Comparative Politics

What are inclusive institutions?

Institutions that apply impartial rules equally, protect property rights, encourage cooperation, and enable broad participation in political and economic life.

What are extractive institutions?

Institutions that concentrate power in the hands of elites and allow resources to be extracted for private benefit.

what do inclusive institutions produce?

Public goods and long-term prosperity.

Are inclusive institutions about redistribution?

No. They are about fair rules, not equal outcomes.

What is a private good?

A good that is rival and excludable.

Give examples of private goods.

Food, clothes, phones, shoes.

What is a public good?

A good that is non-rival and non-excludable.

Give examples of public goods from the slides.

Rule of law, public security, courts, national defense, clean air.

What are common goods (commons)?

Goods that are rival but non-excludable.

Give examples of common goods.

Fisheries, forests, pastures, water basins.

What are club goods?

Goods that are non-rival but excludable.

Are education and healthcare pure public goods?

No. They are mixed goods.

What is external sovereignty of the state?

International recognition of a state and control over its territory and borders.

Give examples of external sovereignty.

UN membership, recognized borders, diplomatic relations.

What is state autonomy?

The capacity of the state to act independently from private interests such as oligarchs, clans, or criminal networks.

Can a state be sovereign but not autonomous?

Yes

Can a state be autonomous without sovereignty (according to slides)?

No

Why is state autonomy important?

It allows the state to provide public goods impartially.

What is an electoral system?

The rules that determine how votes are translated into seats.

What is a majoritarian electoral system?

A system where the candidate or party with the most votes wins the seat, and other votes are not represented.

What is a proportional electoral system (PR)?

A system where seats are allocated in proportion to the votes received.

What is a mixed electoral system?

A system combining majoritarian and proportional elements.

What is consociationalism?

A system of group-based power sharing using quotas, vetoes, and guaranteed representation.

Which countries are examples of consociational systems on the slides?

Bosnia and Lebanon.

What is centripetalism?

An electoral system designed to encourage politicians to appeal across groups and moderate positions.

What is rule of law (thin)?

The existence of laws applied formally.

What is rule of law (thick)?

Equality before the law, constraints on power, and independent courts.

Is rule of law the same as rule by law?

No

Q: How do the slides define corruption?

A: The abuse of public authority to divert public resources meant for universal use toward particular private interests.

Q: Is corruption only about bribes?

A: No. It includes favoritism and clientelism.

Q: According to the slides, corruption is best understood as what?

A: A collective action problem / equilibrium.

Q: What characterizes a good (Weberian) bureaucracy?

A: Merit-based recruitment, fixed salaries, career paths, autonomy from politics.

Q: What characterizes a bad bureaucracy?

A: Clientelism, political appointments, rent-seeking.

Q: According to Evans & Rauch, what does a merit-based bureaucracy promote?

A: Economic growth and public goods.

Q: Why are public goods often undersupplied?

A: Free-rider problems and collective action failures.

Q: What is the tragedy of the commons?

A: Overuse of common resources due to lack of exclusion.

Q: How can civil society help provide public goods?

A: Monitoring, coalition-building, pressuring government, solving collective action problems.

Q: Is civil society always good?

A: No. It can also be clientelist or predatory.

Q: What is ethical universalism?

Q: What is ethical universalism?

A: The principle that all citizens are treated equally and impartially by the state.

Q: What is the opposite of ethical universalism?

A: Particularism / favoritism / clientelism.

Q: What are Dahl’s two dimensions of democracy?

A: Participation and contestation.

Q: What is an illiberal democracy?

A: A system with elections but weak protection of rights and liberties.

Q: What is prosperity according to the Legatum definition used in the slides?

A life free from poverty, with health, education, inclusion, and a strong social contract.

MC trap: Prosperity ≠ GDP only ❌

Q: Denmark illustrates what concept?

A: Ethical universalism and low corruption.

Q: Bosnia illustrates what problem?

A: Consociational paralysis.

Q: Rwanda illustrates what?

A: High state capacity with low pluralism.

Q: Georgia illustrates what reform?

A: Administrative simplification.

Q: Why is GDP per capita an insufficient measure of success?

A: Because it ignores inequality and public goods provision.

Slides explicitly criticize GDP as a proxy.

Q: What is a proxy?

A: An indicator that approximates a concept that cannot be directly measured.

Q: Why do we use proxies in comparative politics?

A: Because many core concepts (governance, corruption, democracy) are complex and unobservable directly.

Q: Why is GDP per capita a problematic proxy for public goods?

A: It mixes outcomes and ignores distribution and institutions.

can democracy alone guarantee public goods?

A: No.

Explanation:

Democracy without state capacity may fail to deliver.

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Q: What is the path dependence hypothesis?

A: The idea that initial conditions (geography, resources) determine long-term outcomes.

Q: What is the main criticism of strict path dependence?

A: It implies destiny and ignores human agency and institutions.

Q: What is the geography hypothesis?

A: The idea that climate, disease, or resources explain prosperity differences.

Q: What is the culture hypothesis?

A: The idea that inherited values or norms explain development outcomes.

Q: What are extractive institutions?

A: Institutions that concentrate power and allow elites to extract resources.

Q: According to the slides, what comes first: economics or politics?

A: Politics (institutions) come first.

Q: What does the Switzerland case illustrate?

A: That path dependence is not destiny and institutions can evolve.

what does a state need in order to work?

Territory, clear borders, and a single political community.

Q: What is ethical universalism?

A: The principle that the state treats all citizens equally and impartially.

Q: What is ethnic particularism?

A: A system where rights and treatment depend on group membership.

Q: What are the three pillars of the modern state according to the slides?

A: Rule of law, citizenship, and secularism.

Q: What does secularism mean in the slide context?

A: Religion is confined to the private realm to preserve state impartiality.

Q: What is liberal nationalism?

A: A model where the individual is the basis of political organization and rights are universal.

Group rights are not formally recognized.

Q: What is multiculturalism?

A: A model where political organization is based on groups and collective rights.

Q: Which electoral system is typically associated with multiculturalism?

A: Proportional representation.

What is a political regime?

The set of rules that determine who holds political power and how it is exercised.

Explanation:

Regime ≠ government. Governments change; regimes define the rules of power.

Q: According to Linz & Stepan, what defines a democracy?

Power pluralism and competitive selection of leaders.

Q: Why are elections necessary but not sufficient for democracy?

A: Because rights, freedoms, and accountability may be missing.

This is known as the fallacy of electoralism.

Q: What is the fallacy of electoralism (Terry Karl)?

A: The belief that elections alone make a system democratic.

Q: What are the key institutional guarantees of democracy (Dahl)?

• Free and fair elections

• Freedom of expression

• Alternative sources of information

• Associational autonomy

Q: What is an illiberal democracy?

A: A system with elections but weak protection of rights and liberties.

Hungary

Q: What does the Hungary case illustrate?

A: Democratic backsliding through legal and electoral manipulation.

Q: What does modernization theory (Lipset) claim?

A: Economic development increases the likelihood of democracy.