Chapter 1 - Introduction

Question 1

Comparative Politics

Answer 1

Study and comparison of domestic politics across countries.

Question 2

International Relations

Answer 2

Relations between countries rather than the internals of each nation.

Question 3

Institutions

Answer 3

Organizations or activities that are self-perpetuating and valued for their own sake.

Question 4

Politics

Answer 4

The struggle in any group for power that will give one or more persons the ability to make decisions for the larger group.

Question 5

Power

Answer 5

Ability to influence others or impose one’s will on them.

Question 6

Comparative Method

Answer 6

A way to compare cases and draw conclusions.

Question 7

Inductive reasoning

Answer 7

the means by which we go from studying a case to generating a hypothesis.

Question 8

Deductive reasoning

Answer 8

Starting with a puzzle and from there generating some hypothesis about cause and effect to test against a number of cases.

Question 9

Correlation

Answer 9

apparent association between factors or variables.

Question 10

Causal relationship

Answer 10

A claim to have found a cause and effect.

Question 11

7 Challenges of Comparative politics

Answer 11

1. Political scientists have hard time controlling what they study.
2. Variables can interact and interconnected. Multicausality is an issue.
3. Limits to amount of information.
4. How we acquire information
5. Tend to be limited to single geographic region. Uneven coverage.
6. Confirmation bias. (Not necessarily political bias)
7. The search for cause and effect.

Question 12

Area Studies

Answer 12

Studies of a geographic area. Regional focus.

Question 13

Selection Bias

Answer 13

Where you find data that confirms your hypothesis.

Question 14

Endogeneity

Answer 14

The problem of distinguishing cause and effect.

Question 15

Theory

Answer 15

Defined as an integrated set of hypotheses, assumptions, and facts.

Question 16

Modernization Theory

Answer 16

As society develops it transitions to capitalist democracies, converging around a set of shared values and characteristics. Thrown out when countries developed against expectations.

Question 17

Behavioral revolution

Answer 17

The shift from studying political institutions toward studying individual political behavior. emphasis on causality, explanation, and prediction. Larger focus on quantitative vs qualitative methodology. Hoped to lead to legitimizing modernization theory. Thrown out when countries developed against expectations.

Question 18

Qualitative evidence

Answer 18

interviews, observations, and archival and other forms of documentary research.

Question 19

Traditional approach

Answer 19

Emphasis on describing political systems and their various institutions.

Question 20

Quantitative method

Answer 20

Mathematical (from economic), statistical analysis, and wider use of cases unbound by area specialization.

Question 21

Rational Choice/ Game theory

Answer 21

Study the rules and games by which politics is played and how human beings act on their preferences.

Question 22

Formal Institutions

Answer 22

Officially sanctions rules and organizations that are relatively clear.

Question 23

Informal Institutions

Answer 23

Unwritten and unofficial rules. No less powerful than formal.

Question 24

Glue of society?

Answer 24

Institutions. When threatened people will either rush to defend or restructure it. Can lead to issue where people do not accept that institution has outlived its value.

Question 25

Freedom

Answer 25

An individual’s ability to act independently, without fear or restriction or punishment by the state or other individual groups.

Question 26

Equality

Answer 26

Refers to a material standard of living shared by individuals within a community, society, or country.