MIDTERM Flashcards
What is the study of anything other than the study of American domestic politics?
Comparative politics
When was the first “heyday” of the study of comparative politics?
1960s
What was going on in the 1960s?
The era of decolonization, more countries gaining their independence
What do you use the “comparative method” for?
To test the theory in diverse cases since it is frowned upon to generate theories based off of one case
The falsifiable of your hypothesis
null hypothesis (H0)
Many hypothesis with many variables that do not relate are called
kitchen sink regressions
Correlation does not imply …
causation
independent variable that is manipulated.. X or Y
X
dependent variable with are the outcome.. X or Y
Y
The plan by which comparativists embark upon the collect data
research design
What are the three components of a research design..
literature review (history of the topic)
theory (what theory will be tested)
methods (how the scholar will conduct the research)
“hard science”, what is it and examples
science that is less likely to change, biology, chemistry
“soft science”, what is it and examples
science that is more likely to change, economics, sociology
quantitative is more…
generalizable
qualitative is more for…
specificity
positivism
there is a scientific method to how we do research
1960
Behavioral Revolution
-shift to quantitative, make behavioral science more science-y
Weberian States and their Characteristics
Mark Weber, modern states are Weberian states
- defined population
- defined borders- must be respected by everyone
- external sovereigty (UN recognition)
- monopoly on the legit use of force (internal sovereignty)
- the state are the only ones that can use force or violence. No youth groups etc
failed states lack one of more of the criteria to be a Weberian state
ex of Weberian state= United States
Federalism and Unitary system
system of government where power is devolved into sub-federal units
ex. United States Federal go’vt—> Virginia gov’t—–> Richmond local government
*helps reduce ethnic conflict
oppisite is unitary system where all the power resided at the top (federal) level ex. Britian, anything with a Parliament
Authoritarianism
government that governs by force, no democracy
ex. Russia, Brazil 1964-1985, Egypt 1952-2011
not all autocracies are evil, they just have no freedom or say in the governmental systems
polity 4- autocracy anything less than -6
democracy is anything greater than 6
anocracy between -6 and 6
civil society
non political associations that are beneficial to a DEMOCRATIC society
ex. Girl/Boy Scouts, sports teams, etc.
no good civil societies=no good democratic life
supranationalism
The bun of the sovereignty sandwich
MNCs, IGOs, NGOs, Transnational networks
-IGO ex. UN
The take away power from the state by doing jobs the state should be doing, ex. When Dr. Jones was in Nigeria and the Nigerian government was attempting to fix the area and a IGO whose base is in China came and paved a road.
-State sovereignty is under a great amount of pressure from the top and the bottom and they leach away power in multiple ways.
subnationalism
The bottom of the sov. sandwich
Terrorist groups, separatist groups, ethno-nationalism
ex. Boko Haram, MEND
Elections in Nigeria pushed back because of Boko Haram’s opposition to democracy so they put civilians at risk.
State sovereignty is under a great amount of pressure from the top and the bottom and they leach away power in multiple ways.
Methods in Discipline
1900s- Historical studies of war and empires
1960s-Mathmatical Formal Models of Behavior, Behavioral Revolution, quauntitative formal work
2000s- Perestoika- people were more geared toward quant. and polisci. people were upset about there not being a balance between the two: qual. and quant.
what can you use qualitative for?
interviews, historical analyis, SMALL n case studies, participant observation
MICRO level
what about quantitative?
mathmatical formal modeling, LARGE n case studies, surveys
MACRO level
Failed states
AKA collapsed/zombie states
Missing one or more of the Weberian state characteristics
Somalia, DRC, Yemen, Jamaica,
If there is a failed state next door, you are likely to be involved ex. Central African Republic, Chad, and DRC
Civil war has become internaturalized, ex. Sierra Leone and Liberia had a period of civil wars and are now starting to get up from it but Ebola has now come into the scene and knocked them back down
Some failed states do not have recognition ex. Taiwan, Palestine, Tibet
Oligarchy
only a few people (elites) who are in charge of the state
tend to involve the military
ex. Ancient Greece and Rome, Modern Thailand
type of authoriatianism
communism
Karl Marx
planned economics and political systems, type of authoritarianism, ex. Stalin Russia and Cuba, Vietnam (but rided of comminist economic control after fall of Soviet Union)
only elections for one group/political party
theocracy
government is headed by a religious power
ex. Vatican City and the Islam Republic of Iran
Divided Gov’t
One branch of the federal government is headed by one political party and the other is by the other
ex. United states
Executive-dem, Congress-rep,
What are the 4 key elements of constitutional designs?
- unitary v. federal government
- Separation of powers or not
- Judicial review v. parliamentary supremacy
- Majoritarian or proportional representation
