Final POLI 359 Introduction to Comparative Politics

Question 1

Regime

Answer 1

mode of governance determines:
where power is located and how it is used
whose interests/goals served
transition of power
decision making
pattern of repression
regime type can be autocratic or democratic
democratic : rules and norms dictate that the public has a large role in the governance of the state. high degree of individual freedom and liberty but not all democratic regimes are the same.

Question 2

Autonomy and Capacity

Answer 2

Capacity: the ability of the state to carry out basic tasks. it requires organization and legitimacy to form and enact policy.

Autonomy: ability of state to act independently of both the public and international actors. related to sovereignty.

Question 3

Democratic States Autonomy

Answer 3

Lower autonomy due to individual freedom being high. Democratic states are constrained in the degree they can act independently of the public.

Question 4

State, State Apparatus and Government

Answer 4

States: impermanent social formations emerging from the Westphalian treaties of 1648 according to the European narrative.
State apparatus: where the power of the state resides. power is exercised through the institutions of the state. Needs to be operationalized by human agents.
Government: those agents or leadership group that occupy and exercise the power within the state apparatus.

Question 5

Constitutional or Institutional Design

Answer 5

regime is a product of con.inst design.
identifies the arrangement of the leg, exec, jud, admin and repressive inst of state and their powers.
unitary: process where power is devolved to sub national institutions but not constitutionally. uk
federal: division of power between federal and sub national institutions constitutionally such as Canada, Germany.

Question 6

Democratic Transitions

Answer 6

non democratic to democratic as was the case with the transition to the Wiemar Republic after the first world war

Question 7

Non Democratic Transition

Answer 7

democratic to non democratic as was the case with the Weimar republic to the one party ideological regime type that was the third reich

Question 8

How do Regime Transitions Vary

Answer 8

pace: rapid v.s protracted
degree: extensive v.s limited
extensive: consolidated. can withstand major crisis, public and elites devoted to new mode of governance.
limited: unconsolidated/transitional. weak, could reverse transition or transition in to something else. short duration.

Question 9

Classical Liberal State Birth

Answer 9

The classical liberal state and democracy emerged out of the failure and contradictions of the absolutist state over centuries.

A regime transition from absolutist state forms to the classical liberal state form.
A bonafide democratic transition from absolutist to classical liberal

Question 10

Core Characteristics of Democracy

Answer 10

1. political accountability: those who govern are responsible to the state/society over which they govern and only the state/society and its citizens.
2. political competition. elections although necessary are not enough for a competitive democratic political atmosphere. For example, the autocratic one party ideological regime type may hold elections but there is no realistic competition. need free, frequent and fair elections.
3. political freedom: rights such as right and civil liberties. for example, these could include freedom of expression, freedom of association, freedom of the press
4. political equality: universal suffrage. all adult citizens have the right to participate to any degree they see fit.
   previously: regime censitaire suffrage tied to property ownership and income. and principe capacitaire suffrage tied to educational attainment which was also tied to income.

Question 11

Supporting Characteristics of Democracy

Answer 11

1. civil society: as an autonomous body to act as a way for society to learn to organize and form and express interests and promote what is important to them. constraint on arbitrary state action . private sphere autonomous of state (public sphere), limited government intervention boosts individual freedom. However, critical theorist Antonio Gramsci that nothing can be separate from state influence, and thus the public/private sphere conceptualization false.
2. rule of law: everyone, including the state itself, subject to the law. constitutionalism, constraint on arbitrary state intervention.
3. compliant bureaucracy. Max weber three pillars of bureaucracy. a-political, specialized and meritocratic.
4. autonomous economic sphere. power resources act as a restraint on political power. fundamental to development of democracies

Question 12

Factors that must be developed to become a democracy

Answer 12

1-4 Domestic, 5 International

1. democratic political culture: attitudes, values, beliefs relative to the political regime. need a pro-democratic culture to keep the regime stable and become consolidated over time.
2. civil-military relations refers to the balance of power between the military and civilians. in democratic regime types, it should asymmetrically favour politically responsible civilian leaders. In authoritarian regime types, the military can have varying degrees of influence from direct military rule where the military has a high degree of autonomy from civilian control to conjoint rule which comports to military personnel and civilians in office.
3. Economic development that is pluralistic and has an ideology of equality to increase development and increase the likelihood of more even wealth distribution. deconcentration of power resources
4. social homogeneity. ethno cultural similarity increases the likelihood of agreement. reconcile ethno cultural cleavage with ethno cultural compromise.
5. Neighborhood, the geographic proximity to other regimes. proximity is a factor in regime transition instigation. international organizations. rules of membership incentivize democratization. Copenhagen Criteria: EU membership required an already existing capitalist economy or meaningful effort towards and an already liberal democratic regime type of meaningful efforts towards. benefits of joining EU motivate democratization.

Question 13

Democracy Promotion

Answer 13

programs/policies that explicitly have as their goal, the promotion of democratic transitions
could be in the form of conditionalities: receive aid or other benefits on the condition of democratization.
democracy assistance: actively assist state to build democracy.

two opposing views, Democratic Peace Theory v.s Coser-Simmel Thesis
Democratic Peace Theory: Immanuel Kant, systems with more democracies are more peaceful as democracies are less likely to go to war with each other due to cooperation and democratic political culture that holds those leaders who go to war accountable.
Coser-Simmel Thesis, states go to war for domestic reasons, regardless of the identity of the target state.

Question 14

Democratic Transition: Democratization v.s Liberalization

Answer 14

gradually embeds the core and periphery characteristics of a consolidated democratic regime.
the immediate outcome of democratization is a transitional democracy. a regime that exhibits the necessary characteristics but they have not been fully absorbed and institutionalized. a weak and vulnerable democracy.

Liberalization are the changes made to perpetuate a regime that is in crisis. An example of this are the changes made by Mikhail Gorbachev to perpetuate the soviet union. Perestroika, Glasnost. Restructuring of the economic and political openness. had the opposite effect of democratization.

Question 15

Democratic Consolidation

Answer 15

strong democracy
characteristics embedded and supported by the public and political elites.
a democratic political culture that is mature and a democratic regime that survives in the face of crisis. Examples is the continued strength of western liberal democratic democracies in the face of the 2008 financial crisis.

Question 16

Democratic Deconsoldiation

Answer 16

a reversal, characteristics are not embedded
regime illegitimate in the eyes of the population and parts of the political elite.
could lead to a democratic breakdown

Question 17

Democratic Breakdown

Answer 17

non-democratic transition
retransitions in to non democratic state form.
Under Vladmir Putin, Russia has under gone a democratic breakdown. deconsolidation over time

Question 18

Democratic Re-equilibration

Answer 18

deconsolidation, and temporary delegitmization of the regime that eventually is resolved by the democratic forces reversing the trend

Question 19

Classical Liberal State Characteristics

Answer 19

1. popular sovereignty. sovereignty vested in population rather than monarch as it was in the absolutist state form.
2. rights based.
   right to private property, capitalism. choose how to live, right to buy and sell and accumulate wealth as long as they do not harm others.
   right to be protected from arbitrary state action. limited government grounded in rule of law (abide by legal constraints) and the constitution (government and people accountable to con).
3. consent of the governed which includes political accountability, competition that is free, frequent and fair, freedom and inequality (not liberal democratic state, limited suffrage).

Question 20

The Classical Liberal Rationale for Popular Sovereignty

Answer 20

based on Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations
defer to individual’s
increase standard of life for themselves
rational individuals: state has no insight in to the needs of the individual.
self regulating markets: produce greatest good for greatest number. law of supply and demand, limit state intervention and rely on invisible hand
critique of mercantilism: infringes on the rational individual. pursuit of autarky leads to inefficient use of resources comparative advantage is better, protectionism is irrational, and mercantilism competition leads to war.
separate private and public, individual’s and civil society from the state. state should only enforce rules of contract, provide services that capitalists need to make profit but are unprofitable for capitalists to provide themselves. and providing a national security function.

Question 21

Post War Settlement

PWS gave rise to…

Answer 21

1945-1973 in Western Europe, Canada and the US
the Welfare state, the successor to the classical liberal state form
a transition within regime as a response to crisis. a threat of democratic deconsolidation and fear of democratic breakdown
a re-equilibration of democracy

Question 22

Post War Settlement Characteristics

Answer 22

1. corporatism. a compromise between labour, capital and the state. organized labour earns the right to collective bargaining. earn benefits, workplace safety, higher wages. state intervention to avoid the swings in the economy during the inter war years. goal to avoid the problems with the CL state.
2. Keynesianism. recognize the market economy left alone prone to swings. moderate crisis through state intervention, specifically counter cyclical demand management: during recessionary periods, decrease taxation and increase government spending to recalibrate the economy. state investing in economy. in good times, increase tax and decrease spending to avoid an inflationary crisis.
3. Fordism: assembly line production and the introduction of specialization. creates mass employment in the context of mass unemployment due to the great depression. stabilization relegitmizes liberal democracies. increase quality of life and standard of living, products affordable.
4. commitment to full employment due to the need to reconstruct Europe post WWI. must import workers such as Turkish workers in to Germany
5. welfarism. redistribute wealth and goods to meet social/economic needs. government transfers and the provision of government services. ex. unemployment insurance.
6. growth of state sector. as they assume more responsibilities.

Question 23

The Crisis Phase of the Postwar Settlement

Answer 23

• ecological contradictions. urban problems and pollution. sustainability and standard of living concerns. consequences of economic success and re-legitimizing capitalism
• gender contradictions: the double burden of paid marketplace work and home work that is uncompensated. pay equity and political inclusion.
• generational value changes. Ronald Inglehart’s post materialism. the materialist values born prior to WWII in conflict with the postmaterialist values of the post war generation. more concerned with leisure time and quality of life rather than wages.
• emergence of new social movements
• Cold War. Europeans wary of US commitment to extended deterrence and want greater maneuverability to negotiate European security.
• Economic contradictions: Europe no longer dominant due to shifts of production of high tech products to the US and Japan. Dominance in basic industries shift to newly industrialized countries. Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea. post fordist production leads to layoffs domestically.
• prolonged recession beginning with the Oil Crisis (1973-1974).

Question 24

Transition in Regime from Post War Settlement to…

Answer 24

the New Right or the Neoliberal state form
anti keynesian economics, rejects consensus politics and state intervention. identifies them as the reason for crisis in Western Europe
neoliberal fix exemplified by Thatcherism in UK

Question 25

Thatcherism

Answer 25

economic policy of British PM Margaret Thatcher
similar to Reaginism in the US
Critiques British society for being a ‘nanny state’, soaring welfare costs in context of oil crisis, stifled entrepreneurship and disproportionate power of labour unions.
welfare state as flawed. socialism under the pretenses of capitalism.
solution, reject post war settlement policies, to liberate the market and eliminate a society dependent on welfare. emphasis the individual, repackaging classical liberalism. expand free market, reduce social spending and deregulate industry. attack big gvt.

Question 26

The Third Way

Answer 26

transition in regime, repackaging of social welfare.
originates in the UK in the late 1990’s.
Third Way labour party to appeal to middle class. identify as neither conservative or socialist. non ideological ‘third’ alternative
International shift, similar regimes in America with Bill Clinton and Canadian PM Jean Chretien

Question 27

Characteristics of the Third Way

Answer 27

-rejects ideology entirely, both state and market should and can serve the public interest. combines freer markers with social justice and more inclusive practices
-pragmatism and managerialism. effective delivery of services regardless of who provides. relies on the best sector for the service.
-reject the debate between a large public sector and a small public sector. state should intervene or facilitate only when necessary
-emphasis on social inclusion s a result of the perceived failure of the trickle down theory during the neo liberal state.
-new social contract based on mutual obligation. individuals responsible to take advantage of the equal opportunity and level playing field that the state provides.
cycle between third way and neoliberal state till now.

Question 28

Liberalism Economic System

Answer 28

• relationship between political and economic institutions and the outcomes they create
• individual political and economic freedom, limited state intervention to protect this individual freedom
• Adam Smith Wealth of Nations
• the best state is a weak state, constrained in autonomy and capacity. exists to secure property rights and provide defense, education and prevent free riding.
• laissez-faire, capitalism. Nightwatchman state

Question 29

Social Democratic Economic System

Answer 29

• blend of liberalism and communism. temper extreme equality and extreme freedom.
• state as the creator of social rights in a capitalist system that embraces democracy.
• wider array of public goods and higher regulation.

Question 30

Modernization

Answer 30

associated with education, weakening of old institutions and the rise of the middle class
democratization is correlated with modernization.
societies that are better education and better off economically desire greater control over the state to defend their interests.
1970’s not as popular to contradictions in Latin America and Asia.

Question 31

Models of Democracy

Answer 31

parliamentary: PM and cabinet from leg form government but the leg can remove PM from office. separate heads of state and head of government.
presidentialism: head of state and government are fused in the presidency. fixed terms and election dates, elected directly by people. can choose cabinet outside of legislature. separation of powers
semipresidentialism: hybrid. PM and directly elected president with fixed term

Question 32

Political Parties

Answer 32

bring people and ideas together and serve two functions

1. means by which majority rule. candidates and agenda set by party.
2. means for electorate and political elites to hold politicians accountable. voter evaluation mechanism based on promises made by the party.

Question 33

Developed Democracies

Answer 33

• value laden term but indicates an institutionalized and consolidated democracy with a high level of economic development and prosperity.
• differ between liberal and social democratic but unified by common political and economic institutions.
• Contemporary shifts include greater integration in the international system leading to decreases in sovereignty and greater devolution, sending power to lower levels of government.