Political Science 252

Normative approach focuses on philosophies, or 'shoulds' - why? what? Empiracle approach relies on measurement and observation statistical method involves more sophisticated forms of measurment and observation (ex. public opinion polls, survey research) Comparative method linked to two or more case studies put together diachronic comparison comparison in one setting, but compares across time synchronic comparison compares instututions/ behavior at one point in time most similar systems approach two systems that're essentailly similar, but study differences b/w the two most different systems approach selects two/ more systems to compare that are not essentially similar nation a group of people w/ shared characteristics (language, culture, history, etc.) state a political entity created by people and based on boundaries/ sovereignty nation-state where 'nation' and 'state' overlap political ethnocentrism assuming that because institutions/ relationships work one way in stable Western democracies they must work the same way in all systems analytical systems theories/ perspectives that provide the lnks b/w the objects in question supersystem refers to a collection of objects which our focus is only a part (opposite of subsystem - 50 states in US) Structural-functional analysis (Almond) what structures perform what functions and under what conditions in the political system political culture not a theory; refers to a set of variables that may be used in the construction of theories culture refers to the way people/ groups interact and the values that they may hold - broad-ranging term economic globalization refers to the observation that in recent yrs a quickly rising share of econ. activity in the world seems to be taking place b/w ppl. in diff. countries (ex. intl. trade, FDI, human rights, etc.) written constitution an expression of the ideas and organization of a govt. thats formall presented in one document (ex. USA)