further notes

Question 1

what is a punctuated equilibrium?

Answer 1

feedback from policy decisions generates change which builds up critical problems over time

Question 2

What is path dependency?

Answer 2

suggests when a commitment to an institution has been established and resources devoted to it, over time it produces ‘increasing returns’ and it effectively becomes increasingly costly to choose a different path

Question 3

what is historical contingency?

Answer 3

refers to the extent to which events and decisions made in the past contributed to the formation of institutions that influence current practices

Question 4

what is a critical juncture?

Answer 4

the point at which certain events and decisions were made which led to the development of an institution

Question 5

what is an institution?

Answer 5

institutions are the arena in which policymaking takes place.

they include the political organisations, laws and rules that are central to every political system and they constrain how decision-makers behave

Question 6

what is fully rational behaviour?

Answer 6

aiming to optimise your actions

Question 7

what is bounded rationality?

Answer 7

about finding a satisfactory solution to a policy problem not necessarily an optimal one

Question 8

what are veto players?

Answer 8

any institutional or partisan actor whose agreement is required to adopt a policy proposal

Question 9

what does rational choice institutionalism regard politics as?

Answer 9

individuals acting to maximise their utility in ways that are likely to produce an outcome that is collectively suboptimal

Question 10

what is the prisoner’s dilemma?

Answer 10

involves conflict and cooperation between actors.
despite the availability of better outcomes, the suboptimal one is chosen due to the lack of trust in the other player

Question 11

what is game theory?

Answer 11

a device used to analyse decision-making in situations in which two or more rational players interact, and where the outcome depends on the choices made by each

Question 12

what is the cleavage approach?

Answer 12

based on the idea that certain enduring socioeconomic problems exist in societies and that affect policy choices by means of creating lasting divisions between social groups which possess different perceptions about these problems and the ways of solving them

Question 13

what does the cleavage approach emphasise?

Answer 13

Historical developments

Question 14

what are the 6 social cleavages?

Answer 14

centre-periphery
state-church
rural-urban
workers-employers
materialists-post-materialists
open-closed societies

Question 15

ignore this card

Answer 15

ignore this card

Question 16

what does the socioeconomic school regard as the main driver of public policy?

Answer 16

social and economic developments

Question 17

what does classical institutionalism contend that a functioning state depends on?

Answer 17

economic and social conditions but also on the design and effectiveness of political institutions

Question 18

what are the 2 categories of political systems?

Answer 18

majoritarian and consensus

Question 19

what are the 4 families of nations which differ in policymaking (particularly economic and social policy)

Answer 19

English-speaking nations
Continental (Austria, Belgium, France, etc)
Scandinavian
Southern family (Greece, Portugal and Spain)

Question 20

what are the criticisms of classical institutionalism?

Answer 20

doesn’t open the black box between formal institutions and policy choices.

political institutions in a country tend to be stable even though public policy is constantly being modified

Question 21

what are the varieties of new institutionalism?

Answer 21

sociological institutionalism
historical institutionalism

Question 22

what does sociological institutionalism purport?

Answer 22

defines institutions very widely and argues that they shape actors’ perceptions of their preferences, which, in turn, affects their behaviour, so that it becomes based on the logic of appropriateness and/or on legitimacy

Question 23

what does historical institutionalism emphasise?

Answer 23

the structuring impact of institutional lock-ins and path dependence

Question 24

what does bounded rationality assume?

Answer 24

that the actors are goal-oriented but takes into account their cognitive limitations

Question 25

what is partisan theory?

Answer 25

parties do matter for all areas of policymaking

Question 26

what is the party difference hypothesis?

Answer 26

differing views on macroeconomic policies.

Left-wing parties prefer lower unemployment over inflation and right-wing parties prefer the opposite.

Rational voters should vote left-wing parties when unemployment is high and right-wing parties when inflation is high

Question 27

how can interest groups exert influence?

Answer 27

through their specialist knowledge, financial contributions and political campaigns

Question 28

what are the 4 premises pluralism is based on?

Answer 28

equal access to the policymaking arena.
a fragmentation of the marketplace of interest groups.
competitive process for determining policies.
neutrality of government

Question 29

According to neo-corporatist polities what are social arrangements dominated by?

Answer 29

tripartite bargaining between unions, the private sector and govt

Question 30

ignore

Answer 30

ignore