Condensed COMPARITIVE POLITICS EXAM 1

More true to the professors wording

What is comparative politics?

The study of politics comparatively, focusing on political systems, institutions, behavior, and outcomes across cases.

What is the independent variable?

The presumed causal variable.

What is the dependent variable?

The variable being explained.

What is a hypothesis?

A testable expectation about a relationship between variables.

What is correlation?

A relationship between variables that does not by itself establish causation.

What is spurious causation?

An apparent causal relationship that is actually produced by another variable.

What is MSSD / Mill's Method of Difference?

Cases are similar but differ in the dependent variable.

What is MDSD / Mill's Method of Agreement?

Different cases have a common dependent variable and causal variables are compared.

What is a necessary condition?

A condition that must be present for an outcome to occur.

What is a sufficient condition?

A condition that is enough to produce an outcome.

What is internal validity?

The validity of a causal explanation within the cases being studied.

What is external validity?

The extent to which findings can be generalized beyond the cases studied.

What is probabilism?

The idea that causal explanations involve probability rather than certainty.

What is determinism?

The idea that causes produce outcomes with certainty.

What is path dependency?

The idea that historical developments constrain later possibilities.

What is a critical juncture?

A period when choices can significantly redirect later development.

What is counterfactual analysis?

Considering what might have happened if a particular event or condition had been different.

What is power?

A relationship involving the ability of one actor to affect another.

What is Lukes' first dimension of power?

Behavior, decision making, key issues, observable conflict, and policy preferences revealed through political participation.

What is Lukes' second dimension of power?

Mobilization of bias and the power to set agendas through exclusion and institutions.

What is Lukes' third dimension of power?

The power of ideas, norms, and values that shape behavior and what we do not question.

What are hidden transcripts?

Scott's concept concerning the private political expression and resistance of subordinate groups.

What is legitimacy?

The authority or "right to rule."

What are Weber's three types of legitimate authority?

Charismatic, traditional, and rational-bureaucratic.

What is traditional authority?

Authority based on established belief in the sanctity of immemorial traditions.

What is charismatic authority?

Authority based on devotion to an extraordinary leader's sanctity, heroism, or exemplary character.

What is rational-bureaucratic authority?

Authority based on formal rules and bureaucratic organization.

What is a government?

The people who actually run the organization of a nation-state.

What is a regime?

The formal and informal rules that determine how a government should behave.

What is a state?

The administrative and bureaucratic structure that administers a sovereign territory.

What is a nation?

People who see themselves united through ethno-cultural ties or broader ideas and claim a homeland.

What is popular sovereignty?

The idea that sovereignty comes from the consent of the people.

What is the difference between legal authority and capacity to rule?

Legal authority concerns the right to rule; capacity concerns the ability to actually exercise rule.

What is the collective action problem?

The challenge of getting individuals to participate in achieving a collective or social good.

What is Olson's roving bandit?

A violent actor who moves from place to place, pillaging and extracting resources.

What is Olson's stationary bandit?

A ruler who monopolizes and dominates a territory and regularly extracts through taxation.

Why does the stationary bandit provide public goods?

To allow society to generate greater economic growth and increase the resources available for extraction.

What is Olson's "grasping hand"?

The autocrat's incentive to extract the maximum possible surplus for personal purposes.

What is the "shadow of the future"?

The importance of long-term expectations for investment and commitment to an institutional arrangement.

What is Hume's argument about the social contract?

The historical record shows that consent has very seldom been the foundation of government; other foundations must also be admitted.

What is Bates primarily concerned with?

The political economy of development and the role of violence in shaping development and failure.

What is Bates' "domestication of violence"?

The process through which societies control violence for productive purposes.

What is the main connection between Olson and Bates?

Both emphasize violence, political order, economic development, and the incentives of rulers and society.

What is Mann's main argument about the state?

The state has an autonomous nature and develops from internal and external power relationships.

What is Mann's IEMP framework?

Ideological, Economic, Military, and Political sources of social power.

What is infrastructure power?

The capacity of the state to penetrate society and implement decisions.

What is despotic power?

The ability of state rulers to make decisions without extensive consultation with society.

What are key characteristics of the state in Mann's discussion?

Differentiated institutions and personnel, centrality, territorial boundaries, and a monopoly of authoritative rulemaking backed by physical force.

What is Tilly's central argument about state formation?

War made states, and states made war.

How did war contribute to state formation?

War encouraged extraction, taxation, military organization, and administrative development.

What is Spruyt's argument about the territorial state?

The state was not primordial or inevitable; different political organizations competed before the territorial state became dominant.

What is state formation?

The historical process through which states emerged from competition among different political organizations.

What is political economy?

The study of collective economic goals, conflicts over resources, and authoritative government action.

What is Adam Smith associated with?

Markets, specialization, self-interest, competition, and the invisible hand.

What is comparative advantage?

The economic principle associated with Ricardo that emphasizes specialization based on relative advantage.

What is a market failure?

A situation in which market outcomes do not produce efficient results.

What is fiscal policy?

Government decisions concerning taxation and spending.

What is monetary policy?

Policies concerning money and monetary conditions.

What are Liberal Market Economies?

Economies such as the US and England that are highly driven by the market.

What are Coordinated Market Economies?

Economies involving greater state intervention and non-market coordination.

Who are Hall and Soskice?

Scholars associated with the Varieties of Capitalism framework.

What is a welfare state?

A system involving government provision of welfare and social protection.

Who is Esping-Andersen?

A scholar associated with different welfare-state models.

What is globalization?

Increasing international flows and connections involving economies, societies, and states.

What is convergence?

The argument that globalization forces similar economic and social policies across countries.

What is divergence?

The argument that globalization produces winners and losers and that countries respond differently depending on their position in the international economy.

What is Lant Pritchett associated with?

"Divergence, big time!" and the argument that globalization does not produce uniform convergence.

What is Thomas Friedman's "Golden Straitjacket"?

The pressure globalization places on governments to adopt market-oriented policies.

What is Dani Rodrik's argument about globalization?

Globalization, sovereignty, and democracy are incompatible.

What is Niall Ferguson's argument about globalization?

Globalization is not historically permanent and can be reversed.

What does realism emphasize?

Power, material interests, competition, and anarchy.

What does liberalism emphasize?

Cooperation, institutions, and the possibility of mutual gains.

What does constructivism emphasize?

Ideas, norms, identity, and socially constructed political realities.

What does Marxism emphasize?

Class, economic structures, capital, and exploitation.

What does Popper argue about scientific theories?

The goal is falsification; theories should be vulnerable to being proven wrong.

What are KKV's key ideas?

Qualitative and quantitative approaches share a common system of logic; the goal is causal inference under uncertainty and procedures should be public.

Weber

→ legitimacy/authority → charismatic, traditional, rational-bureaucratic

Olson

→ collective action → roving bandit → stationary bandit → taxation/public goods

Bates

→ domestication of violence → development

Mann

→ autonomous state → IEMP → infrastructure/despotic power

Hume

→ social contract is historically uncommon

Tilly

War made states

Spruyt

territorial state was not inevitable

Popper

falsification

KKV

→ common system of logic → causal inference → public procedures

Lukes

→ 1st decision-making → 2nd agenda → 3rd ideas/norms

MSSD =

similar cases, different DV

MDSD =

different cases, common DV

Correlation ≠

causation

Probabilism ≠

determinism

Necessary ≠

sufficient