Comparative Politics Notes

Introduction

Comparative politics is the study and comparison of domestic politics across countries. It contrasts with international relations, which focuses on relations between countries.

Analytical concepts, methods, and ideals make up political science and comparative politics.

What Is Comparative Politics?

Politics is the struggle for power within a group to make decisions for the larger group. Power is the ability to influence others. Comparative politics compares the pursuit of power across countries to understand cause and effect.

The Comparative Method

Researchers use comparative methods to compare cases and draw conclusions. This involves:

Inductive Reasoning: Studying a case to generate a hypothesis.
Deductive Reasoning: Starting with a hypothesis and testing it against cases.

Comparativists face challenges:

Difficulty controlling variables.
Interactions between variables (multicausality).
Limits to information and information gathering.
Problem of bias.
Endogeneity (distinguishing cause and effect).

Can We Make a Science of Comparative Politics?

Political science has a long history. Aristotle used comparative research on political systems. Machiavelli analyzed political systems for statecraft.

Political science became a formal field, but was descriptive and focused on Europe. The two world wars and the Cold War pushed for more rigorous methods. Modernization theory emerged, positing that societies would become capitalist democracies.

Behavioralism shifted the focus to individual political behavior using quantitative methods, aiming for a "grand theory." By the late 1970s, enthusiasm waned as theories failed to match real-world politics.

Conflicts arose over methodology (qualitative vs. quantitative) and theory (rational choice vs. historical/cultural).

A Guiding Concept: Political Institutions

Institutions are organizations or activities that are self-perpetuating and valued for their own sake. They embody rules, norms, and values, shaping political life. Examples include baseball, democracy, the World Trade Center, taxation and the army.

Institutions can be formal (based on official rules) or informal (unwritten). They are difficult to change and can both enable and constrain political activity. The return to studying institutions combines the emphasis on cause-and-effect relationships with an understanding that institutions powerfully affect how politics functions.

A Guiding Ideal: Reconciling Freedom and Equality

Politics involves reconciling individual freedom (autonomy without restriction) and collective equality (shared material standard of living). This balance shapes politics and debates over justice.

States

This chapter discusses the origin, characteristics, and power of states.

Defining the State

The state is defined as:

An organization that maintains a monopoly of violence over a territory.
Having sovereignty (ability to carry out actions independently).
A set of political institutions that generate and carry out policies. States need power to enforce laws, protect rights, resolve disputes, and provide security. Armies and police forces are key institutions.

The state differs from:

Regime: Fundamental rules and norms of politics (democratic or nondemocratic).
Government: The leadership that runs the state.
Country: The combined political entities (state, regime, government) and the people.

The Origins of Political Organization

Before states, human organization was based on families and tribes. Agriculture led to complex systems, inequality, and concerns about freedom and equality. The state emerged alongside the city to address these questions.

Alternative views on the state's origins:

Hobbes: People voluntarily submit to authority for security.
Rousseau: The state corrupts noble savages and institutionalizes inequality.

Recent research suggests that states emerged out of violence and conquest, offering defense and order in exchange for control.

The Rise of the Modern State

The modern state emerged in Europe due to:

The collapse of the Roman Empire leading to a fragmented, competitive environment.
Constant warfare among rivals, generating rapid organizational evolution.
Economic development facilitated by respect for property rights.
Technological innovation encouraged by rulers seeking to expand their power.
Domestic stability increasing trade and infrastructure.

Modern states possess these advantages over alternative systems. European states began to rapidly accrue power, conquer rivals, and develop militaries. The signing of the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 further solidified the importance of state sovereignty. European states started to grow their powers beyond their own short, and acquired territories, using force. Today, modern states cover all areas of the globe.

Comparing State Power

States are compared based on:

Legitimacy

A value whereby something or someone is recognized and accepted as right and proper. Weber identified three types:

Traditional legitimacy: Based on the idea that someone or something is valid because "it has always been that way."
Charismatic legitimacy: Based on the power of ideas or beliefs embodied by a leader.
Rational-legal legitimacy: Based on a system of laws and procedures.

Centralization or Decentralization

Federalism: Powers devolved to regional bodies (taxation, la, securities).
Unitary states: Political power concentrated at the national level.
Devolution: The decentralization of power. A country's federal structure can be altered given that their individual needs aren't always addressed (Spain, Iraq, Nepal).

Power, Autonomy, and Capacity

Strong states: Able to fulfill basic tasks.
Weak states: Cannot execute tasks effectively.
Capacity: Ability to wield power to carry out basic tasks.
Autonomy: Ability to wield power independently of the public.

Nations and Society Notes

This chapter focuses on the ways that people identify themselves, how they're identified, both as individuals and as groups, and how these identifications relate to politics and the state. All concepts will be explored further below.

Ethnic Identity

Ethnic identity: A set of institutions that bind people together through a set of common culture, based upon language, religion, geographic location, customs, history, or other factors.

Ascriptive, people are born into it.
Not inherently political, usually cultural.
Defined by a community through shared characteristics.
Creates a sense of belonging and cohesion.

National Identity

National Identity: A set of institutions that bind people together through a set of common political aspirations, such as sovereignty. National identity is different from ethnic identity as it's inherently political.

Creates a sense of belonging and cohesion.
Often, but not always, develops from ethnic identities.
Basis for nationalism: Pride in one's people and belief in their political sovereignty (which often entails a desire in ones own nation).
Citizenship: An individual's or group's relation to the state. Citizens have duties/obligations, but also rights.