Comparative Political Analysis PDF

9/9 Comparative political analysis is different in that I use systematic procedures. - - **Dependent variables** - **Independent variables** - **Operationalization** - **Controls** - Polio outbreaks \ Ice cream consumption??? Cat ownership \ suicide??? There's correlati...

9/9 Comparative political analysis is different in that I use systematic procedures. - - **Dependent variables** - **Independent variables** - **Operationalization** - **Controls** - Polio outbreaks \ Ice cream consumption??? Cat ownership \ suicide??? There's correlation, but not actual causation. **Does gender equality help girls do better in school?** *Problem:* Comparisons of girls and boys in different countries who took the same math test found that girls on average had lower scores than boys? Why? Socialization? *Methods and Hypothesis:* recent study uses comparative analysis of forty countries to answer whether sexist expectations influence girl's performance. - - *Operationalizing concepts:* define what it means to be better at math and gender equality. "Be better at math": results of a math test administered to fifteen year olds in forty countries in 2003. "Gender equality": World Economic Forum's gender gap index. *Results:* Confirmed hypothesis - - *Question:* why do you think this is so? Research methods - - - - - - 9/11 **Visions of the Good society** There are certain examples upon which we can all agree are not good societies - - - - *What standard is appropriate to measure in which is a good society?* - - *What general criteria can we use to determine what are good societies?* What is the merit of using **wealth** as a criterion[(Lichtenstein \ Democratic Republic of Congo)]? - - - What is the merit of using **happiness**(GDH per capita) as criterion? - - - - - *What standard is appropriate to measure in which is good society?* - - - infant mortality rates. \>Why developing countries have high infant mortality rates? \> large family? - homocide(he crime of killing a person) rates - literacy rates - - index of democracy 9/13 **The State** 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre Second Amendment A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Parable of the Forest Short run: Success (Increased Timber yields) Long run: Failure (Complex ecology destroyed) States have certain interests, such as raising revenue. States attempt to tame chaos in order to pursue those interests The state's efforts to plan, coordinate, and administer permits societies to achieve things they could not have done otherwise. - But in some cases, their efforts can sometimes create negatives as well. - Institutions - - - - - Institutions exert power. - -