Comparative politics and comparative methods Flashcards
what is comparative politics?
sub-field of political science studying political structures, actors and processes within a political system, and analysing them empirically by exploring their similarities and differences across political systems
why compare?
Knowledge about other countries leads to learning about one’s own country
Allows for description and classification —> explaining political phenomena
Hypothesis testing
Predictions
what is meant by comparative methods?
Rules and standards of comparative analysis
what are two problems with comparative methods?
- Comparative politics focuses on very different units of analysis
- There is no one comparative method
what are Lijphart’s comparative methods?
-Case study method: qualitative
-Comparative method
-Statistical method (experimental method)
Case study method:
intensive examination of one case and the context in which it exists
Deviant case studies:
identifies and examines an exception to what is generally expected from an established theory (example: democracies that go to war)
Theory-testing case studies:
probing a theory in a new empirical context to which it is supposed to apply
Comparative method
small-N: systematic analysis of a small number of cases (hard to say how many though)
problems with small-N method:
-Too few cases, too many variables
-Selection of dependent variable
what is the solution to having too few cases but too many variables?
increasing N or using MSSD
what is the solution to the selection of the dependent variable?
using MDSD
Statistical method
large-N: comparative method based on a large number of cases, using statistical techniques to examine relationships between variables
difference between dependent and independent variables:
Dependent: what is to be explained
Independent: what is explained
