Midterm POLI 359 Introduction to Comparative Politics Flashcards
Political Science
- Academic discipline whose members address themselves to the analysis, explanation of politics.
- High degree of definitional variation.
Politics
- Essentially contested concept.
- No consensus on how to define the term and no consensus on how to analyze politics (operationalization) and the unit of analysis.
- Contested because multiparadigmatic: multiplicity of theories, each with different focuses and definitions, can’t decide what should be included and excluded.
- Common denominator in politics is the study of power in one way shape of form.
Power
- Politics is about power, but this is also an essentially contested topic.
- Operative in a multiplicity of domains, but those domains are interactive.
- Brings consequence, the absence of power is characterized by a lack of consequences.
- How power is acquired and exercised and the competition for power: struggle within any group for power, that gives and individual or a subset within a group to make decisions on behalf of that group that are binding on the group as a whole.
- Operationalization of power makes things happen, an individual or group do what they normally would not do if they had the volition or agency to do otherwise. If empowered, have your own free will and agency relative to opposition.
Power and Conflict
- The relationship between power and conflict
- How/why power is acquired and how it is exercised, how/why source of conflict. essence of political struggle.
- How/why power resolves or fails to resolve conflict
Why is the study of politics important?
- Governance function: way in which order is established and maintained so that a social group remains stable, integrated and cohesive. Why some groups cohere and others disintegrate
- Assume power is integral to explaining order v.s disorder. How power is exercised and the way in which power has been distributed.
- Analytical questions regarding the governance function, can be questions of life and death like in Yugoslavia and Syria.
- Why are some disintegrations relatively peaceful and other violent.
Domestic Political Systems
- Governance with government
- Governance function or dysfunction is related to the state apparatus which is the composite of institutions within a state in which the power of sovereign state is located, exercised (exec, leg, jud, admin, repressive)
- Need to be animated by the people holding these offices and thus operationalizing that power.
- The government exercises the power of the sovereign state that is resident in the state apparatus.
What is comparative politics?
- Subdiscipline of polisci whose members share some substantive concerns and ask the same analytical questions as counterparts in other sub fields.
- How and why power is used and acquired. struggle for power leads to binding decisions on group as a whole, power and conflict. Still concerned with governance function. Compares pursuit of power across countries.
- Institutions: organizations or activities that are self-perpetuating and valued for own sake.
- Why distinct? subject of study is domestic political systems other than comparatives own. method: study and comparison of domestic political system across societies. belief that the explanation of political phenomena is enhanced by analyzing more than one setting.
International Relations v.s Comparative Politics
-Intl: international systems,
governance without government,
how power is used to effect governance in an international system characterized by anarchy, governance in relation to anarchy,
no supranational authority,
no consequences independent of state/actors that constitute the intl system,
theories, methods and concepts capable of explaining governance in the context of an international space characterized by anarchy
-Comparative: government in relation to governance,
domestic government can impose consequences independent of individuals in the state,
-But power multi-level/multi-dimensional so not insensitive to each other
Theda Skocpol
-States and Social Revolutions 1979
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Case Study Method
Method
- Method: an investigative technique applied/operationalized that allows the analyst to produce data, acquire knowledge and explain the social world.
- Idiographic v.s nomoethetic studies, the one you choose has ideological influence or bias.
- Idiographic: on a particular case to explain something about that particular case. to explain something peculiar about it. say something about one country in particular. not as useful.
- Nomoethetic Studies: studies based on one, but focus on a specific policy, process, inst, social change. purpose seeks to learn something within a country context that can be applied in other places. can be theory infirming or confirming. good
Comparative Method
- Diachronic comparison v.s Synchronic comparison
- Minimum sample of two, something specific to two or more cases.
- Diachronic: conducted at difference points in time, times picked must be meaningful. can be crossnational or just one.
- Synchronic: conducted at the same time, doesn’t have to be contemporary
Cross National Comparison
- Most Similar Systems: two or more effectively similar in important aspects then explain a difference that exists between them. Why are they different despite similarity.
- Most Different Systems: explain similarity in spite of difference. 2 or more very difference cases save for on glaring similarity. Why the same in spite of difference
Controlled Comparisons
- Want to control for false causes, want to mitigate focuses on wrong cause/explanations
- Controls negate false cause in explanation
- Most Similar Systems: control for the similarities when trying to explain differences. similarities will not yield the answer.
- Most Different Systems: control for the difference. Look at similarity.
Focused Comparisons
- N is the number of cases being looked at
- Small “N” Study, small number of cases. easier to operationalize and doesn’t take as long. not as expensive, move in depth analysis, yield more meaningful results. Theda Skocpol. USSR, France, China, small N study, detailed analysis.
- Large “N” Study, entire universe of cases. explanations across all cases, makes that explanation stronger. how can you generalize without looking at all the cases? dataset not accurate or detailed enough.
Inductive Reasoning
-Examine one country closely and generate a hypothesis. Foundation on which to build theories , starts with evidence to uncover hypothesis
Deductive Reasoning
-Start with a puzzle, hypothesis then seek out evidence, test using a number of countries
-Can find either correlation or causation.
Correlation: apparent association between variables or factors. Causal: cause and effect relationship.
7 Challenges Comparativists Face
- difficulty controlling variables. can’t make true comparisons because cases are different.
- interactions between variables. multicausality
- limits to information gathering
- access to limited cases available.
- area studies are distributed unevenly around the world
- bias, case selection. randomization is not entirely possible.
- search for cause and effect, which is which
problem with distinguishing = endogeneity
Aristotle v.s Machiavelli
-Aristotle’s comparison of proper and deviant regimes. separated philosophy and politics
-Machiavelli, comparative approach emerges. analyze political systems applied to statesman to avoid predecessors mistakes
Cold War turning point. 1. movement to apply more rigorous methods to study human behavior. 2. World Wars, serious questions about meaningful contributions. 3. rivalry, need to understand comparative politics to survive
4. tech innovations
Modernization Theory
-societies develop in to capitalistic democracies. converge around shared values and characteristics. catch up unless diverted by alternate systems. a hypothesis on country development
Behavioral Revolution
- shift from studying political institutions to individual political behavior.
- aimed to help generate theories and predict behavior
Hobbes Montesquieu Rousseau Marx Weber
Hobbes: notion of social contract, surrender liberties in favour of order. powerful state
Montesquieu: separation of powers
Rousseau: citizens inalienable, can’t be taken by state. civil rights development
Marx: economic development predicted the eventual collapse of capitalism and deocracy
Weber: bureaucracy, forms of authority, culture on development.
Political Institutions
- command and generate legitimacy, give meaning to human activity
- need to understand differences amount institutions
- formal: officially sanctioned rules that are relatively clear
- informal: unwritten, unofficial, equally powerful
- institutions influence politics, combines behavioral and institutional
Freedom and Equality
- politics struggle between individual freedom and collective equality, driven by reconciling the two.
- freedom: ability to act independently. no restriction or punishment. autonomy
- equality: material standard of living shared by individuals
- typically measured through justice/injustice. measuring whether ideals have been met, unclear whether one comes at expense of the other but not a necessarily zero sum game.
State
- centralized authority, locus of power
- max weber: organization that maintains a monopoly of violence over the territory
- set of institutions wield the most force within a territory. establish order and maintain control, deter challengers, create and implement policy, resolve conflict, viewed as legitimate, vital and appropriate
- machinary of politics
- sovereign entities, most powerful actor
Sovereignty
- ability to carry out functions/actions/policies within a territory independent of external actors and internal rivals. primary authority over people and authority
- to do this states need physical power: must be armed to secure control but not only physical
- de jure: legal-juridical. recognition. acquire sovereignty when government can act on behalf of state.
- de facto: effective statehood. capacity function of power. actually being able to carry out the rights and obligations of sovereignty.
- ideally want both international recognition and capacity to enforce that.
Regime
-essentially contested concept. negative connotation
-mode or governance method determines:
where power is located
how power is used
whose interests/goals that power serves
transitions of power from one government to another
process of decisions making
patterns of repression
-fundamental rules and norms of politics. embodies long term goals guide state with regard to individual freedom and collective equality.
-establishes the proper relationship between freedom and equality.
-democratic: rules and norms are that the public play a large role in governance, individual rights and liberty
-non-democratic: limits public participation, favors those in power.
-machine programming
-determines form of state, type of system is function of regime
-democratic (republic, presidential, parliamentary) or autocratic (civilian, military, dictatorship)
Government
- the leadership that runs the state, often composed of elected officials.
- attempt to realize ideas regarding freedom and equality through the state but not with complete autonomy. confront existing regime.
- operates the machinary
Country
-combines political entities. state, regime, government and the people who live in that system
Thomas Hobbes on the origins of political organization
- humans submit to authority to overcome anarchy because anarchy ensure neither freedom not equality. gain security and the foundation to build a civilization.
- assumed primordial individualism but actually family and tribal organization, states emerge out of this history of violence.
Jean Jacques Rousseau on origins of political organization
- humans are noble savages, instinctively compassionate and egalitarian. civilization and rise of the state, corrupted them by institutionalizing a system of inequality
- assumed primordial individualism but actually family and tribal organization, states emerge out of this history of violence.
Consensus on the origins of political organization
- individuals band together to protect themselves and create common rules. security through cooperation democracy
- individuals are brought together by a rules, impose authority and monopolies. security through domination authoritarian rule
Rise of the Modern State and why
- collapse of the Roman empire lead to a reversion to anarchy.
- emerged from and in reaction to what was organized crime and constant warfare
1. states encouraged economic development and property rights.
2. encouraged technological innovation. used to increase economic and military power, stimulate economic development
3. domestic stability, increased trade and commerce, interaction and share understanding of identity standardization of language and ethnicity - 1648 Treaties of Westphalia, concluded the 30 years war (in part Catholics v.s Protestants)`
Forms of Comparing State Power
Study and Compare States
-Max Weber
-legitimacy: value whereby something or someone is recognized and accepted as right and proper. widely accepted and recognized by the public. central component of stateness.
-when there is legitimacy the state is able to carry out basic functions, people obey the law, can provide security, people think they have authority (reciprocal benefits)
-when there isn’t , state must use coercion, weakly institutionalized, state can only be a predatory impostion
-traditional, charismatic, rational legal
assess LEGITIMACY
assess DISPERSAL OF POWER
how states reconcile freedom and equality
Traditional Legitimacy
- something is legit because it has always been that way. strongly institutionalized
- accepted because it has been built over long periods of time
- historical identity
Charismatic Legitimacy
- opposite of traditional power of ideals or beliefs.
- individuals embodying these ideals or beliefs not institutionalized
- weakly institutionalized overall
- tenuous but can be transformed in to traditional through the creation of rituals/values meant to capture spritit or intent of leaders power. Weber: routinazation of charisma
Rational-Legal Legitimacy
- system of laws and procedures presumed to be neutural or rational.
- strongly institutionalized
- figures/leaders gain legitimacy through rules they come to office abide by institutionalized rules offices hold the authority not the people who occupy them.
- world of modern states, but can see a mix throughout history.
Centralization/Decentralization of Power
-individual freedom- decentralized
-collective equality- centralized
-dispersal of power within a state
federalism: some powers devolved to regional powers. overcentralization seen as dangerous
asymmetrical federalism: power divided unevenly between regional bodies
unitary state: power concentrated at the national level, federalism weakens state efficiency
-Devolution: tendency to decentralize in recent years, viewed as a way to increase state legitimacy by moving political power close to the people.
Power (strong v.s weak states)
- strong states: fulfill basic tasks such as defending territory, making and enforcing rules/right, collect taxes, manage the economy. high degree of capacity
- weak states: capacity deficit. cannot execute tasks well. rules are haphazardly applied if at all. economic development is low, not well institutionalized, lack of authority and legitimacy. weak or failed.
Capacity and Autonomy
capacity
- ability of a state to wield power in order to carry out basic tasks of providing security and reconciling freedom and equality.
- requires organization, legitimacy, effective leadership.
- can formulate and enact policy, stable and secure if high capacity.
- continium of states from strong to weak.
autonomy
-ability of a state to wield its power independently of the public/international actors. tied to sovereignty.
-formal and legal independence. may act on behalf of public without strong opposition.
-low autonomy: captured by interests that control specific issues or policies
high capacity and high autonomy cost individual freedom
CAD/US lower autonomy and higher individual freedom
High/Low Autonomy Capacity Matrix
high A and high C: state fulfill basic tasks wit minimum public intervention. centralized. strong state too high, prevents democracy
low A and high C: state fulfills basic tasks, public plays a role in determining policy and limits state power. organized opposition, struggle to develop new policies
high A and low C: function with minimum public interference. fulfill basic tasks is limited. state is ineffectual, limits development and provokes public unrest.
low A and low C: states lack the ability to fulfill basic tasks. weak state, highly decentralized. too low, lead to internal state failure.
3 Features of States
- social formation matured 17-18th century
- emerged in a particular time space (1648 Europe according to Western explanation)
- impermanent, state is a novel entity, product of a range of historical processes.
State Apparatus and Government
= state
- state apparatus: institutions in which power of the state resides, power exercised through institutions (exec, leg, jud, admin, repressive functions executed). matrix of institutions where power resides and flows. inert till humans operationalize them
- government: leadership of a particular state, inhabit offices and exercise the power resident in the state apparatus. human animation.
What are the forms of sovereignty and who came up with them?
- domestic: forms of domestic ability of the state to carry out governance function. law and order, development and standard of living
- interdependence: forms of domestic capacity of those who govern over the state to control borders. border regulation.
- westphalian: mutual respect for territorial sovereignty, recognized as legal actors internationally, border manipulation, recognition of formal equality of sovereign states, non-intervention and self determination
- international legal: international agreements (right to participate to participate in every aspect in theory) and international institutions (right to participate in)
Stephen Krasner American Political Scientist
2 domestic 2 international
janus faced, face looks in and face looks out
Nation
- inherently political concept that refers to a group of people bound together by common political aspirations, the desire for self government, self government, self determination and sovereign statehood.
- share a common national identity, precursor to the nation state
- state does not precede humans, they are a productive of collective human action.
Nation and Nation State
State-Nation
- nation as the precursor to the nation state. contrast with state nation
- humans determine the institutional framework, goals and objectives. group that comes together and does that is a nation. foundation for state, more stable because founded on common consensus. sovereign state encompassing one dominant nation that it claims to embody and represent. distinct ethnic groups and political identities.
- state-nation: developing world, reverse of nation state. after wave of decolonization, states precede consensually based political aspirations. state forms imposed externally without consultation. unstable.
Ethnicity and Ethnic Group
- not inherently political but can be
- refers to group to people bound by common set of socio-cultural characteristics such as language religion, customs and taboos. common historical experience
- share common ethnic identity. shared sense of belonging to an ethnic group, shared set of ethnic characteristics and historical experiences that differentiate them from other ethnic groups.
- gain common identity through ascription: assigning of particular quality at birth.
