constitutional republic UK: constitutional monarchy - both are representative democracies

where does sovereignty lie in the US vs UK

US: the people - social contract theory - Preamble of Constitution - Hobbes & Locke - 9th & 10th amendments: all the rights belong to the people give some to the gov in social contract theory whatever remains are their rights reserved powers to states & people UK: the mace - brought into House of Commons during debates - bc of tradition, power, implement of war - monarch wants to centralize power among feuding knights he made the prettiest, best mace symbolic of his supreme power physical manifestation of monarch's sovereignty

example of a more-democratic single-party nation

Uganda 1980s-mid200s - generally popular prez maintained that best system in Africa was one of 'no-party democracy' bc in too many African nations parties tended to reflect & reinforce volatile ethnic divisions - plausible but dubious bc prez sat atop so-called National Resistance Movement not officially a party but represented the state - w/out any political parties state itself & prez may wield control that looks anti-democratic

substantive defs of democracy

a conception of democracy that views a polity's democratic status as dependent on satisfaction of certain substantive ends ex. extension of broad rights, lower income inequality - increased turn to substantive defs since '89 as # of democracies in world increase - examine notion of democratic depth & quality - suggests democracy isn't just about certain rule-governed procedures being followed but rather about certain outcomes in particular the coordination of some kind of collective action - proponents argue countries can always undergo further democratization question of democracy isn't restricted to whether countries meet a minimum threshold - rarely lend themselves to yes/no evaluation even the most established democracies can always make progress toward higher democratic depth/quality

state capacity

ability of state to achieve its objectives esp. the abilities to control violence, effectively tax the population, maintain well-functioning institutions & rule of law

can't know everything, something may seem like it has small effects but can lead to extreme results

butterfly effect

what is the modern conservative movement the result of

collapse of industrial state & rise of middle class (service sector)

normative

concerned w/ specifying which sort of practice or institution is morally or ethically justified

what is the foremost criteria for representative democracy

constitutionality which ensures citizens' rights - constitutional rights limit gov's powers & political majority's power to eliminate fear of 'tyranny of the majority'

institutionalist approaches to development

development largely determined by individuals' actions & decisions as shaped by institutions & the incentive & constraints they create

what signified democracy in the original sense of the term

direct rule by the people thru mass assemblies or legislation by direct role of masses - modern nation-states usually don't govern on this basis but democracies instead rely on elected reps who vote for legislation on behalf of populace as whole: representative democracy

statist & neolib approaches to development

domestic forces that matter are extent & nature of states & their involvement in economy

empirical

drawn from observations of the world

normative arguments

emphasize the way things should be

what are all political & civil liberties essential to democracy

essentially measures of whether certain rules/procedures are followed

domestic institutional theories

find that the advent & success of democracy depend on the forms of political institutions within a nation ex. political parties, interest groups, the ways branches of gov are shaped

historical institutionalism

finds that institutions matter but traces consequences thru time showing how historical changes shape future events that timing & sequence matter as do special circumstances that may arise at critical junctures

what is a claim undemocratic systems have made about multiparty democracy

have made case that all political discourse can be contained within one single unifying national party ex. China's Community Party

what is the history of democracy & authoritarianism

one of change from one regime type to another

what did Hobbes say about sovereignty

strong state, manifested in 'the sovereign' needed to keep internal conflict at bay

thick description

study something small to describe it very well & figure out causal problems

can never truly know why the doer was what the doer does

subjective or value impregnated aspects of social phenomena

lots of couches

subjective or value impregnated aspects of social phenomena

GDP

total value of goods & services produced in a given country or territory - per capita GDP is divided by pop. (income per person)

modernization theory

traces democracy to broad social changes esp. economic development & accompanying changes