Introduction To Pol Analysis Flashcards
What is political analysis according to Robert Dahl?
Political analysis helps us understand the world we live in to make intelligent choices among the alternatives we are faced with and to influence the changes inherent in all political systems
There must be a ______ premise to analysis
Problem
What are the types of political analysis?
- Political Advocacy
- Public commentary
- Specialized political analysis
The type of analysis referred to as professional because it is carried out by trained political scientists where the analysts make use of tools which they can manipulate for the purpose of analyzing issues in the state is referred to as?
Specialized political analysis
The act of promoting or defending a particular political cause, issue or interest through various means of communication with the hope of achieving an agenda is referred to as?
Political advocacy
The analysis conducted by knowledgeable interested individuals who are not trained political analysts on the issues of political concern where they express personal views and perspectives to advocate for their beliefs is referred to as?
Public commentary
What are the tools of political analysis?
Theory and Data
The problems of political analysis are?
Boundary problem
Generalization
Bias/Prejudice in data gathering and interpretation
Problem of Theoretical Framework
Interdisciplinary synthesis
In the traditional era, what was political analysis like?
It relied on knowledge from other fields of study like philosophy, history and law and this influenced the approach used in political analysis. Political analysis focused on issues like sovereignty, justice, freedom.
It also focused on political institutions in the performance of their responsibilities.
Political analysis in the traditional era was largely ___
Descriptive
What were the criticisms of the behavioral era?
Analysis at this period was clouded by bias
Analysis was unable to proper adequate explanation of political issues
Analysis failed to make predictions about political issues
The behavioral era focused narrowly on human individual behavior and ignored larger structural factors that shape political outcomes
The behavioral approach also assumed that people act rationally and in their own self interest, however psychological and sociological research showed that humans are largely irrational and influenced by emotional and social factors
What era focused on observable human behavior in the sphere of politics?
Behavioral era
The behavioral era laid emphasis on what approach?
Scientific approach
The nature of pol analysis under the behavioral era was based on?
Gathering and analyzing data objectively
What was the criticism of the behavioral era?
It overemphasized scientific methods and failed to perform the important function of proffering solutions to the problems of human society
What era focused on the society?
The Post behavioral era
What era focused on relevant and contemporary issues of politics as well as prescribing viable solutions to human problems?
The Post behavioral era
After political analysis failed to predict the Second World War in the traditional era, which political scientists argued for pol analysis to become empirical?
Charles Merriam, David Easton, and Arthur Bentley
Which era/approach argued that analysis is only necessary if it is socially relevant and can profer viable solutions to problems in the human society?
Post behavioral
