How do we compare political phenomena such as
events/policies/practices within and across countries?
b. What Are the Advantages of the Comparative Method?
c. Which are some of the key concepts in comparative politics?
Lecture 1 contd.
Read more on the nation state from the 1st year reader Heywood!
You will find Heywood useful for many of the concept you will come across in this mod
, The State
• Political entity that has :
Territory
People
Government –(even though it is not permanent )
Boundaries
• A sovereign state- ‘Ideal concept’
Internal sovereignty-authority over the citizens
a. External sovereignty- autonomy from outside interventions
b. Regional orgs- eg EU- a political entity where states have
pooled their sovereignty together
,Level of analysis
• The unit of analysis is the major entity that you are
analyzing in your study eg
Individuals, groups, geographical units (province,
state) and social interactions (crime, violence
• Level of analysis can be the ethnical culture level of a
country- ethnicity, a basic subculture, that affects both
personality and political behaviors of people
, Federal states
• Federal states - 2 level government in which each
sphere/level has own jurisdiction and retains apart of
sovereignty eg: Nigeria, USA
• Authority over war, peace, diplomacy etc.
• The state can have jurisdictional over education,
criminal and civil law
• Sometimes overlapping jurisdiction
• A federal democracy - a political system in which
citizens have equal participation in government and
government is divided into two sovereign levels, such
as a national government and state governments.
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