Introduction to comparative politics summary

CHAPTER 1: KEY CONCEPTS

KEY CONCEPTS: AN OVERVIEW

 Concept

 Conception: builds on concept by describing understandings, perspectives or
interpretations of concept

 Social science

GOVERNMENT AND GOVERNANCE

 Government
o popular use: G = highest level of political appointments
o wider conception: G= entire community of institutions endowed w public authority

 Political system
 Governance

 Thomas Hobbes
o made the classic case for the institution of G in 17th century: 1651 Leviathan
o G provides us w protection from harm we would otherwise inflict on each other in our
quest for gain and glory

POLITICS

 3 aspects of politics are clear
o 1) It is a collective activity, occuring btwn and among people
o 2) It involves making decisions on matters affecting 2 or more people
o 3) Pol decisions become authoritative policy, binding and committing its members

 Politics
o is necessary bc of social nature of human
o is fundamental activity, bc group that fails to reach some decisions will cease to exist
o boundaries politics: less precise
o possesses a hard edge  authoritatively in def David Easton
o as a concept: process of making and executing collective decisions
o realistically: competitive struggle for power btwn people seeking own advantage

 Politics as a community serving activity
o Traced back to Ancient Greeks: Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
 Man is by nature a political animal
 politics: unavoidable, highest human activity
 politics: form of education

, o continuation of Aristotle’s perspective: those who interpret politics as
 peaceful process of open discussion leading to collective decisions acceptable to all
stakeholders in society
 Bernard Crick

 Harold Lasswell
o Politics: ‘who gets what, when, how’

POWER

 Power

 Steven Lukes 3 dimensions of power
o 1) Who prevails when preferences conflict?
 power: judged by examining whose views prevail whn actors involved possess
conflicting views on what should be done
o 2) Who controls whether preferences are expressed?
 focuses on capacity to keep issues off the pol agenda
o 3) Who shapes preferences?
 broadens conception of power: power covers the formation (not only the expression)
of preferences

THE STATE, AUTHORITY, AND LEGITIMACY

 State
o Aka country, but state = more pol term

 Authority

 Max Weber 3 ways of validitating pol power
o 1) by tradition
 accepted way of doing things
o 2) by charisma
 intense commitment to the leader and his message
o 3) by appeal to legal-rational norms
 based on rule-governed powers of an office rather than a person

 Legitimacy
o builds on, but is broader than authority
o auth of an official, but legitimacy of a regime
o legitimare: ‘ to declare lawful’  more than legality

IDEOLOGY

 Ideology
o coined by Antoine Destutt de Tray during 1790s

, o system of thought expressing a view on
 human nature
 proper org of and relationship btwn state and society
 individuals position within this prescribed order

 Five major ideologies
o anarchism
o marxism
o liberalism
o conservatism
o fascism

COMPARATIVE POLITICS

 Comparative politics

Broadening understanding

 Strength comp approach improves understanding of G and politics

 Practical benefit: allows us to learn about places w which we are unfamiliar
o W.B. Munro

Predicting political outcomes

 Permits generalizations which have soms potential for predictions

 Do not generate laws so much as theories, ,tendencies, likelihoods
o Latter: Lord Acton’s ‘Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely’

 Karl Popper

CLASSIFYING POLITICAL SYSTEMS

 Typology

 Typology advantages
o work more easily
o develop explanaitions and rules
o to test theories

 No universally agreed system of pol classification/typology
o 1) First system: Aristotle’s classification of 158 city states of ancient greece
o 2) Second attempt to build a typology: The Spirit of the Laws
 Treatise written by Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, published in 1748

,  1) Aristotle based his scheme on 2 dimensions
o First: # of people involved in task of governing
 One; few; many
o Second: whether rulers governed in the
 common interest: ‘the genuine form’
 or their own interest: ‘the perverted form’

 2) Montesquieu identified 3 kinds of pol system
o republican systems: people or some of people have supreme power
o monarchical systems: one person ruled on basis of fixed/establ laws
o despotic systems: single person ruled on basis of own priorities/perspectives

 Three Worlds system
o dividing world in 3 groups of countries based on ideological goals/pol alliances

 Political economy
 Gross national income

 2 options for classifying pol systems
o Democracy index
o Freedom in the world index


CHAPTER 2: THE STATE

THE STATE: AN OVERVIEW

 Before modern state, G mainly consisted of kingdoms, empires and cities

 Modern idea of the state emerged in Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries

WHAT IS A STATE?

 State
o usual benchmark for understanding state is the classic definition offered by Max Weber
o much of theoretical justification for state is provided by idea of sovereignty

 Sovereignty
o Sovereign: originally meant ‘one seated above’
o sovereign body is one inst unlimited by higher authority
o formal right to make laws does not imply that sovereign is omnipotent
o sovereignty is not a myth
o essence of sovereignty lies in an unqualified legal title
o inherent in the notion of the state is the idea of the citizen

 Citizen