jnjk Flashcards
(40 cards)
THE COMPARATIVE METHOD
Definition: Method for testing against empirical evidence alternative hypotheses (and thereby either corroborate or reject them) about necessary and sufficient conditions for events to occur based on the association between configurations of values of different independent variables across cases, and the values of the dependent variable.
Significance: Fundamental to comparative politics; helps isolate variables and test hypotheses across contexts.
Example: Comparing democratization in Brazil and Nigeria to identify common factors.
THEORY
Definition: A framework of ideas explaining political phenomena, often involving causal relationships.
Significance: Guides research and helps interpret complex political realities.
Example: Modernization theory linking economic development to democracy.
HYPOTHESIS
Definition: Proposed explanation for a phenomenon that can be confirmed or falsified through observation or experimentation
Significance: Forms the basis for empirical research in comparative politics.
Example: “Higher GDP per capita correlates with greater political stability.”
DEPENDENT VARIABLE
Definition: The factor or element we wish to explain
Significance: Central to research design; determines focus of analysis.
Example: Level of democracy (measured by Polity scores).
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE
Definition: The factor of element believed to influence the dependent variable. There are often many such variables
Significance: Central to research design; determines focus of analysis.
Example: Level of democracy (measured by Polity scores).
COMPARATIVE POLITICS
Definition: The systematic study and comparison of political systems, institutions, processes, and behaviors across countries.
Significance: Identifies patterns, tests theories, and explains differences in governance, democratization, and state-society relations.
Example: Comparing welfare states in Sweden (social-democratic) vs. the U.S. (liberal).
METHODOLOGY
Definition: The framework of principles and procedures guiding research (e.g., qualitative vs. quantitative, case studies).
Significance: Ensures rigor, replicability, and validity in comparative analysis.
Example: Using statistical methods to analyze voter turnout across 50 democracies.
TYPOLOGY
Definition: Classification of political phenomena into categories based on shared characteristics.
Significance: Simplifies comparison and highlights key differences (e.g., regime types).
Example: Linz’s typology of authoritarian regimes (military, single-party, personalist).
CAUSATION
Definition: A relationship where one variable (independent) directly influences another (dependent).
Significance: Core to explanatory research; distinguishes correlation from causation.
Example: Economic inequality (cause) → social unrest (effect), controlling for other factors.
COUNTERFACTUAL
Definition: A thought experiment speculating on possible outcomes if a particular factor had been absent from a process, or an absent factor had benn present
Significance: Tests causal claims by imagining alternative outcomes.
Example: “Would the Cold War have ended peacefully if Gorbachev had not pursued glasnost?”
DESCRIPTION
Definition: The factual account of political phenomena without explaining causes.
Significance: Foundational step in research; provides context for analysis.
Example: Reporting voter turnout rates in Brazil’s 2022 election without analyzing why.
SPURIOUS CORRELATION
Definition: A false association between two variables caused by a third confounding variable.
Significance: Highlights the risk of mistaking correlation for causation.
Example: Ice cream sales (X) and drownings (Y) both rise in summer (Z = heat).
CONFOUNDING VARIABLE
Definition: An unaccounted factor that distorts the apparent relationship between independent and dependent variables.
Significance: Undermines research validity if not controlled.
Example: Linking education (X) to political participation (Y) without controlling for income (Z).
MOST SIMILAR SYSTEMS
Definition: Research design in which the cases selected are characterized by similar values on a large number of independent variables.
Significance: Controls for confounding variables to isolate causation.
Example: Comparing Sweden and Norway (similar histories, different welfare policies).
THE CASE STUDY METHOD
Definition: A research method involving the detailed study of a particular object (a person, institution, countrym phenomenon) a swell the context within which it exists
Significance: Provides rich, detailed insights into how and why political phenomena occur. Useful for exploring rare or unique cases where large-N studies are impractical. Helps generate hypotheses for broader testing.
Example: Robert Putnam’s study of Italian regional governments (Making Democracy Work) to analyze social capital’s role in institutional performance.
QUALITATIVE METHOD
Definition: Type of research in which no quantification of the strength of the association between independent and dependent variables is possible due to the nature of the data. The focus is on understanding politicial phenomena (often in case studies), and the development over time in tracing the detailed process that leads to an outcome.
Significance: Explanations are based on unquantifiable data such as in-depth interviews, the analysis of documents, or content and text analysis. Essential for studying concepts like identity, culture, and power.
Example: Using elite interviews and archival research to study how activists framed demands during Chile’s transition to democracy.
THE STATE
Definition: A polity which claims in law (and is able to assert in fact) that within a given portion of the Earth its properly constituted organs are exclusively entitled to practice legitimate violence in the pursuit of political interests, beginning with the maintenance of public order and defence of the territory from foreign encroachments.
Significance: Core unit of analysis in comparative politics; shapes governance and conflict.
Example: France as a unitary state.
NATION
Definition: A political community may be considered a nation when it is unified not only by the shared subjection to a system of rule but also by a complex and historically variable set of social and cultural bonds of diverse nature (commonalities of ethnic origins, language, religion, customs, historical experience, political values) which generate among individuals a significant feeling of affinity and distinctiveness.
Significance: The concept of nation is crucial for understanding nationalism, state formation, and contemporary conflicts about self-determination and minority rights.
Example: The Basque nation in Spain and France maintains distinct cultural identity and has sought greater autonomy through political movements.
THE WESTPHALIAN ORDER
Definition: The modern system of sovereign states originating from the 1648 Peace of Westphalia that established principles of territorial integrity and non-intervention in domestic affairs.
Significance: This order forms the basis of international relations and state sovereignty today, though it faces challenges from globalization and humanitarian intervention norms.
Example: The United Nations system operates on Westphalian principles where each member state has equal sovereignty regardless of size or power.
SOVEREIGNTY
Definition: A principle originally articulated by rulers involved in early state-making who (1) claimed that within their territories their political faculties and prerogatives overrode all those claimed by lesser powers; and (2) acknowledged no centre of rule operating outside those territories as having political faculties and prerogatives superior to their own.
Significance: Foundation of international order; legitimizes state power.
Example: UN recognition of state sovereignty post-decolonization.
NATIONALISM
Definition: An ideology and political movement based on the nation-state principle in which those who consider themselves to be members of a nation seek to obtain an independent state. A distinction may be made between ‘majoritarian nationalism’, which refers to established nation states such as France or Germany, and ‘minority nationalism’, which refers to stateless nations such as Scotland or Catalonia.
Significance: Drives state formation, independence movements, and international conflicts while shaping domestic policies on citizenship and minority rights.
Example: Indian nationalism under Gandhi that united diverse populations against British colonial rule.
STATE CAPACITY
Definition: A state’s ability to implement policies, enforce laws, and provide public goods across its territory.
Significance: Determines governance quality, economic development, and resilience against crises or violence.
Example: Singapore’s strong tax collection and infrastructure development demonstrate high state capacity.
WEAK STATES VS PHANTOM STATES
Definition: Weak states have external and lack internal
Phantom states lack external but have internal.
Significance: Highlights the gap between legal sovereignty and empirical statehood in global politics.
Example: Weak state: Honduras struggles with drug cartel violence. Phantom state: Transnistria, Northern Cyprus, Nagorno-Karabakh
