Comparative Politics Midterm

Comparative Politics

A subfield of study within political science that seeks to advance understanding of political structures from around the world in an organized, methodological ,and clear way.

Why Do We Study Comparative Politics?

Creates understanding of longer-term causes of political changes and continuities within nations. To compare the past and present (learn from the past and how to correct any mistakes).

Political Science Subfields

• International Relations 

• Black Politics 

• Political Philosophy 

• Research Methods and Models

• Political Economy

• Public Policy

• Political Psychology

• Political Communication

• American Politics/ National Governments

State (Weber)

Political communities that successfully claim a monopoly on the legitimate use of force within a given territory (e.g., the only one that can declare war).

Features of a State

• A defined territory

• Sovereignty (supreme authority within a state’s territory)

• A government

• International recognition 

• A population

Functions of a State

• Security

• Providing/maintaining infrastructure

• Provision of economic opportunities (e.g., trade)

• Provision of educational opportunities

• Providing access to healthcare

• Providing social security to citizens

Nation

A population of people with common culture, history, language, and ancestry within a designated region or territory.

Nation-State

A sovereign state whose citizens are relatively homogeneous in factors such as nation or common descent.

How States Form (Tilly, 1985)

•  Believes war was a central factor in the development of the modern territorial state in Western Europe.

• Governments sell protection to their citizens against external and internal threats (making it a racket).

• This is accepted compared to criminal organizations because other authorities legitimize a state’s use of force.

• States do 4 things: war-making (external rivals), state-making (internal rivals), protection, and extraction (acquiring goods, capital, labor to carry out the other three).

How States Form (Abramson 2017)

• Believes large territorial states emerged due to variations in patterns of economic development and urban growth.

• Found that small political groups and city-states continued to thrive long after modern war tactics started.

 

• Patterns of local wealth and city growth created different state sizes (having good wealth meant hiring private armies and matching the military power of giant kingdoms).

• Rising urban centers explain the creation of small independent states and massive countries.

• Distinctions between states and non-states: direct military occupation (once occupied by a foreign power, sovereignty is gone), capacity to tax, and a common executive. 

Other International Actors

• MNCs (e.g., banks, Shell)

• IGOs ( e.g., UN, EU)

• NGOs (Red Cross, Amnesty International)

• Terrorist Organizations (ISIS, al-Qaeda)

Government

An organization of individuals authorized by formal documents, making binding decisions on behalf of a particular community (external decisions: war, trade, border control vs. internal decisions: taxation, education, health/welfare). 

Economic Role of Government

• Promote economic efficiency and growth.

• Fair redistribution of income through taxation (earn less = pay less taxes).

• Strengthen economic institutions of the state.

• Provide a generous social security system and an egalitarian society.

Economic Systems

The ways humans allocate and produce resources.

Types of Economic Systems

• Traditional (based on customs, needs, and resources. Exp: bartering. Existed before modern market economies).

• Planned/Command (has a centralized authority. Exp: socialism, communism).

• Pure/Capitalist (when private interests primarily run the economy).

• Mixed (run by a combination of government and private citizens. Exp: U.S; leans towards capitalism, with hints of gov intervention. Most common economies are like this).

How Is Economic Success (for a country) Measured?

• how rapidly the economy grows- GDP

• how equitably economic growth is distributed

• the quality of life for citizens

• relationship between economic growth and environmental stability

Why Has Africa Grown So Slowly?

•  An article written by Collar and Gunning in 1999.

• 1960-1969 is known as the ‘Independence Decade’ of Africa.

• While Africa’s future looked bright in the 1960s, the 70s marked the beginning of political and economic deterioration.

• Collar and Gunning believe Africa will grow with better policies, improvements in terms of trade, investment in the continent, and international efforts to make its environment more favorable (e.g., research to eradicate tropical diseases).

External Factors of Slow Growth

• External density- cost of transporting from Africa, aid flow, tariffs, trade restrictions.

• External policy- higher trade barriers, misaligned exchange rates, tariffs (terms of trade and the policies imposed by institutions like Bretton Woods- the World Bank, IMF).

Domestic Factors of Slow Growth

• Domestic factors: curse of the tropics (low life expectancy, adverse climate, poor health, unreliable rainfall), ethnic diversity, poor service delivery. 

• Domestic density- geographic and demographic explanation

• Domestic policy- ineffective leadership

Bates Market States Book

• Research focuses on the political economy of development, particularly in Africa. Also state failure in Africa.

• Leading proponent of the rational choice theory. 

• Initially wrote book in 1981 (a new chapter added in 2014).

States Studies by Bates

Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Zambia

Bates Central Argument

 The economic development of Africa has come from government efforts to shift from agriculture to industrialization at the expense of rural producers. This has created a system of subjugation and coercion to pursue that goal, and has been influenced by personal motives to serve the interests of elites.  To further promote industry, the government imposes taxes on agriculture yet also shelters industries, which generates economic benefit for the elites.

Reasons for Government Intervention (in the economy)

• Public purpose (extracting resources to build a modern economy). Taking resources from the agricultural sector and uses it to develop the industrial sector.

• Personal motives (securing advantages, appeasing power politics, forced, enhancing capacity of political regimes).

Democracy

A government system in which supreme power is vested in the people. Comes from the Greek word ‘dēmokratiā ’, where ‘demos’ means people and ‘kratos’ means power.

Features of Democratic States

• All adults have the right to express their views and shape the behavior of public officials.

• The central component of participation is the right to cast ballots in regularly scheduled and fair elections. Reg schedule refers to having a set midterm for example.

• Participation also includes the freedom to publicize anti-government views and to assemble in public/private spaces.

Free Elections

When citizens are able to vote for the candidate of their choice. All citizens who meet voting requirements are not prevented from participating.

Fair Elections

When all votes carry equal weight, are counted accurately, and results are accepted by parties.

Democratization

The shift from non-democratic to democratic forms of government

Top-Down Democratization

 Introduction of reforms (by elites) → more reform → democratization!

Bottom-Up Democratization

Popular uprising → overthrowing of an authoritarian regime → democratization!

First Wave of Democratization

• 1826-1926

• Also known as the ‘slow wave’

• Had its roots in the French Revolution (1789) and the American Revolution

• Accompanied by the expansion of suffrage (principally in Western Europe and the U.S.)

• The reverse wave occurred from 1922 to 1942 (receded in the 1930s with the rise of fascism and military coups)

Second Wave of Democratization

• 1943-1962

• Occurred through the occupation of Axis countries (Italy, Japan, Germany) by the Allied powers (U.S., France, GB) post WWII.

• Marked by attempts at democratization in now-independent ex-British colonies and the spread of democracy in Latin America.

• The reverse wave occurred in the 1958-1975 came with military rule in much of Latin America. Also saw a collapse of young democracies in Asia and Africa.

The Third Wave of Democratization

• 1974-1990s

• Began with the overthrow of the military regime in Portugal.

• The following 25 years saw a dramatic expansion of democracy.

• First through Southern Europe and Latin America, then Eastern Europe and Asia, and finally to Africa.

• Most analysts agree that the third wave has crested, if not reversed.

Guiding Principles of the American System

• Federalism

• Separation of powers/checks and balances

• Popular sovereignty 

• Limited government

Basic Facts About the Constitution

• The U.S. became the first presidential republic when the Constitution was ratified in 1788.

• The 27th Amendment was ratified in 1992.

• The Constitution only has 4,400 words.

• James Madison and George Washington are the only two men who signed the Constitution and went on to become President of the U.S.

• Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution.

Facts About Mexico

• Has 31 states

• Sexenio; the six-year term in office for Mexican presidents, governors, and senators (no reelection).

• The legislative branch is also called Congress (Congress of the Union).

• Passed a law allowing dual citizenship in 1996.

• In 2005, Mexico passed a law allowing registered Mexican voters living abroad to vote in federal elections.

• Currently has a woman president since 2024 (Claudia Sheinbaum).

Facts About South Africa

• Has 9 regions.

• Executive serves two five-year terms.

• Apartheid refers to the white minority’s rule over the Black majority (officially began in 1948, officially ended in 1991).

• Apartheid was very discriminatory (could be likened to Jim Crow in the U.S.).

• Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990 (after 27 years) and won the Nobel Peace Prize three years later (1993).

• Nelson Mandela became president of SA in 1994. Mandela passed in 2013.

President’s Rule (India)

A clause in the Indian Constitution authorizes the national government to suspend an elected state government and administer the state’s affairs from Delhi (India’s capital). Happens if the state government is unable to function in a stable manner (i.e., a state of emergency).

Typology

A method of classifying by using criteria that assign cases to categories whose members share characteristics.