Week 1: What is Comparative Politics & What Do We Compare Flashcards
(106 cards)
1
Q
Define Comparative politics
(LaPalombara, 1974)
A
The study of political phenomena
that are predominantly WITHIN country relationships
2
Q
Define International politics
(Morgenthau, 1948)
A
The study of political phenomena
that are predominantly BETWEEN country relationships
3
Q
Define Comparative Politics based on Aristotle
A
Comparative politics is the study of political phenomena through
the “comparative method.”
4
Q
Comparative method
A
Comparing a small number of
cases in order to better understand their qualities, and to develop and investigate hypotheses, theories, and concepts.
5
Q
Methodology
A
The systematic analysis of the methods used in a given field of enquiry. It’s also used to describe the body of methods used in a discipline, or the means used to reach a particular set of conclusions.
6
Q
Causation
A
“X caused Y”
Counterfactual statement: if there had been no x, there would have been no y
7
Q
Typology
A
Useful tools for classifying cases on different dimensions and making predictions from that
E.g. Categories such as competitive oligarchy, democracy, electoral oligarchy, electoral authoritarianism, closed authoritarianism etc.
8
Q
Description
A
A descriptive argument describes some aspect of the world.
Descriptive arguments are about what is/was. For example: ‘Over the
course of the past two centuries there have been three major waves of democratization.’
any empirical proposition that attempts to answer a what, when, whom, out of what, or in what manner question is classified as descriptive
9
Q
What role does description play in social science research?
A
- Prioritize among the wide range of facts in the world to highlight features salient to the question at
hand - Organize the wide range of facts in the world into a coherent narrative (e.g. “three waves”, typologies, etc)
10
Q
Theory
A
11
Q
Unit of Analysis
A
The object of study in comparative politics
12
Q
Level of Analysis
A
The level of study in comparative politics, ranging from the political system level to the individual level
13
Q
Variable
A
A changeable feature, factor, quantity or element
14
Q
What are the three different approaches to political research?
A
1) Experimental method
2) Statistical method
3) Comparative method
15
Q
What is the experimental method?
A
This method uses experimental and control groups to isolate the effects of different stimuli
16
Q
What is the statistical method?
A
Uses empirically (verifiable by observation/experience rather than theory/logic) observed data to tease out relationships among variables.
17
Q
What does Landman argue regarding the methods to use for comparative study of politics?
A
It depends on:
1) combination of the research question asked
2) time & resources available
3) the method with which the researcher is most comfortable
4) epistemological preferences of the researcher (how they believe that understanding can be best achieved)
18
Q
What method is the most popular/common in the comparative study of politics?
A
Case study method with many subsidiary choices;
1) how many cases are appropriate
2) why selection of cases are appropriate
3) are the best approaches using qualitative, quantitative or historical methods?
19
Q
How many cases does the case study method use?
A
Single case
20
Q
What are the advantages of using a single case (in the case study method)?
A
1) Depth
2) Other researchers can use two or more single-country studies to explore broader similarities & differences
3) Single cases - fully compared with an ideal type or typology
21
Q
What does the qualitative method involve?
A
Comparing two to a dozen or more cases (small-N)
22
Q
What are the advantages of the qualitative method?
A
Using more than one single case whilst being manageable
23
Q
Which method is best for stat analysis?
A
Quantitative
24
Q
The quantitative method is known as?
A
Large-N (n for number of cases)
25
Disadvantages of the quantitative method
1) Take more time + resources
2) Likely to be affected by variable quality + availability of data
3) Could be more broad in terms information than depth
4) Needs to be compared with a single case or small-N studies
26
List three bullet points about the case study method
1. Widely used in politics + econ, biz, anthropology
2. A research method involving the detailed use of a particular object
3. Also the context which it exists within
27
Difference between case and study?
Case: Investigation and analysis on a deeper level
Study: Account of an event that doesn't venture beyond the event itself
Case study: Adds value by giving a detailed illustration of a wider theme of interest
28
List the techniques used in case studies
1) Reading academic literature
2) Examining primary and secondary sources
3) Conducting interviews with participants and other observers
4) Experience
29
List the 5 types of case studies
1. Representative
2. Prototypical
3. Exemplary
4. Deviant
5. Critical
30
Which case study is the most commonly used?
Representative
31
Representative case study
Typical of the category
32
Example of representative case study
Researchers may be interested in
the formation of coalition governments in general, but choose to study in detail how governments form in their homeland.
The home country is the research site but the hope is that the results will contribute to broader understanding.
33
A collection of representative case studies can go on to?
Provide the raw material for comparative generalisation by other scholars taking a wider approach.
34
Which case study is not preferred?
Prototypical
35
Prototypical
Expected to become typical or 'representative'
36
Example of a famous prototypical case study
Democracy in America, written by the French politician Alexis de Tocqueville as a product of his travels in the United States from 1831 to 1832.
He had been sent by the French government to study the American prison system, but the book he wrote became a broader analysis of democracy and representative government, using the US as a case.
De Tocqueville regarded the United States as a harbinger of
democracy and therefore a guide to Europe’s own future
(1835, ch. 1)
37
Contemporary examples of prototypical case studies
Sophisticated use of the internet in US election campaigns.
38
Aim of prototypical cases
To reveal how similar cases may evolve in the future
39
What are exemplary cases?
Archetypes that are considered to have created the category of which they are taken as representative
40
Example of exemplary case
The parliamentary system was born in Britain and thus, a study of the features of the BP will give us insights into the manner in which legislators & executives work in all those countries using this system
41
What is a deviant case and what is its purpose?
1. To seek out the exceptional and the untypical, rather than the norm: the few countries which remain communist,
or which are still governed by the military, or which
seem to be immune from democratising trends
2. Used to tidy up our understanding of exceptions and anomalies
42
Example of a deviant case study
Why does India contradict the thesis that democracy presupposes prosperity?
Why did tiny Switzerland adopt a federal architecture
when many federations are found in large countries?
43
What is a critical case?
Enables a proposition to be tested in the circumstances
least favourable to its validity.
The logic is simple: if it
is true here, then it is true everywhere.
44
Example of a critical case study
If we were to find that most Germans opposed further
European integration, we could anticipate that the same
would hold true in other EU countries such as Britain which have historically been more suspicious of the
European project.
45
Pros of critical case study
highly efficient, providing exceptional returns on the
research investment; by studying just one country, we
can generalize to others.
46
Cons of critical case study
Builds a potential for
generalisation into a single investigation but involves a
bet that the relevant proposition will be confirmed in the conditions least favourable to its validity
47
Define hypothesis
Proposed explanation for a phenomenon that can be confirmed or falsified through observation or
experimentation.
48
Define dependent variable
The factor or element we wish to
explain
49
Define independent variable
The factor or element believed to influence the dependent variable. There are often many such variables.
50
Define qualitative method
A research method that typically uses a small number of cases to understand a phenomenon holistically and within its natural setting, with an emphasis on
values, opinions, behaviour, and context.
51
What are the 6 features of qualitative approach?
A limited number of cases are studied in depth.
* It is descriptive rather than predictive.
* An effort is made to understand the interaction of
multiple variables.
* Meaning is allowed to emerge from the objects of
study.
* Observation is the main means of data collection.
* Phenomena are studied within their natural setting.
52
Example of qualitative method (Jeremy Rifkin - 2004 study - The European Dream)
1. Compared and contrasted the priorities and values of Americans and Europeans
2. Began with the notion of the 'American Dream', an idea usually credited to the historian James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of America (1931)
3. Although never
clearly defined, it is usually taken to mean that Americans living the dream are being allowed to pursue their goals in life through hard work and free choice, regardless of race, gender, age, religion, or class
53
Explain Rifkin's disagreement with the idea of the American Dream.
1. Argued that it was
centred more on personal material advancement than
on concern with broader human welfare.
2. He contrasted it with the European Dream, which focused more on 'quality of life over the accumulation of wealth'
3. Concluded that the EU had been developing a new social + political model better suited to the needs of the globalizing world of the new century
4. He reached these conclusions before 2007 financial crisis + eurozone crisis in 2009
54
The selection of cases is...
Important
55
Define the Most Similar System (MSS)
A research design based on using cases that are as similar as possible, in effect controlling for
the similarities and isolating the causes of differences.
56
Underlying logic behind MSS design is?
The more similar the units being compared, the more possible it should be to isolate the factors
responsible for differences between them
57
Example of MSS method
1. A study of attitudes towards membership of the European Union among its six founding states, or a selection
of Western European members, or a selection of Eastern
Europeans members.
2. Attitudes towards integration differ among countries within each group, even though
the countries might appear to have much else in common, so the goal would be to tease out the differences
that accounted for the variation in levels of support for
the EU within an otherwise similar group.
58
List 4 cons of MSS design
1. Issue of too many variables
2. Issue of too few countries
3. Much of the value of a qualitative comparison (using an MSS design) lies in the journey, rather than the destination
4. Usually no decisive way of testing among the many factors responsible for an observed difference
59
Define Most Different System (MDS)
A research design based on using cases that are as different as possible, in effect controlling for the differences and isolating the causes of similarities.
60
Underlying logic behind MDS
Test a relationship between two factors by discovering whether it can be observed in a range of countries with contrasting
histories, cultures, and so on.
If yes, our confidence that
the relationship is real, and not due to the dependence
of both factors on an unmeasured third variable, will
increase
61
Example of MDS
1. Historical analysis by Theda Skocpol - 1979 - of revolutions in France, Russia, and China.
2. These 3 cases = very different political-economic + social systems
3. So, she set out to ask what they had in common that would produce a similar political outcome
4. Concluded that regimes, which were internationally weak + domestically ineffective became vulnerable to insurrection when well-organized agitators succeeded in exploiting peasant frustration with an old order to which the landed aristocracy offered only limited support
62
Define quantitative method
A research method involving variables rather than cases, and attempting to explain political
phenomena using statistics.
63
Example of quantitative method
The most basic form of quantitative research = counting populations.
For instance: how many federations are there, how many
states are democratic, and how many authoritarian
regimes from 1980 are democratic today?
64
Define correlation
A relationship between two or more variables
or attributes
65
What is a modest positive correlation (give an e.g)?
If this is being asked: whether population impacts the size of the legislature
MPC - the larger the population, the larger the assembly
66
What happens if there's a negative correlation?
The regression line would slope down rather than up: in that unlikely case, a larger population would be associated with a smaller legislature
67
Define regression line
The line of best fit in a scatterplot, summarising the relationship between two variables.
68
What does a regression line help us identify?
Outliers
69
Define outliers
The observations furthest away from the value predicted by the regression line.
70
Why can the interpretation of quantitative data be difficult? (spurious correlation)
1. A strong correlation between two variables can arise because both depend on a third factor
- there is no cause and effect between two variables (in this case)
- E.g. A correlation between proportional representation & multi-party systems might arise because both factors emerge in divided societies
- This problem of a spurious correlation can be addressed by including all relevant variables
in an analysis, but we may not know how many are
relevant, and may not have data on all those we think
might be relevant
71
Why can the interpretation of quantitative data be difficult? (correlation DOES NOT EQUAL to causation)
1. Even if a relationship between two variables is genuine, the direction of causation = remains to be established
e.g suppose we find that liberal democracies have higher rates of
economic growth than authoritarian regimes
however; does the
correlation arises because democracy encourages economic growth, or because economic growth encourages democracy?
- a case can be made either way
- A statistical correlation by itself will not provide the answer, correlation is NOT EQUAL TO causation
72
List the challenges of comparison
1. Too few cases, too many variables
2. Selection bias
3. Understanding
meaning
4. Globalization
73
Too few cases, too many variables
1. The number of variables exceeds the number of cases.
2. We will never be able
to test all possible explanations of a political difference
between states
74
Solutions to "Too few cases, too many variables"
1. Increase the no. of cases in a study by turning to history and comparing cases over an an extended period.
2. Use most similar system designs to achieve a more focused study of a
few cases, or a most different system design to reduce the number of variables
3. Resort to asking hypothetical ‘What if …?’ questions by using counterfactuals
75
Define counterfactual
A thought experiment speculating on
possible outcomes if a particular factor had been absent from
a process, or an absent factor had been present.
e.g. What would our world be like if the 9/11 attacks didn't happen?
76
Define Selection bias
Arises when selected cases and variables are unrepresentative of the wider class from which they are
drawn.
- the units of analysis
(such as states, cities, interest groups, or electoral systems) are chosen intentionally rather than randomly
77
Why is selection bias a problem?
1. We might choose to study those countries which speak our language,or which we feel are safe to visit.
2. AS A RESULT: large and powerful states might be studied more intensively than small and less powerful ones, even though large
states are untypical.
3. Countries in which it is difficult to conduct research receive insufficient
attention
4. E.g Good (2010) suggests authoritarian regimes such as Russia are under-studied because of the political sensitivity of conducting
research in such domains
5. The result of such selection
biases is that published work is unrepresentative of all
states
78
List all the forms of selection bias (4)
1. Examining only positive cases, thus eliminating all variation in the phenomenon we seek to
explain
2. Survivorship bias
3. Value bias
4. Confirmation bias
79
Examining only positive cases, thus eliminating all variation in the phenomenon we seek to
explain (EXPLAIN THIS PT)
1. E.g We may find that revolutions
are always preceded by war, or that all non-voters are
cynical about politics.
2. But we have no contrast to explore and explain
3. We do not know how
often war occurs without triggering a revolution, or whether the political cynicism we find among
abstainers is equally prevalent among those who turn
out on election day
80
When does survivorship bias occur?
When non-survivors of a temporal process are excluded,
leading to biased results.
81
Example of when survivorship bias occurs
Studying the few surviving
communist states or military governments as representative of the entire class of such regimes (past and
present) is an error because the few that have survived may differ systematically from those that have disappeared.
82
Define value bias
Allowing assessments, the choice of facts, and conclusions to be impacted by the values of the researcher.
83
When does value bias occur?
1. A particular problem in
comparative studies
2. Other than the country
or countries in which researchers have spent most or
all of their lives, they will initially know little directly about the objects of their study
3.They face the danger of seeing others through the lenses of their
own experiences, values, and learning
4. They could be biased w/out realising through factors such as biased by politics, culture, race,
gender, religion, age, economic situation, and a host
of other factors.
84
Define confirmation bias
The tendency to seek out or interpret
information that confirms pre-existing beliefs and attitudes,
and to ignore information that does not.
85
When does confirmation bias occur?
1. When researchers have a view in mind before they undertake their
research, and pay attention only to the facts and analyses that support that view, ignoring or downplaying
any contrary evidence
2. Produces skewed results and conclusions
86
How to prevent cultural imperialism?
Cultural imperialism - action in our home state is incorrectly projected
onto other societies.
Before we begin any cross-national comparison we should ensure that we understand the relevant
cultural codes of the states we are studying
87
How does globalisation pose a challenge?
Poses a challenge to the traditional concept of state sovereignty by fostering interdependence among nations.
88
What does interconnectedness of states result in?
Coming together of political and governmental structures, leading to a phenomenon known as homogenization.
89
What is the KOF globalization index?
Maintained by the Swiss Economic Institute, quantifies the degree of global connectivity among countries, with smaller democracies often exhibiting higher levels of integration.
90
What is Benjamin Barber's perspective on globalization?
1. Globalization = a clash between globalism and tradition
2. E.g Jihad vs McWorld
3. "Jihad," represents the resurgence of tribal identities and traditional values in the face of global homogenization
4. "McWorld" symbolizes the spread of commercial and cultural uniformity driven by corporate interests and technological advancements
5. "Jihad" embodies resistance to the erosion of local identities and community ties, advocating for autonomy and solidarity among individuals, families, and communities.
6. "McWorld" promises peace, prosperity, and unity on a global scale but at the expense of individual and cultural distinctiveness, fostering a standardized, consumer-driven society.
7. captures the complexities and tensions inherent in the globalization process - how it can simultaneously empower and marginalize different communities and traditions.
91
McDonaldization
describes a trend where efficiency, predictability, and standardization dominate culture, politics, and expectations.
92
What has caused the idea of statehood to diffuse the idea of statehood from its origins in Europe?
Significant historical transitions, such as industrialization and democratization
93
What do scholars argue to do for comparative analysis?
To study the broader global system rather than treating states as isolated entities
94
Example of a diffusion of international norms
1. Presidential and parliamentary systems
2. reflects global influence, as does the adoption of mechanisms like the ombudsman.
95
What does the rise of international organisations say?
1. UN and European Union
2. Introduces an additional layer of governance, shaping the policies and interactions of member states.
96
How does interdependence complicate statistical analysis?
Cautioning against the assumption of state independence and emphasizing the need to account for common external influences like globalization.
97
What is the historical method?
1. Many political studies, especially in comparative politics, prioritize the present over historical analysis.
2. However, this separation is arbitrary since what is current today becomes history tomorrow.
3. Political science could benefit from leveraging history as a valuable resource for additional case
4. Historical events like genocide and revolution, as well as specific episodes, offer insights that can either support, challenge, or refine existing theories.
5. The historical method expands the database available to researchers.
6. allows for the utilization of the "most different system design" approach, enabling the examination of findings' robustness across different time periods.
98
What is analytic narratives?
1. Transition from static snapshots to dynamic understanding of change over time is a challenge in political science research.
2. Analytic narrative merges history and political science to depict sequences of moves by calculating actors leading to specific outcomes.
3. Analytic narratives differ from case studies by focusing on sequences and identifying key driving factors toward outcomes.
99
Use EU as an example to explain analytic narrative
1. The European Union (EU) serves as a model for understanding complex political dynamics.
2. Understanding the EU involves studying its institutions, decision-making processes, and policies, but also its origins and evolution.
3. The EU's creation stemmed from the desire for peace among European states.
4. Its evolution and the sequence of steps taken reveal insights into its current structure and membership.
5. The EU's development has been gradual, with each addition reflecting changing perspectives and priorities in European integration.
100
What is process tracing?
The study of the sequence of events
linking a cause to an effect.
e.g what were the steps leading from Hitler’s anti-Semitism to
the Holocaust?
101
What is path dependence?
1. The idea that the outcome of a process depends on earlier decisions that lead down a particular path.
2. implies an emphasis on history
generally and branching points specifically.
102
Path dependence can be initiated by...
Critical junctures
103
Define critical junctures
A turning point which establishes interests, structures, or institutions persisting through time
104
Sequencing, the order of events, can help us account for path dependence. How?
E.g communist regimes which introduced economic reform
before political liberalization (such as China) were more likely to survive than those beginning the reform process with political change (such as the USSR).
105
Conjuncture as a form of ‘sequence’
In which separate events occur at the same time, enlarging their political impact.
E.g The collision of the First World War with the emergence of working-class socialism
106
What are slow moving causes?
An influence which changes slowly
but, over a long period, dramatically.
E.g Modernization and technological advance, the spread of education, and the growth of the mass media.
Such processes often need to reach a threshold or a tipping point
beyond which a variable begins to exert a visible, dramatic effect
