Comparative Politics Introduction PDF Fall 2024

Fall 2024 Comparative Politics Introduction What do we seek to explain and how do we explain it? Lukas Haffert 17.09.2024 FACULTÉ DES SCIENCES DE...

Fall 2024 Comparative Politics Introduction What do we seek to explain and how do we explain it? Lukas Haffert 17.09.2024 FACULTÉ DES SCIENCES DE LA SOCIÉTÉ Séminaires d'Approfondissement en Science Politique T207040 - Automne 2024 Le lobbying dans l'Union européenne (Camilla Sante – Ma 10-12) Psychologie politique et expérimentation (Adrien Petitpas – Ve 10-12) Inscription sur Moodle du mercredi 18 septembre à 20h00 au vendredi 20 septembre à 12h00: https://moodle.unige.ch/course/view.php?id=11653 ou : Les séminaires débutent dès la semaine du 23 septembre. 3  Why did Switzerland have less restrictive Covid regulations than other countries? Develop potential explanations in groups of three! 4  Agenda 1) Course goals and learning outcomes 2) Organisational issues 3) Syllabus 4) Approaches in comparative politics – Institutionalism – Structuralism – Culturalism – Functionalism 5  1. Course goals and learning outcomes 1) Empirics – Switzerland had less restrictive Covid regulations than its neighbors – The number of democracies has expanded in three waves 2) Theories – How can we explain this pattern? 3) Methods – How can we test these explanations? Is there a specific comparative method? -> Tutorial 6  Empirics: the three waves of democracy Global average polity score. Source: Gunitsky, S. (2014). From Shocks to Waves: Hegemonic Transitions and Democratization in the Twentieth Century. International Organization, 68(3), 561-597 7  Goal of this course Thinking about the consequences of whatever we study This is not a preparation exercise for a pub quiz (how many parties have seats in the Dutch parliament?) Instead, we want to understand how certain features of political systems affect outcomes that we care about. E.g.: Due to the very high number of parties in parliament, it takes extremly long to form governments in the Netherlands (disadvantage). At the same time, voters may feel better represented by the individual parties they have voted for, unlike in two-party-systems (advantage). 8  Implications for the course As a consequence, we will read research articles (which seek to argue a point) rather than textbook chapters (which provide a broad overview). The goal is to prepare you for developing your own arguments (rather than reproducing others‘). Still, for each session, there is a „background reading“ indicated in the syllabus. Almost all background readings (two exemptions) are taken from: D. Caramani (ed.). 2020: Comparative Politics. 5th edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press 9 A comparative perspective 10  2. Organisational Issues: Slides/Video I will make the slides for each session available on Moodle before the lecture. The lecture will be recorded and will be made available on Mediaserver. The tutorial will not be recorded. 11  Final grade The final grade will consist of two individual elements: 1. A written exam, written at the end of the semester (80%) 2. A take-home question that resembles an exam question, to be submitted after one session (20%) 12  The exam The exam will be 90 minutes. It will consist of 6 essay questions, of which you have to answer 4. Exam questions generally combine a knowledge dimension with an application or evaluation task. The exam will be closed book. 13  The exam Exam questions will be about the content of the lectures as well as about the readings and the content of the tutorials. This means that you should read the readings before the respective lecture, so that you have a chance to clarify open questions in the lecture. You can answer the exam questions in English or French. The take-home questions will give you examples over the course of the semester. 14  The take-home question A "practice" exam question that you can answer with more time and more reflection. Two Goals: 1. Gives us an indication of how well you understood the content of the lecture. 2. Gives you the chance to practice for the exam by answering and receiving feedback on a "real" exam question. Maximum length of 300 words. 15  The take-home question You sign up for the date of your take-home question via Moodle. Sign-up starts at 4pm today and ends Friday at noon. Take-home questions will be made availabe after each lecture and are due on Thursday at 23:59 after the respective lecture. You will receive a grade and a feedback before the next lecture. You may answer the take-home question in English or French. We will discuss the take-home question in the next session. 16  On the use of ChatGPT On most take-home questions, ChatGPT will be able to obtain a pretty good grade. However, if you let ChatGPT answer your question, you miss the chance to practice and to obtain meaningful feedback. Our advice: 1. Take 20 minutes and answer the question (real exam conditions). 2. Consult your lecture materials, edit/expand your answer. 3. (If anything, ask ChatGPT for language corrections/added suggestions) 17  2. Who we are 1) My background 2) Yours 18  3. Syllabus 1) Session 2-4: Regimes – The basic typology of comparative politics: democracy and autocracy 2) Session 5-9: Comparative institutions of democracy – A few typologies of democracy: types of government, of electoral systems, of veto players (federalism, constitutional courts…), of welfare states – One session on the American elections 3) Session 10-12: Actors – A few typologies of actors: types of parties, of interest groups, of politically relevant social groups 4) Session 13: Is democracy in crisis? 19  Tutorial Dominik Flügel and me Wednesday 16:15-17:45 Tutorial 1: 09.10./16.10./23.10./30.10 – Democratic Backsliding, Institutional Change, and Measurement of Democracy Tutorial 2: 20.11./27.11. – Challenges of Testing Theories Empirically: the Case of the Radical Right Tutorial 3: 04.12./11.12. – Climate Change 20  Tutorial Membership in the tutorial groups is based on the first letter of your surname. Group 1 (surname A-C), Uni-Mail M R060: 09.10.; 20.11.; 04.12. (with LH) Group 2 (surname D-I), Uni-Mail M 2150: 16.10.; 20.11. (with LH); 04.12. Group 3 (surname J-P), Uni-Mail M R060: 23.10.; 27.11.; 11.12. (with LH) Group 4 (surname Q-Z), Uni-Mail M 2150: 30.10.; 27.11. (with LH); 11.12. 21  Questions? We will have a 15 minutes break after 45 minutes. You can ask questions during the break and I will answer them after the break. Of course, you are more than welcome to ask a question at any time during the lecture! 22  4. Approaches in Comparative Politics As mentioned, we are interested in detecting empirical patterns and in explaining how these patterns come about and why they persist. 23  4. Explaining patterns Example questions 1) Why did Switzerland have less restrictive Covid regulations than other countries? 2) Why are taxes in some countries higher than in others? 24  Why did Switzerland have less restrictive Covid regulations than other countries? Hospitals in Switzerland were never overwhelmed, so there was just less need for stricter measures. Because the Swiss care more about individual freedoms and are less trusting of the state. This was a conflict Because of direct democracy. between the old and The government knew there the young. The Swiss would be referenda about their population is younger policies. than the German and Italian one. 25 Why did Switzerland have less restrictive Covid regulations than other countries? Functionalism Culturalism Structuralism Institutionalism 26  Functionalism Explaining an outcome with the purpose it fulfils: Strict rules are necessary when caseload is high or the health care system is not resilient. Evidence: Measures are strict in winter and lax in summer. Other examples: – The welfare state developed in response to the new challenges created by the industrial revolution. – Federalism developed in countries with relevant ethnic minorities. Theory of change – Political outcomes change when the underlying problems change. 27  Functionalism The poster child of functionalist explanations is evolutionary biology: – Why has the Giraffe such a long neck? Why has the Eagle such good eyes? Problem: What is the equivalent of mutation and selection in politics? Sometimes, evolution is plausible. E.g.: states in federalist countries as „laboratories of democracy“ -> trying new policies locally (mutation), then being copied by others (selection). Often, however, inefficient policies or institutions can survive for very long periods of time (e.g. due to the power of incumbents, the need for collective action, etc.). 28  Functionalism Social scientists often feel uneasy about functionalist explanations, because they are ultimately a-political. Who brings the change about? What is their motivation? Nevertheless, functionalist considerations impose important limits on politics: "Stein's law": "If something cannot go on forever, it will stop." 29  Culturalism Explaining an outcome with the norms and values of the citizens: The higher the population values individual freedom, the less strict the rules will be. Other examples: – The more individualist a country, the smaller the welfare state (contrast Sweden and US). – Protestantism led to the emergence of capitalism by generating „Calvinist“ values among its followers (Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism). Theory of change – Ideational change: if new values become dominant in society, political outcomes will change. 30  Culturalism Ronald Inglehart (1977): The Silent Revolution: Changing Values and Political Styles among Western Publics. Princeton. Basic argument: The postwar generation grew up in conditions of material security. This led them to develop different values than their parents: Stronger focus on “self-expression values” rather than “survival values”. 31 Culturalism 32  Culturalism Now it‘s your turn: Which two goals do you find most important? Maintain order in the country Give people more to say in important government decisions Fight raising prices Protect freedom of speech 33  Institutionalism Explaining an outcome with the rules governing the political process: The more power these rules give to the opponents of strict rules, the less strict the rules will be. Other examples: – „Duverger‘s law“: A majoritarian electoral system leads to two-party-systems (US, UK). – Because of unanimity rules, the EU is such a weak actors in international politics. Theory of change – „Punctuated equilibrium“: Institutions induce a lot of stability (Great Britain has had a dualism of Conservatives and Labour since the 1930s), interrupted by periods of rapid change (before WWI, it had a dualism of Conservatives and Liberals). 34  Institutionalism The traditional approach to comparative politics: – cataloguing political institutions (old institutionalism) – Using them to explain political outcomes (new institutionalism) Why do outcomes between countries differ? Because these countries govern their politics with different rules! Also very prominent in economics: „Governing the commons“ 35  The concept „institution“ Douglas North: "The rules of the game" Narrow concept of institution: formal rules, mainly those written down in constitutions – Electoral system, length of election periods, the rules for electing a prime minister… – But also: Traffic regulations, a currency… Wide concept of institutions: includes informal rules such as social norms – Many „rules“ of politics are informal: the „magic formula“ – But also: the handshake, tipping – Decisive: To be an institution in this sense, the informal rule needs to be sanctioned Attention: an „institution“ in this sense is not an „organization“ 36 Informal institutions 37  Structuralism Explaining an outcome with the political strength of different social groups: The bigger the group that supports strict rules, the stricter the rules will be Other examples: – The stronger the working class, the bigger the welfare state (contrast Sweden and US) – The stronger the middle class, the more likely democracy is to endure (Barrington Moore, 1966: „No bourgeois, no democracy“. Theory of change – Social and economic transformations: if the strength of certain groups changes, political outcomes will change 38  Structuralism „It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness.“ [Original: "Es ist nicht das Bewusstsein der Menschen, das ihr Sein, sondern umgekehrt ihr gesellschaftliches Sein, das ihr Bewusstsein bestimmt"] (Karl Marx, Kritik der politischen Ökonomie) 39 Structuralism 40 Structuralism 41  Structuralism Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Switzerland#/media/File:Karte_Religionen_der_Schweiz_2016.01.01.png 42  4. Homework Example questions 1) Why did Switzerland have less restrictive Covid regulations than other countries? 2) Why are taxes in some countries higher than in others? Come up with an example for each of the four types of explanations! -> Email one or several to [email protected] 43  What you should have learned today Content: What to expect from this class Concepts: How to identify and how to develop four different types of explanations 44  Reading for next week Adam Przeworski and F. Limongi. 1997. “Modernization: Theories and Facts.” World Politics 49, pp. 155-184. (You can ignore the appendix) This text is more than 25 years old. When discussing it, we are more interested in the concepts, and in the types of findings, than in the specific findings. When reading it, answer the following questions: - What type of explanation is investigated here? (structural/cultural/functional/institutional?) - What is the endogenous version of the link between prosperity and democracy? How does it come about? - What is the exogenous version? How does it come about? 45