GOVERNMENT AND
COMPARATIVE
POLITICS
FINAL EXAM NOTES
, GOVERNMENT AND COMPARATIVE POLITICS
FINAL EXAM NOTES
THE APPROACH AND METHODS OF COMPARATIVE POLITICS- SESSIONS 2+3
Comparative Politics - chapter 2 ("Approaches in comparative politics"),
Foundations of Comparative Politics - chapter 2 ("What is science?")
MAJOR APPROACHES TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS
Structural functionalism:
- identify the necessary activities (functions) of all political systems and then compare
the manner in which these functions are performed.
Systems theory:
- Considering the structures of the public sector as an open system that has extensive
input (supports and demands) and output (policies) interaction with its environment.
Marxism:
- Class conflict is an interest-based explanation of diIerences among political
systems
- While oIering some empirical predictions about those diIerences, Marxists analysts
also posit a developmental pattern that would lead through revolution to a
‘dictatorship of the proletariat’
Corporatism
- Stresses the central role of state and society interactions in governing, and especially
the legitimate role of social interests in influencing policy.
Institutionalism
- There are many approaches to institutionalism, but they all focus on the central role
of structures in shaping politics and also in shaping individual behavior
- As well as formal institutional patterns, institutions may be defined in terms of their
rules and their routines, and thus emphasize their normative structure
Governance
- It argues that certain tasks must be performed in order to govern a society and then
posits that these tasks can be accomplished in a number of ways
- Particularly, scholars of governance are focused on the variety of roles that social
actors may play in the process of making and implementing decisions
Comparative political economy
- The analysis of how political factors aIect economic policy choices
- Primary focus on how institutions of representation influence policy choices, but
political executives and bureaucracies also exert some influences
THE FIVE I’S- APPROACHES TO EXPLAINING POLITICS
1. Institutionalism
This approach assumes that individuals do not act as atomistic individuals, but more
on the basis of their connections of institutions and organizations
Better at explaining persistence that at explaining change
, Four general types of institutionalism:
i. Normative institutionalism
ii. Rational choice institutionalism
iii. Historical institutionalism
iv. Empirical institutionalism
2. Interests
An approach to consider the interest that actors pursue through political action
Rational- choice theory: assumes that individuals are self-interested utility
maximizers and engage in political action to receive benefits or avoid costs
societal interests have a very strong influence in policy choices, thus in comparative
analysis
ex. Corporatism in societies is the old European and Latin American societies-
provided interest society groups with direct access to policy-making
3. Ideas
The consequences on politics of
1. mass (political) culture,
a set of shared views and normative judgement held over a population over their
own government and political system
most common mean for measuring political culture is through surveys
2. political ideologies, and
3. specific ideas about policy
ex. While at one time economic performance was considered largely
uncontrollable, after the 1930 intellectual revolution the government had means
for it
- tracing the impact of ideas is in general diIicult
4. Individuals
Individual-level explanations can be very important in understanding governing
Ex. Understanding the psychology of major political figures
Background and recruitment of major political figures
Analysis of the citizen as a voter, participants in interest groups
5. International Environment
It is hardly impossible to understand a system in isolation of the globalized
environment- globalization
The shifts in national patterns are mimetic (mimics), with one system copying
patterns in another that appear eIective and eIicient
Ex. Membership to the European Union has created convergence and
homogenization in independent states
PROCESS
, The emphasis on static elements (the five I’s) in politics is unfortunate, given that politics
and governing are inherently dynamic and it would be very useful to understand better how
the underlying process function
Ex. While we know a great deal about legislatures as institutions, as well as about individual
legislators, comparative politics has tended to abandon concern about the legislative
process
OUTCOMES
Having all these explanations for political behavior, we should also attempt to specify what
these explanations actually explain- the dependent variable for comparative politics?
Ex. For institutionalist perspectives, the dependent variable is the behavior of individuals
within institutions
If looking more into comparative politics- the ultimate dependent variable is governance-
establishing goals for society, finding the means for reaching these goals and then learning
from the success or failures of their decisions
THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
Even though there is no scientific method written down that all scientists follow, it is
possible to characterize the basic features of the scientific method in the following manner
1. Step 1: Question
Observe the world and come up with a question or a puzzle
2. Step 2: Theory or Model
Come up with a theory or model to explain it
Theory- a set of logically consistent statements that tells us why things we observe
occur
Model- a (physical) representation of your idea
3. Step 3: Implications (Hypotheses)
Once we have a model, we must deduce the implications from the model other than
those we initially set out to explain
Implications- the results you draw from your study
Good models are those which produce many diIerent implications
4. Step 4: Observe the World (Test Hypotheses)
Examine whether the implications of the model are consistent with observation
Remember that the goal is not to dogmatically uphold the implications of our model
or defend them in order to prove yourself right, but to try and falsify them, because it
is only after an explanation has withstood these attempts to overthrow it that we can
reasonably start to have confidence in it
5. Step 5: Evaluation
If we observe the implications observed from our theory, we say that our theory has
been corroborated
VALID AND INVALID ARGUMENTS
COMPARATIVE
POLITICS
FINAL EXAM NOTES
, GOVERNMENT AND COMPARATIVE POLITICS
FINAL EXAM NOTES
THE APPROACH AND METHODS OF COMPARATIVE POLITICS- SESSIONS 2+3
Comparative Politics - chapter 2 ("Approaches in comparative politics"),
Foundations of Comparative Politics - chapter 2 ("What is science?")
MAJOR APPROACHES TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS
Structural functionalism:
- identify the necessary activities (functions) of all political systems and then compare
the manner in which these functions are performed.
Systems theory:
- Considering the structures of the public sector as an open system that has extensive
input (supports and demands) and output (policies) interaction with its environment.
Marxism:
- Class conflict is an interest-based explanation of diIerences among political
systems
- While oIering some empirical predictions about those diIerences, Marxists analysts
also posit a developmental pattern that would lead through revolution to a
‘dictatorship of the proletariat’
Corporatism
- Stresses the central role of state and society interactions in governing, and especially
the legitimate role of social interests in influencing policy.
Institutionalism
- There are many approaches to institutionalism, but they all focus on the central role
of structures in shaping politics and also in shaping individual behavior
- As well as formal institutional patterns, institutions may be defined in terms of their
rules and their routines, and thus emphasize their normative structure
Governance
- It argues that certain tasks must be performed in order to govern a society and then
posits that these tasks can be accomplished in a number of ways
- Particularly, scholars of governance are focused on the variety of roles that social
actors may play in the process of making and implementing decisions
Comparative political economy
- The analysis of how political factors aIect economic policy choices
- Primary focus on how institutions of representation influence policy choices, but
political executives and bureaucracies also exert some influences
THE FIVE I’S- APPROACHES TO EXPLAINING POLITICS
1. Institutionalism
This approach assumes that individuals do not act as atomistic individuals, but more
on the basis of their connections of institutions and organizations
Better at explaining persistence that at explaining change
, Four general types of institutionalism:
i. Normative institutionalism
ii. Rational choice institutionalism
iii. Historical institutionalism
iv. Empirical institutionalism
2. Interests
An approach to consider the interest that actors pursue through political action
Rational- choice theory: assumes that individuals are self-interested utility
maximizers and engage in political action to receive benefits or avoid costs
societal interests have a very strong influence in policy choices, thus in comparative
analysis
ex. Corporatism in societies is the old European and Latin American societies-
provided interest society groups with direct access to policy-making
3. Ideas
The consequences on politics of
1. mass (political) culture,
a set of shared views and normative judgement held over a population over their
own government and political system
most common mean for measuring political culture is through surveys
2. political ideologies, and
3. specific ideas about policy
ex. While at one time economic performance was considered largely
uncontrollable, after the 1930 intellectual revolution the government had means
for it
- tracing the impact of ideas is in general diIicult
4. Individuals
Individual-level explanations can be very important in understanding governing
Ex. Understanding the psychology of major political figures
Background and recruitment of major political figures
Analysis of the citizen as a voter, participants in interest groups
5. International Environment
It is hardly impossible to understand a system in isolation of the globalized
environment- globalization
The shifts in national patterns are mimetic (mimics), with one system copying
patterns in another that appear eIective and eIicient
Ex. Membership to the European Union has created convergence and
homogenization in independent states
PROCESS
, The emphasis on static elements (the five I’s) in politics is unfortunate, given that politics
and governing are inherently dynamic and it would be very useful to understand better how
the underlying process function
Ex. While we know a great deal about legislatures as institutions, as well as about individual
legislators, comparative politics has tended to abandon concern about the legislative
process
OUTCOMES
Having all these explanations for political behavior, we should also attempt to specify what
these explanations actually explain- the dependent variable for comparative politics?
Ex. For institutionalist perspectives, the dependent variable is the behavior of individuals
within institutions
If looking more into comparative politics- the ultimate dependent variable is governance-
establishing goals for society, finding the means for reaching these goals and then learning
from the success or failures of their decisions
THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
Even though there is no scientific method written down that all scientists follow, it is
possible to characterize the basic features of the scientific method in the following manner
1. Step 1: Question
Observe the world and come up with a question or a puzzle
2. Step 2: Theory or Model
Come up with a theory or model to explain it
Theory- a set of logically consistent statements that tells us why things we observe
occur
Model- a (physical) representation of your idea
3. Step 3: Implications (Hypotheses)
Once we have a model, we must deduce the implications from the model other than
those we initially set out to explain
Implications- the results you draw from your study
Good models are those which produce many diIerent implications
4. Step 4: Observe the World (Test Hypotheses)
Examine whether the implications of the model are consistent with observation
Remember that the goal is not to dogmatically uphold the implications of our model
or defend them in order to prove yourself right, but to try and falsify them, because it
is only after an explanation has withstood these attempts to overthrow it that we can
reasonably start to have confidence in it
5. Step 5: Evaluation
If we observe the implications observed from our theory, we say that our theory has
been corroborated
VALID AND INVALID ARGUMENTS
