Intro to Comp Pol

• Comparative Politics


  The sub-field of Political Science that deals with within-country, empirical political phenomena
• Political science is the study of the processes by which collective choices are made
• Comparative politics


  One of the three main sub-fields of political science (with Political Theory and International Relations)
• Three traditions in comparative politics

  • The study of single countries outside the domestic setting
  • The study of the methods of comparative analysis
  • The application of the comparative method to interactions within political systems
• Comparative Politics


  • Concerned with empirical arguments (rather than theoretical ones)
  • Concerned with interactions within political systems (rather than between)
• Empirical questions


  Concerned primarily with accounting for what is
• Normative questions


  Concerned primarily with what should be
• Empirical questions are not entirely separate from normative concerns
• Descriptive questions


  Who, what, where, when questions
• Causal inference questions


  Why and How questions
• Answering causal inference questions is more complex, this requires theory and evidence, and generally more research and reasoning
• Ways of asking causal questions

  • Why questions
  • What are the consequences of...
  • Under what conditions...
  • How do X affect Y
• Independent variable


  The cause, explanatory variable, X variable
• Dependent variable


  The consequence, outcome, Y variable
• Comparative Politics studies will generally start with general questions and then ask more specific questions
• Comparative politics questions are open-ended: they do not presume a specific answer
• Concepts


  Abstract generalisations used to describe and categorise the empirical processes we study
• Concepts are tools for empirical analysis, the first step towards operationalization and measurement of a political phenomena
• Examples of major concepts in comparative politics

  • Democracy
  • Nationalism
  • Constitutionalism
  • Federalism
  • Identity
  • Gender relations
  • Special interests
  • Social movements
• Concepts are often simplified accounts of a more complex and nuanced political reality
• Conceptualization


  The process of identifying, selecting and justifying the concepts we use, and the process of creating new concepts or improving on existing definitions
• There exists legitimate scholarly disagreements on how to define core concepts
• Characteristics of a good concept

  • Distinguishable: Should allow us to distinguish clearly between instances and non-instance of the phenomena
  • Categorizable: Should allow us to create typologies
  • Travelable: Should not apply to a single case and should help our understanding of the phenomena in different geographical and historical eras
  • Consistently used in a given study
• Good concepts are tools for empirical analysis but they are not general theories
• Disagreements


  Especially rife when a new field of study emerges, e.g. the concept of "populism" in the early 2000s
• Different schools of thought

  May be attached to different theoretical approaches (for instance deliberative vs. minimal definitions of democracy)
• Good concept


  Displays the following characteristics (adapted from Sartori 1970): Distinguishable, Categorizable, Travelable
• Concepts should be consistently used in a given study, e.g. one's definition of democratization should be consistent with one's definition of democracy
• Operationalization


  The process by which basic concepts (those pertaining to our dependent and independent variables) are made measurable and therefore usable
• Operationalization should be closely tied to how the concept is defined
• Ways to operationalize democracy

  • A country holds a free and fair multiparty election
  • Free and fair elections are held, and constitutional law guarantees freedom of speech, press, assembly, and religion
  • Two turnovers of government at the ballot box have occurred, in which the ruling party loses an election and peacefully steps down from power
  • There is no verifiable suppression of political participation and expression
• Evidence


  Facts supporting a claim or an argument
• Facts may only act as evidence if they are relevant to the concept and its operationalization
• Qualities of good evidence

  Relevant for the issue at hand, operates at the same level of analysis as the claim
• Cases


  Units of analysis in comparative politics, examples of a phenomenon to be studied and compared
• Forms cases can take

  • Country for a period of time
  • Event or set of events
  • Certain group
  • Institutions
  • Other geographic unit
  • Ideologies
• Comparative method


  A way to make claims based on comparative case studies
• Most Similar Systems (MSS) Design


  Research design in which we compare two or more cases that are similar with respect to a number of factors, but with distinct outcomes
• Most Different Systems (MDS) Design

  Research design in which we compare two or more cases that differ with respect to multiple factors, but in which the outcome is the same
• Comparative checking


  The process of testing the conclusions from a set of comparisons against additional cases or evidence