Comparative Politics Day 1:

What subfield of political science does Comparative Politics belong to?

It focuses on making generalizable statements about important phenomena through deep contextual knowledge of specific cases.

What does Comparative Politics aim to explain?

Patterns across nations and over time regarding regime types such as democracy, autocracy, and intermediate forms.

What is V-Dem.net?

It analyzes global regime types and codes countries based on criteria like free elections and rule of law to define liberal democracy.

Name one observed pattern in Comparative Politics regarding democracy.

Wealthier countries tend to be more democratic.

Economic development and culture

List two possible factors explaining regime type in Comparative Politics.

They are deep dives into specific, interesting cases to understand political phenomena.

What are case studies in Comparative Politics used for?

What is the Method of Difference in Comparative Politics?

It involves selecting countries with different outcomes despite many similarities.

How did Ancient Greece contribute to Comparative Politics?

Aristotle analyzed 158 Greek city-states as the first practitioner of empirical comparative politics.

What major global context influenced the emergence of Comparative Politics after World War II?

The Cold War context, including the clash between capitalism and communism.

Why is there a challenge in establishing causation in Comparative Politics?

The ethical and practical constraints make it impossible to randomly assign regime types or economic conditions at the country level.

What is a major pitfall when analyzing data in Comparative Politics?

Confusing correlation with causation.

What do outliers like India or China contribute to studies in Comparative Politics?

They help refine theories and understand specific contexts or alternative causal pathways.

What are the limits of the Comparative Method?

It cannot fully control for all differences between cases and has a relatively small number of cases.

What does establishing causation require in Comparative Politics?

A logical theoretical relationship, identification of causal mechanisms, and observation of processes over time.

What is the primary objective of Comparative Politics?

To develop general theories and explanations for political phenomena by examining and comparing political systems across different countries and time periods.

Besides regime types, what other political phenomena does Comparative Politics often aim to explain?

It seeks to explain patterns in areas like political conflict, economic development, institutional design, and political behavior across nations.

How does V-Dem.net define 'liberal democracy' by coding countries?

It assesses countries based on various criteria, including the fairness of elections, protection of civil liberties, adherence to the rule of law, and the presence of democratic institutions.

What is the 'Method of Agreement' in Comparative Politics?

It's a comparative method that involves selecting cases (countries) that have similar outcomes despite having many different antecedent conditions, in an attempt to identify common factors that might be causal.

How did the Cold War particularly influence the development of Comparative Politics?

It spurred research into why some countries adopted capitalism and democracy, while others embraced communism and authoritarianism, leading to a focus on regime change, modernization theory, and political development.