Comparative Politics Overview

The Approach and Methods of Comparative Politics

• Science is not about proving things definitively, but about making testable propositions, using rigorous methodology.
• Good political science features a clear theory, testable hypothesis, transparent methods, and ethical implications.

Theoretical Clarity

• A theory explains a phenomenon, has generalizability and is independently testable through observations.
• Theories can be normative, descriptive, predictive, or casual.
• Comparative political science often focuses on casual, predictive, and descriptive arguments.

Theoretical perspectives in political science

• Institutionalism focuses on how institutions affect behavior.
• Interests approach focus on individuals' self-interested behavior.
• Ideas approach focuses on how ideas and culture shape behavior.
• Individuals approach focuses on how specific people, especially leaders, shape outcomes.
• International environment approach focuses on how global pressures shape domestic politics.

Testable Hypothesis

• A hypothesis is a specific testable prediction based on a theory.
• Good hypotheses are logically derived from a theory, precise, falsifiable, and non-trivial.

Rigorous Methodology

• A research design is a strategy for answering a research question empirically.
• Good research designs provide internally valid conclusions, uncertainty estimates, and some level of external validity.

The State

• Weber's concept of the state:
  • Territoriality
  • Continuity
  • Administrative Staff
  • Monopoly of Legitimate Violence
  • Nonvoluntary nature

The Role of States in Politics

• Political outputs:
  • Fixed geographic boundaries and territorial sovereignty
  • Revenue raising
  • Mobilization of populations for warfare
  • Reshaping individual social life
  • Boosting development
• Political Behaviors and Identities:
  • New legitimation of authority and power
  • Displacement of kinship, ethnic, and religious sources of authority
  • National identity
  • Hegemony in politics and culture
  • Trust in government
  • Political conflicts organized within the state

Emergence and Development of States

• Hobbesian theory:

  • The state of nature is characterized by chaos.
  • The sovereign, through a social contract, establishes order and enforces rules.
  • This results in an absolute exercise of power by the sovereign.

• Coordination problems:

  • Individuals are better off if everyone abstains from violence, but it’s not in their individual interest.
  • The state acts as a coordination device to escape the state of nature.

• Sovereignty in Hobbes:

  • Individuals transfer their natural rights to the sovereign.

Authoritarianism

• Authoritarian regimes do not have a turnover of power in the executive.
• They lack free and fair elections and key freedoms like freedom of expression and association.
• Violence is the ultimate arbiter of conflicts in these regimes.

Classifying Authoritarianism

• Totalitarian vs. non-totalitarian regimes
• Regime types: Personalist, single-party, military, or monarchical
• Closed vs. electoral authoritarian regimes (hybrid or competitive)
• More vs. less competitive authoritarian regimes

Selectorate Theory

• It explains how authoritarian regimes survive and perform based on the size of the selectorate (S), winning coalition (W), and W/S ratio.
• The theory predicts that regimes with smaller W/S ratios are more likely to provide public goods and are less corrupt.

Democracy

• The procedural tradition emphasizes:

  • Elite competition (Schumpeter)
  • High inclusiveness and competitiveness (Dahl)
  • Uncertainty and acceptance of losing elections (Przeworski)

• Substantial definitions focus on rights, accountability, and citizen agency.