Chat. 1/2 Flashcards
Politics
the making of authoritative public choices from private choices, who gets what, when and how.
Comparative Politics
the systematic search for answers to political questions about how people around the world make and contest authoritative public choices
Hypothesis
an argument linking cause to effect
Falsifiable
the possibility that a hypothesized relationship can be shown to be incorrect
Comparative method
a way to examine patterns of facts or events to narrow down what is important in terms of building a convincing comparative politics argument
Method Agreement
compares and contrast cases with different attributes but shared outcomes, seeking the one attribute these cases share in common to attribute causality
Method of Difference
compares and contrasts cases with the same attributes but different outcomes, and determines causality by finding an attribute that is present when an outcome occurs but that is absent in similar cases when the outcome does not occur.
Correlation
a measure of observed association between two variables
Causation
a process or event that produces an observable effect
Quantitative Research
relies on statistical data to assess relationship between attributes and outcomes, analyzing those data using computers. Emphasizes breadth over depth
Qualitative Research
focuses on an in-depth understanding of attributes and outcomes. Privileges depth over breadth.
Mixed methods research
uses both quantitative and qualitative methods in an effort to build convincing claims about the relationship between attributes and outcomes.
Sovereignty
Responsibility for international affairs; the ability to use physical force within borders
Failed State
lost sovereignty, collapsed, not properly established government (State fails when gov can’t unite individual interests in security and civil peace)
Legitimacy
Citizens acceptance of state’s sovereignty and how effective a state is
Collective Action Problem
A situation wherein each individual has private incentives not to participate in an action that benefits all members of the group. (Clash between individual and collective interests)
State of nature
Term coined by Thomas Hobbes to describe an imaginary time before human beings organized into governments or states for the collective good.
Predatory Perspective
State uses power to extract resources. State serves as a protection racket (pay for protection)
Government
Concrete organization that has authority of state
Nation
Form of political identity, associate with others that are similar (State and Nation CAN overlap; nation state
Nationalism
Identification with a nation, an identity
Society
Diverse forms of voluntary collective action outside of state action (usually interest/identity organizations)
Stateless Society
Has no official authority (no gov)
weberian definition of state
human community monopoly off legitimate use of physical force, given territory
Tilly definition of state
War made the state, and the state made war.\
North definition of state
economist, power to tax
Samuels textbook definition
geographic territory, sovereignty
Levi definition of state
quasi voluntary compliance, paying taxes because you believe you get something out of it
Laswell definition of state
“who gets what when where and how
Locke definition of state
equal people are inherently self sufficient and will not seek to harm one another. State provides resources and infrastructure for an otherwise self-sufficient (peaceful) society.
Rousseau/ Montesquieu definition of state
Correlation is Not Causation
Hobbes definition of state
consent to be coerced, believed force should only be used to uphold individual freedoms because threat of violence not moral qualms gets people to do things
Radical feminism
the state operates with a patriarchal structure with a goal of keeping all women everywhere oppressed
Criticisms: lack of intersectionality, implies feminists cannot achieve any social change over time
Marxist radical feminism
the state operates with a patriarchal/capitalist structure with a goal of keeping all women everywhere oppressed
Liberal feminist theory
women can overcome male dominance by entering state institutions in large number (power wipes out sex)
Criticism: based on the assumption all women are committed to gender equality
The Nordic feminist theory
state social policy is seen as a way to empower women and potentially institutionalize gender equality (the welfare state)
criticism theory over emphasizes social rights (access to paid employment) at an expense of women’s civil rights (violence against women), still have reliance on someone, I.E. women as the object
Post Culturistic/discursive approach
States cannot be overtly patriarchal but institutions of the state are influenced by patriarchal culture
Criticism: makes the state seem overly complex
The feminist instituionalist approach
Gender norms have become embedded into state institutions
Governance
changing structures of government, market relations, and process of governing
Regime
complete change of political theory (authoritarian-> democracy)
State vs. government
government is concrete organizations while the state is an abstract theory
Nation vs. state
nation is a cultural grouping of people vs. state is the abstract theory of how people form socially productive communities
Government vs. nation
concrete political organizations vs. a cultural group of people (one nation can be apart of different governments)
Early state formation was triggered by…
war preparations, competition over territory, tax extradition
Economic context
the growth of industry, trade and commerce gave rise to a new class of urban merchants who wanted security and profitability
Military context
changes in military technology created a need for increased defense spending so centralized taxation was necessary
The Cultural Identity Context
Protestasnt reformation and age of enlightenment led to challenge of legitimacy of religious rulers
redictor for political centralization and industrial complexity
population boom
