Purpose of Comparison

• The purpose of comparison is to identify social and political problems, and to be able to recommend a course of policy action or reform to best address those problems.

  • This is only possible in the context of comparison.

• Comparisons will involve both:

  • Empirical statements—in which we simply compare data, making a statement that can be measured and proven true

  • Normative statements—which assert a particular norm or goal that a policy should move toward

Systems Theory

• A political system is a complex organism, and it is important for students in Comparative Government to remember that the institutions of the state (such as a parliament or a president) are not the only significant actors.

• a holistic view of a political system that seeks to explain how public policy decisions are demanded, made, implemented, and altered

  • There are regular citizens with opinions.

  • There are media commentators and writers.

  • There are interest groups with a vested interest in the policy in question.

• Political culture is deeply rooted in society.

  • It is difficult to change, and it establishes most of the rules that define how politics will work.

  • Political culture: norms, values, and expectations held by the public and elites about how the competition for and the wielding of political power should function

• The “environment” would include the political culture of the society, meaning the basic norms and expectations people have with regard to how politics works.

• Environment in political systems theory, the political culture and expectations of elites and non-elites that surround the functioning of political institutions

• Feedback in political systems theory, the reactions to a public policy by citizens, the media, interest groups, and other actors outside of the state

• Inputs are demands—made most commonly by political parties and interest groups, but also potentially by other citizen social movements and civil society groups—regarding policies they would like to see from the political system.

• Inputs in political systems theory, the demands and expressions of support that individuals and groups make to political institutions

• Outputs in political systems theory, the policy decisions made by the state in response to the inputs.

• Political parties organizations of individuals seeking to win control of government and wield political power by running candidates for office and winning elections or otherwise, depending on the rules of the political system

• Interest groups organizations of individuals with a common public policy goal working to influence public policy in favor of that goal

• Linkage institutions connect people to policymaking.

  • Linkage institutions include elections, political parties, interest groups, and the media.

• State institutions formally make and enforce the policies.

  • These include branches of government, such as a legislature, an executive, or a judiciary, but often also include other elements of the state, such as the bureaucracy or the military.

Social Science

• Social sciences such as comparative government and politics largely involve the use of data in their study and comparison of countries.

• Causation when evaluating the relationship of two variables, the evidentiary indication that changes to the independent variable cause statistically significant changes to the dependent variable

• Correlation when evaluating the relationship of two variables, the evidentiary indication that changes in one of the variables corresponds closely to changes in the other variable, though there is not necessarily enough evidence to indicate which is the cause of which