Definitions from first readings Flashcards
Comparative Politics
the study and comparison of domestic politics across countries (ex: elections, political parties, revolutions, judicial systems)
International Relations
focuses on relations between countries (ex: foreign policy, war, trade, foreign aid)
Institutions
organizations or activities that are self-perpetuating and valued for their own sake (without external agency or intervention); define and shape what is possible and probable in political life; layout rules, norms, and structures
Politics
the struggle in any group for power that will give one or more persons the ability to make decisions for the larger group; competition for public power
Power
the ability to influence others or impose one’s will onto them; extend one’s will
Comparative Method
a way to compare cases and draw conclusions; used to compare countries or subsets to reach conclusions and generalizations that could be relevant to other cases
Inductive Reasoning
the manner by which we go from studying a case to creating a hypothesis (an educated guess about the case)
Deductive Reasoning
starting with a puzzle and from there creating a hypothesis about cause and effect to test against a number of cases
Correlation
apparent association between certain factors or variables
Causal Relationship
cause and effect; one factor is directly causing another (creating an effect)
Multicausality
when many variables interact to produce particular outcomes
Area Studies
regional focus
Selection Bias
a distortion in a measure of association due to a sample selection that does not accurately reflect the target population
Endogeneity
issue of distinguishing cause and effect
Problems in comparative research
- controlling large number of variables
- controlling for the interactions between variables
- limited number of cases for research
- limited access to case information
- uneven research across regions and cases
- cases chosen on the basis of effect rather than cause (selection bias)
- variables might be either cause or effect (endogeneity)
Theory
an integrated set of hypotheses, assumptions, and facts
Regime
existing political system
Modernization Theory
as societies developed, they would become capitalist democracies, gathering around a shared set of values and traits
Behavioral Revolution
a trend throughout 1950s and 1960s that shifted subject of investigation away from political institutions (like legislatures and constitutions) toward individual political behavior
Qualitative Methods
interviews, observations, archived sources, written/oral accounts, etc. ; tend to be inductive
mastery of a few casesthrough detailed study of history, language, and culture; emphasizes depth over breadth
Quantitative Methods
based on numerical data; more likely to use deductive reasoning, starting with a theory that can then be tested with array of data
gathering of statistical data across many countries to look for correlations and test hypotheses about cause and effect; emphasizes breadth over depth
Guiding Concept
a way of looking at the world that highlights some important features while deemphasizing others; specific lens
Formal Institutions
based on officially sanctioned, relatively clear rules
Informal Institutions
unofficial and unwritten, but still powerful
Path Dependence
creation of a more likely path for political activity to follow; created by institutions and their norms that favor certain activities over others
Descriptive Inference
using observations from the world to learn about other unobserved facts
