COMPARATIVE METHODS & APPROACHESCOMPARATIVE METHODS & APPROACHESCOMPARATIVE METHODS & APPROACHESCOMPARATIVE METHODS & APPROACHESFundamental to all human thought

Six Forms of Government

Absolute Monarchy (1600s-1700s)

Constitutional Monarchy (Saudi Arabia)

Parliamentary Democracy (UK, Japan, Canada)

Presidential Democracy (US, Mexico, Brazil)

Dictatorship (Cuba, Vietnam, N. Korea)

Theocracy (Iran, Vatican)

Functions of Government

Allocate resources

Enhance security

Protect the environment

Provide public service (education, transportation,

cultural amenities)

Build community and nation

Promote economic efficiency and growth

Protect Human rights

Building Community

► Common identity and sense of community among citizens important

► Without a unifying factor cleavage can dominate

• Japan: example of a population that is ethnically homogeneous with shared language, little religious diversity and strong political history; in addition, enjoys relative geographic isolation from neighbors

• Nigeria: extremely large and diverse population; no common pre-colonial history; sharp religious divisions; 250 ethnic groups; language diversity

Human Rights

► Negative Rights/Political & Civil Rights Freedom from interference; an entitlement to

be left alone (e.g., freedom of expression, privacy rights);

Focus on individual liberty and freedom

► Positive Rights/Welfare Rights Freedom to do or attain something; an

entitlement or claim that somebody else do something for you (e.g., the right to an education, the right to medical care)

Why Compare?Why Compare? Understand our own political system

Permits us to see a wider range of political alternatives Permits us to illuminate the virtues and shortcomings of our own

political life and to expand our awareness of the possibilities of politics

Enhance our ability to understand others Helps to interpret development of other countries Helps to describe and understand political processes and

political change by offering concepts and reference points from a broader perspective

Stimulate us to form general theories of political relationships

Improve out classifications of politics (constitutions, electoral systems, executives)

Achieve generalizations that have potential prediction Enable us to test our political theories

Helps to form our political theories by confronting them with the experience of many institutions and settings

Themes of Comparative Themes of Comparative PoliticsPolitics

► A World of States States as the primary actors on the world stages International organizations play a crucial role External factors shape politics and policies of states

► Governing the Economy► The Democratic Idea

Strong appeal of the democratic idea Diverse sources of support for democracy Democracies vary widely in states Potential fragility of democratic transitions

► The Politics of Collective Identity Importance of ethnicity, religions, race, & locality

What to Compare? –Three LevelsWhat to Compare? –Three Levels Comparing institutions

Institutional roles matter more than the people who occupy them The value of institutions as long-term commitments that are

more reliable than any single employee Institutions define interests

Comparing societies (1960s-1970s) Reasons for the rise of analysis on societies (decolonization, the

rise of communist countries, new developments in social science techniques as political behavior and attitude surveys

Society-centered analyses formed part of the behavioral revolution in politics (contrast with institutional analysis)

Comparing states (after 1980s) The state as an active agent, shaping and re-shaping societies Where society-centered analysis saw the state as embedded in

society, the state-centered approach saw the state as part ofa configuration defined by the state itself.

Theories of Comparative PoliticsTheories of Comparative Politics The Modernization Theory

A universal theory of social, political, and economic development, based on the experience of “modern” systems.

Claims that as societies develop, they would become capitalist democracies, sharing a similar set of values

The Behavioralism Explains the behavior of actors, not describe institutions A shift from descriptive study of politics to one that

stresses explanation & prediction. Places greater emphasis on the political behavior of

individuals as opposed to larger political structures and on quantitative over qualitative methodology.

Theories of Comparative PoliticsTheories of Comparative Politics The Dependency Theory

A new approach developed by the critics of the modernization theory

Claims that development wasn’t linear, and that third world was poor because of international capitalism (not because it was “pre-modern”).

Postbehavioralism Rejection of a grand theory of politics Criticism of modernization theory as biased and inaccurate Diversity of methods and political approaches,

emphasizing such issues as gender, culture, environment, and globalization.

Correlation & CausationCorrelation & Causation► Correlation

Relationship between two or more variables Correlation is different to causation because it

doesn’t necessarily mean that one variable causes changes in another variable.

► Causation Changes in one variable (the independent variable)

cause changes in another variable (the dependent variable).

Dependent variable as a factor or a phenomenon that is to be explained.

Independent variable as a factor that is thought to affect the dependent variable.

Quantitative ResearchQuantitative Research Focus on empirical data (statistics) across a

large number of cases

Variables are numbers

Enable to access a large number of

cases/countries

Conclusions are more generalizable

Limited to variables expressed in quantitative

data and across countries.

Qualitative ResearchQualitative Research

Focus on a more detailed study of one (or few)

case(s).

Concentrates on the unique aspects of a

country such as history and culture.

Allows for more detailed conclusions and for the

analysis of more sophisticated research

questions.

How Compare?How Compare?

Knowledge The simplest and the best reason. Helps to interpret development of other countries

& understand our own system

Classification

Formulate & test hypotheses

Generalizations & predictions A theory allows to explain singular cases.

The Difficulties of ComparisonThe Difficulties of Comparison► Conceptual stretching

A common or abstract concept for comparison (the connotation of “national pride” differs among countries

► Interdependence

► Too many variables too few cases Lack of sufficient cases to test hypothesis Variables vary over countries

► Selection bias Unrepresentative results, generalizations cover

only a small number of cases/countries