Comparative Politics Research Methods and Democracy: Key Concepts

Argument

Placement of evidence in a logical form in support of a position or claim

Case

In comparative analysis a unit or example of a phenomenon to be studied

Comparative checking

process of testing the conclusions from a set of comparisons against additional cases or evidence

Comparative politics

Subfield of political science that aims to analyze multiple cases using the comparative method

Concepts

Ideas comparativist use to think about the processes we study

Conceptualization

The deliberate process through which we create and select social scientific concepts

dependent variable

In hypothesis testing, the dependent variable is the effect or outcome that we expect to be acted on (or have its value altered) by the independent variable.

Empirical

drawn from observations of the world

Evidence

A set of facts or observations used to support a proposition or examine a hypothesis.

Generalizability

The quality that a given theory, hypothesis, or finding has of being applicable to a wide number of cases.

independent variable

In hypothesis testing, an independent variable is one that we expect to "act on" or change the value of the dependent variable.

Level of Analysis

The level (e.g., individual, organizational, societal) at which observations are made or at which causal processes operate. In international relations, the different levels that can be the context of a study, including the individual level, the nation-state level, and the level of the international system.

Most different systems (MDS) design

A research design in which we compare cases that differ with respect to multiple factors but in which the outcome is the same.

Most similar systems (MSS) design

A research design in which we compare cases that are similar with respect to a number of factors but have distinct outcomes.

normative

Concerned with specifying which sort of practice or institution is morally or ethically justified.

Operationalization

The process through which we make a concept measurable.

Outcome

Typically used as a synonym for effect, something that is produced or changed in any social or political process.

Sartori's ladder of abstraction

The idea that we can organize concepts on the basis of their specificity or generality.

Variables

Elements or factors that are likely to change, or vary, from case to case.

Variations

Differences between cases in any given study of comparative politics

Within case comparison

The comparative analysis of variation that takes place over time or in distinct parts of a single case.

Bias

A preference for one idea or perspective over another, especially a preference that may result in unbalanced use of evidence or in analytical error.

Causation

The property that obtains when one thing can be shown to cause another.

Correlation

A relationship between two variables in which they tend to move in either the same direction (positive correlation) or opposite directions (negative correlation).

Deductive reasoning

The process of moving from general claims or theories to specific observations or predictions about a phenomenon or set of cases.

Deviant cases (outliers)

Cases that do not fit the pattern predicted by a given theory; also known as negative cases.

Empirical critique

An effort to point to important evidence that does not support a conventional version of any given theory.

Endogeneity

The name given to any circumstance in which two variables exhibit mutual or reciprocal effects.

Falsifiability

The testability of a theory or hypothesis. A good hypothesis could be logically demonstrated to be false by evidence.

hypothesis

A specific prediction, derived from a theory, that can be tested against empirical evidence.

indicators

Elements or features that suggest the presence of an underlying factor.

Inductive reasoning

The process of moving from specific observations to general claims.

inferences

Conclusions based on evidence about cause and effect

Measurement bias

A measure is biased if it will not produce comparable results for all observations.

Measurement error

Either an episodic error, such as improperly recording data, or a systematic error, meaning that a measurement does not fully reflect what it is designed to measure.

Measurement Validity

Whether a given measure effectively captures or represents what we are researching.

Qualiitative

A form of analysis that aims to discern relationships between events or phenomena as described in narrative or otherwise non-numerical form, such as an account of a historical process or a description, based on careful observation, of how political practices work in a particular community.

Quantitative

A form of analysis that aims for the mathematical discernment of relationships between variables, typically involving a large number of cases or observations.

Scope Conditions

The conditions or range of cases for which an argument works.

Theoretical critique

An effort to show that a given theory has logical limitations

Theories

General sets of explanatory claims about some specifiable empirical range.

Thesis

A statement for which one argues on the basis of evidence

Civil rights

Rights of individuals to participate in civic life, including freedoms of assembly, speech, access to information, and equal access to institutions, among others

Constitutional Monarchy

A political system in which a monarch, such as a king, queen, or emperor, plays a role as a head of state but has powers limited by a constitution.

Constitutional republic

A polity without a monarch in which the basic rules of politics are laid out in a constitution.

Democracy

A form of regime associated with "rule by the people" that signifies rights and liberties for citizens, including political rights to participate in elections and civil liberties such as freedom of speech.

Democratic consolidation

The process through which a new democratic order becomes institutionalized and, therefore, more likely to endure.

Democratic regime

A regime with predominantly democratic institutions, including basic civil rights and regular, free elections.

Democratic Transition

The movement from an authoritarian regime to a democratic one.

Democratization

The process of a regime becoming more democratic, including both democratic transition and democratic consolidation.

Direct Democracy

A conception of democracy that places great emphasis on direct citizen involvement in politics, especially involving plebiscites and/or citizen assemblies.

Modernization theory

A theory that traces democracy to broad social changes, especially economic development and the changes that accompany it.

Multiparty Democracy

A democracy in which at least two parties compete for power.

Political rights

Rights of individuals to participate in political life, including the right to political speech, the right to vote, and the right to join political associations.

procedural definitions of democracy

Conceptions of democracy, contrasted with substantive definitions, that emphasize the minimal standards, procedures, or rules that a country should have in place to govern political life.

Programmatic Parties

Political parties characterized by having a coherent set of policy alternatives, which they use to appeal to citizens and gain their support.

Referendum

A popular vote on a specific issue.

Regime

A form or type of governmental system, with an emphasis on institutions and rules.

Regime Change

Any major change of regime type, including democratization, democratic breakdown, or certain types of authoritarian persistence in which one type of authoritarian regime gives way to another.

Regime type

The form of a political regime, such as democratic versus authoritarian, as well as subtypes, such as personalistic dictatorships or totalitarian regimes.

Representative democracy

A conception of democracy in which politicians and institutions are understood to represent the electorate, who nevertheless can constrain their behavior through periodic elections and other forms of participation.

substantive definitions of democracy

Conceptions of democracy, contrasted with procedural definitions, that view a polity's democratic status as dependent on the satisfaction of certain substantive ends, such as the extension of broad rights or the reduction of income inequality

Authoritarian Persistence

The ongoing continuation of an authoritarian regime, such that democratic transition does not take place.

Authoritarian Regime

Am non democratic regime

Authoritarianism

A form of government or regime that is non-democratic.

bureaucratic-authoritarian regime

A type of authoritarian regime, common in Latin America and elsewhere in the mid to late twentieth century, that was associated with control of the state more by a group of elites (often military) than by a single individual leader.

Collective Action

Action undertaken by individuals and groups to pursue their ends in formally or informally coordinated ways, often in pursuit of some common or public good, such as expanded civil rights or sustainable use of common resources.

Collective Action research program

The name given to the rational choice theory of contention associated with the work of Marc Lichbach.

Competitive Authoritarianism

A form of government or regime that allows some political competition, but not enough to qualify as fully democratic.

Delegative democracy

A hybrid form of regime that is democratic but involves the electorate "delegating" significant authority to a government and a weakened system of checks and balances.

Democratic breakdown

The process through which a democratic regime partially or completely loses its democratic status.

Electoral authoritarianism

A name applied to situations in which authoritarian regimes nominally compete in elections.

Hybrid Regime

A class of regime that appears to be neither fully democratic nor fully authoritarian, such as electoral authoritarianism, delegative democracy, and illiberal democracy.

illiberal democracy

A polity with some democratic features but in which political and civil rights are not all guaranteed or protected

Personalistic dictatorship

A form of authoritarianism in which the personality of the dictator is highlighted.

Theocracy

An authoritarian state controlled by religious leaders, or a state with very strict religious restrictions that uses religion as its main mode of legitimation.

Totalitarian Regime

A form of authoritarian regime that aims to control everything about the lives of its subject population, such as in the Soviet Union and in Germany under the Nazis.

Absolute deprivation

A condition of being deprived of resources below some given threshold, as distinguished from relative deprivation

anti-colonial revolutions

Revolutions brought by subjugated populations against colonial powers, typically with the purpose of removing them so that the society in question can achieve independence.

Civil wars

Sustained military conflict between domestic actors.

Class structure

The ongoing and patterned relationships between "classes," typically understood as groups of individuals linked together by economic interest or activity.

Collective Behavior

A paradigm for understanding various forms of contention, popular for part of the twentieth century, that emphasized the irrational, social-psychological dynamics of protest.

Contention

The name, most associated with scholars like Sidney Tarrow and Charles Tilly, referring to the pursuit of collective goods largely outside of formal political institutions.

coup d'état

The use of force or threat of force, typically by the military or a coalition involving the military, to impose a non-electoral change of government.

Everyday resistance

Efforts to resist or obstruct authority that are not clearly organized over time, such as work stoppages, slowdowns, and sabotage.

Formal Institutions

Institutions that are governed by formal rules and typically linked to complex organizations like the state or corporations.

Framing

The way in which a given problem or situation is described and understood, with implications for how it might be addressed.

Free rider

Someone who benefits from a collective or public good without contributing to it.

Guerrilla Tactics

Military techniques designed to produce ongoing stalemate, usually employed in situations of asymmetric military capability.

Individualization

The treatment of problems as linked to the interests of individuals rather than as issues of common concern or interest.

Insurgencies

contention with formalized military conflict

Iron law of oligarchy

The idea, developed by Robert Michels, that collective action always produces new elites.

Mobilization

The engagement of individuals and groups in sustained contention.

Organizing

The ongoing coordination of collective action in the pursuit of common purposes.

Political opportunities

The availability of political options to redress grievances

Political revolutions

Revolutions for which the main effect is to alter political institutions rather than social and economic structures.

Relative deprivation

The state of having or feeling that one has less than other members of one's reference group (including one's own group over time).

Revolutions

A form of collective action in which some large-scale, structural change is either attempted or accomplished.

Social movement organization

An organization that has been created to help maintain and lead social movement activity over time.

Social Movements

Ongoing, organized collective action oriented toward a goal of social change.