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Summary Politics Finals Notes
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Chapter 1: Introduction (LECTURE 1)Explain the methods political scientist use to understand politics around the world
- Politics is the pursuit of power in any organization and comparative politics is the study of
struggle around the world
o Evolved philosophy to a field that emphasizes empirical research in the quest to
explain politics and even predict political change
- Comparative method: a way to compare cases and draw conclusions
o Ex: comparing countries > conclusions and generalizations made > valid for other
cases + discovery of how a country functions
- Inductive reasoning: studying a case to generate a hypothesis; use evidence first > to
uncover a hypothesis
o Ex: country study > testable generalization about nationalism
- Deductive reasoning: use hypothesis first > cause and effect by testing against several cases
o Ex: hypothesis about nationalism > test it by looking at countries
o Prone to selection bias
- Helps explain and predict political outcomes > Correlation + Casual relationships +
Multicausality + Endogeneity
o Multicausality: many variables interact to produce particular outcomes > there isn’t
a single answer for political problems
o Endogeneity: problem of distinguishing cause and effect (major obstacle)
Trace the development of field of political science
- O’Neill’s neutral definition (pp. 6, 23): “...the struggle in any group for power that will give
one or more persons the ability to make decisions for the larger group.”
- Two alternative approaches:
o “Who gets what when and how (& why)” (Harold Laswell, Who Gets What, When, and
How, 1936) > Overly focused on the material dimension of politics > Neo Marxist
o “The authoritative allocation of values for a society.” (David Easton, A Framework for
Political Analysis,1965) > Value as an aspect, material, and non-material interests.
,- Politics is about the ideas (and ideals, normative dimension, e.g., Marxism), the organization
(institutions) and the morality (including legitimacy) of pursuing power at the public level, in
all its forms and varieties.
o Legitimacy allows society to willingly accept those who govern them
- The developments reflect the widespread changes in scholarly inquiry and blend with
political ideals with analytical concepts and some attempt at a systematic method of study.
- Modernization theory: as societies developed, they would become capitalist democracies
converging around a set of shared values and characteristics > A set of hypotheses about
how countries develop
- Behavioral revolution: Subject of investigation shifted away from political institutions and
toward individual human behavior
o Generate theories and generalizations that could help explain and predict political
activity
o Leads to a "grand theory” of a political behavior and modernization that would be valid
across countries
o Set of methods with which to approach politics
o Promotes deductive large scale research over the single case common in inductive
reasoning
o Emphasizes causality, explanation, and prediction; emphasizes the political behavior of
individuals more than larger political structures and quantitative over qualitative
methodology
o Modernization theory predominates
- Traditional approach: emphasis on describing political system and their various institutions
Define key terms in the study of political institutions and behaviors
- Comparative methodology, involving selecting cases and controlling variables
- Qualitative methods: evidence and methodology
o Ex: Interviews, Observations, Archival
o Narrowly focused deep investigations of one or a few cases
o Mastery of a few cases through the detailed study of their history, language and culture
o Emphasis on depth over breadth
- Quantitative methods: greater use of statistical analysis and mathematical models
o More likely to use deductive reasoning
o Statistical data across many countries
o Emphasis on breadth over depth
- Rational choice / game theory: study the rules and games by which politics is played and
how human beings act on their preferences
- Comparative politics should not simply be about what we can study or what we want to
study but also about how our research can reach people, empower them and help them be
better citizens and leaders
o The basic political structures of any country are composed of institutions: the army, the
police, legislature, courts… We obey them not only because of self interest but we see
them as legitimate was to conduct politics
, o Organizations / activities that are self-perpetuating and valued for their own sake
KEY TERMS
1. Area studies: A regional focus when studying political science rather than studying parts of
the world where similar variables are clustered
2. Behavioral revolution: A movement within political science during the 1950s and 60s to
develop general theories about individual political behavior that could be applied across all
countries
3. Causal relationship: Cause and effect when a change in one variable causes a change in
another variable
4. Comparative method: The means by which social scientists make comparisons across cases
5. Comparative politics: The study and comparison of domestic politics across countries
o It does so by (1) Observing the similarities and differences in the different contexts (2)
Attempting to describe and explain the similarities and differences in varying contexts
o guided by THEORIES and HYPOTHESES in field of Politics
6. Correlation: An apparent relationship between two or more variables
7. Deductive reasoning: Research that works from a hypothesis that is then tested against data
8. Dependent variable: A variable whose value changes based on that of another
9. Endogeneity: the issues that cause and effect are not often clear in that variables may be
both cause and effect in the relationship to one another
10. Equality: A material stand and of living shared by individuals within a community, society or
country
11. Formal institutions: Institutions usually based on officially sanctioned rules that are
relatively clear
12. Freedom: The ability of an individual to act independently, without fear of restriction or
punishment by the state or other individuals or groups in society
13. Game theory: An approach that emphasizes how actors or organizations behave in their
goal to influence others; built upon assumptions of rational choice
14. Independent variable: A variable whose value does not depend on that of another
15. Inductive reasoning: Research that works from case studies in order to generate hypothesis
, 16. Informal institutions: institutions which unwritten and unofficial rules
17. Institution: an organization or activity that is self-perpetuating and valued for its own sake
o Embedded to people’s lives as norms and values > commands legitimacy > gives power
+ authority to institutions
o Not only organizations but also the family, education, patriarchy, banks, marriage
18. International relations: A field in political science that concentrates on relations between
countries, such as foreign policy, war, trade and foreign aid
o Realism: Focus on power and the urge for states to maintain their sovereignty, power,
and survival
o Liberalism: Focus on cooperation between states, wealth creation, and institution
building
o Constructivism: Focus on identity issues between states and within the international
system as a whole
o Critical approaches: world systems theory; green IR; Feminism, Post-structuralism, Post-
colonialism….
19. Modernization theory: A theory asserting that as societies developed, they would take on a
set of common characteristics including democracy and capitalism
20. Multicausality: When variables are interconnected ad interact to produce particular
outcomes
21. Politics: The struggle in any group of power that will give one or more persons the ability to
make decisions for the larger group
22. Power: The ability to influence others / impose one’s will on them
o Political power: the ability to get others to do something that they would not otherwise
do > The key to every definition of politics?
o Soft power vs hard power
Hard power: influence others or impose one's will, using force or threats of force
(coercion)
Soft power: Influence others or impose one's will by attraction and co-optation
23. Qualitative method: Study through an in-depth investigation of a limited number of cases
24. Quantitative method: Study through statistical data from many cases
25. Rational choice: Approach that assumes that individuals weigh the costs and benefits and
make choices to minimize their benefits
26. Selection bias: A focus on effects rather than causes which can lead to inaccurate
conclusions about correlation or causation
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