Comparative Politics for Teachers
Notes Divided between First and Second Half of Semester
First Half of Semester
--to make sure a resource is not used up and each does not take more than should be taken,
agreements must be reached and enforced
--shortages and problems come about when there are conflicts between the needs of the
individual and the needs of the group
--cooperation and rules are set in place in an effort to make it in the best interest to take care of
what is there
--politics is used in a general way to discuss the interactions and institutions that are associated
with the state
--comparative politics is the study of different political systems around the world, with the idea
of understanding your own political system by evaluating the similarities and differences
--in addition to establishing a correlation, there is a need to explain how and why one event
causes another
--institutional approach focuses on constitutions and rules, how these rules affect how people
behave; behavioral approach focuses on mass political attitudes and behaviors (especially
voting); cultural approach focuses on societal norms and values as well as interconnectedness;
rational approach focuses on modeling individual choices, is very mathematical
--a country is just a territory; one of the most important aspects of a regime is how it is carried
out; state decides who is allowed to use violence and when
--states are worth having for providing services and having laws that promote a greater good that
otherwise would not be promoted
--a public good is a good that is impossible to stop one from having, but is also a good that is not
possible to run out of
--many ethnic groups claim to be really old, but only go back to perhaps a few hundred years;
ethnic group is a group of people who have believed themselves to be a group over an extended
period of time
--imagined just means present in the head; many things are imagined that are physically present
in the real world
--what defines an ethnic group includes language, religion, location, etc
,--citizen is one who belongs to the people of the state; class is group usually based upon
socioeconomic standing; race is a group of people commonly defined by appearance
--corporatist approach is assigning importance to certain groups and operating through those
groups; important part is using power
--important part of neocorporatism is solving disputes; organizations and groups are part of the
government
--in neocorporatism, disputes take place within the state with government representatives on each
side; main point of neocorporatism is to not let disputes get out of hand
--non rivalrous means hard to divide and parcel out; use by one person does not take away from
the ability of another person to enjoy use
--private goods are rivalrous and excludable; public goods tend to be under produced, so there is
the use of force to meet the public good and overcome free riders
--without the state to intervene, enforcement becomes significantly more expensive and difficult
to carry out
--in America, the Republicans believe in economic liberalism in the form of limited regulation,
stronger states, lower taxes, supply side economics where there are benefits for employees when
employers do well, Christian social values (pro-life, anti-gay marriage, opposition to affirmative
action, opposition to birth control), lower social expenditures
--Democrats tend more to believe in social freedom and less in economic freedom where
Republicans lean more towards economic freedom and less social freedom
--Christian social values and economic liberalism do not necessarily have a lot in common, but a
person who supports one generally supports the other in efforts to satisfy the status quo
--parties in Germany include SDP, Greens, CDU/CSU, FDP, Link, etc; FDP supports social and
economic equality, Green supports environmental protection and gender equality, SDP
traditionally supports worker movements, CDU/CSU is a combination of conservative Catholics
and Protestants who support economic intervention and social reforms to aid the people
--people in America do not have a choice as a third party vote usually means a lost vote;
Germans do have a choice as several parties are represented in the parliament
--Why did so many people get so excited about fascism and communism? For fascism, people
supported the system for the extreme emphasis upon bettering the position of the nation and
those who are considered as belonging to it. It also gave an opportunity to blame the problems of
the nation on another group (the Jews).
, --Why did people get excited about communism? Those who supported communism supported it
because it gave them a way to blame the problems of the nation on another group (the rich elite).
It also allowed people to believe that they could be brought to the same level of others.
--conservatives are status quo oriented; the way things are already is considered to be okay and
change is considered to be detrimental as it could actually make things much worse
--liberals believe in gradual change to improve the status quo over what it currently is; current
system is not seen as bad, but as one that can be improved upon for the benefit of society
--reactionaries want to institute quick and immediate change that brings the nation back to an
earlier and often unrealistic past that is seen as better
--radicals believe that current society is unacceptable and needs to be immediately replaced by an
entirely new and different system
--liberal as political attitude is slow change where liberal as an ideology is guarantee of political
freedoms and economic equality
--aspects of culture include shared stories, embeddedness, and values; embeddedness is where
experiences and other people affect what you think and believe
--people focus on survival values when there is a struggle to get by where self-expression and
equality are given more importance when means of survival are taken care of; once necessities
are satisfied, people then decide to seek out equality and not be micromanaged
--shared stories are important because they provide commonalities that can reach out to
everybody and emphasize points to make them appear more important and significant
--public goods are difficult or impossible to exclude one from enjoying and impossible to fully
run out of
--taxes come in a variety of different forms and are applicable on the state and local level; taxes
are used for a variety of reasons and be lessened in the form of deductions
--middle class benefits include first time homebuyers and interest on mortgage is tax deductible,
which encourages people to buy homes rather than rent
--in communism, the state tells the people what will be supplied and what will be demanded;
private property is nonexistent except for personal effects, which is ambiguous as to what that is
--autonomy is ability of a country to provide for itself; capacity is the ability of the state to enact
rules and regulations
--purpose of communism is to establish full equality for all people at the expense of personal
freedom
Notes Divided between First and Second Half of Semester
First Half of Semester
--to make sure a resource is not used up and each does not take more than should be taken,
agreements must be reached and enforced
--shortages and problems come about when there are conflicts between the needs of the
individual and the needs of the group
--cooperation and rules are set in place in an effort to make it in the best interest to take care of
what is there
--politics is used in a general way to discuss the interactions and institutions that are associated
with the state
--comparative politics is the study of different political systems around the world, with the idea
of understanding your own political system by evaluating the similarities and differences
--in addition to establishing a correlation, there is a need to explain how and why one event
causes another
--institutional approach focuses on constitutions and rules, how these rules affect how people
behave; behavioral approach focuses on mass political attitudes and behaviors (especially
voting); cultural approach focuses on societal norms and values as well as interconnectedness;
rational approach focuses on modeling individual choices, is very mathematical
--a country is just a territory; one of the most important aspects of a regime is how it is carried
out; state decides who is allowed to use violence and when
--states are worth having for providing services and having laws that promote a greater good that
otherwise would not be promoted
--a public good is a good that is impossible to stop one from having, but is also a good that is not
possible to run out of
--many ethnic groups claim to be really old, but only go back to perhaps a few hundred years;
ethnic group is a group of people who have believed themselves to be a group over an extended
period of time
--imagined just means present in the head; many things are imagined that are physically present
in the real world
--what defines an ethnic group includes language, religion, location, etc
,--citizen is one who belongs to the people of the state; class is group usually based upon
socioeconomic standing; race is a group of people commonly defined by appearance
--corporatist approach is assigning importance to certain groups and operating through those
groups; important part is using power
--important part of neocorporatism is solving disputes; organizations and groups are part of the
government
--in neocorporatism, disputes take place within the state with government representatives on each
side; main point of neocorporatism is to not let disputes get out of hand
--non rivalrous means hard to divide and parcel out; use by one person does not take away from
the ability of another person to enjoy use
--private goods are rivalrous and excludable; public goods tend to be under produced, so there is
the use of force to meet the public good and overcome free riders
--without the state to intervene, enforcement becomes significantly more expensive and difficult
to carry out
--in America, the Republicans believe in economic liberalism in the form of limited regulation,
stronger states, lower taxes, supply side economics where there are benefits for employees when
employers do well, Christian social values (pro-life, anti-gay marriage, opposition to affirmative
action, opposition to birth control), lower social expenditures
--Democrats tend more to believe in social freedom and less in economic freedom where
Republicans lean more towards economic freedom and less social freedom
--Christian social values and economic liberalism do not necessarily have a lot in common, but a
person who supports one generally supports the other in efforts to satisfy the status quo
--parties in Germany include SDP, Greens, CDU/CSU, FDP, Link, etc; FDP supports social and
economic equality, Green supports environmental protection and gender equality, SDP
traditionally supports worker movements, CDU/CSU is a combination of conservative Catholics
and Protestants who support economic intervention and social reforms to aid the people
--people in America do not have a choice as a third party vote usually means a lost vote;
Germans do have a choice as several parties are represented in the parliament
--Why did so many people get so excited about fascism and communism? For fascism, people
supported the system for the extreme emphasis upon bettering the position of the nation and
those who are considered as belonging to it. It also gave an opportunity to blame the problems of
the nation on another group (the Jews).
, --Why did people get excited about communism? Those who supported communism supported it
because it gave them a way to blame the problems of the nation on another group (the rich elite).
It also allowed people to believe that they could be brought to the same level of others.
--conservatives are status quo oriented; the way things are already is considered to be okay and
change is considered to be detrimental as it could actually make things much worse
--liberals believe in gradual change to improve the status quo over what it currently is; current
system is not seen as bad, but as one that can be improved upon for the benefit of society
--reactionaries want to institute quick and immediate change that brings the nation back to an
earlier and often unrealistic past that is seen as better
--radicals believe that current society is unacceptable and needs to be immediately replaced by an
entirely new and different system
--liberal as political attitude is slow change where liberal as an ideology is guarantee of political
freedoms and economic equality
--aspects of culture include shared stories, embeddedness, and values; embeddedness is where
experiences and other people affect what you think and believe
--people focus on survival values when there is a struggle to get by where self-expression and
equality are given more importance when means of survival are taken care of; once necessities
are satisfied, people then decide to seek out equality and not be micromanaged
--shared stories are important because they provide commonalities that can reach out to
everybody and emphasize points to make them appear more important and significant
--public goods are difficult or impossible to exclude one from enjoying and impossible to fully
run out of
--taxes come in a variety of different forms and are applicable on the state and local level; taxes
are used for a variety of reasons and be lessened in the form of deductions
--middle class benefits include first time homebuyers and interest on mortgage is tax deductible,
which encourages people to buy homes rather than rent
--in communism, the state tells the people what will be supplied and what will be demanded;
private property is nonexistent except for personal effects, which is ambiguous as to what that is
--autonomy is ability of a country to provide for itself; capacity is the ability of the state to enact
rules and regulations
--purpose of communism is to establish full equality for all people at the expense of personal
freedom
