Chapter 1 Comparative Government

1.1 - All about Comparative

  • Comparative Politics: Study of similarities and differences(compare) between states and government system operations and the cause of political changes

  • Compare political phenomenon in various places and times

  • Mainly about power and decisions within countries (not with each other)

  • Can’t be a pure science

1.2 - Thinking Like a Political Scientist

  • Not like normal scientists when conducting experiments

    • Think about changes going on and modify behavior accordingly but gov. Isn’t lab rat

    • Experiments are rather systematic research that reaches conclusions

  • Can predict voter behavior and turnout

  • Comparative Method: Examine same phenomenon in several cases and reach conclusions from each case

  • Causation v. Correlation:

    • Causation: change in one variable leads to change in another variable

      • Hard to prove because events are usually result of multiple factors as nothing acts according to scientific rules

    • Correlation: apparent connection between variables

      • positive correlation -> two variables move in same direction

      • Inverse correlation -> one variable increases and other decreases

      • Two variables correlate with a third but no connection between first two

        • Fire and ice cream increase in July because of weather (both correlate with July but not with each other)

  • Empirical Statement: assertion that’s a fact that can be proven

    • Usually based on data

    • What actually occurs

  • Normative Statement: value judgment

    • What should occur

  • Quantitative data: observations made using stats

    • Numbers based

  • Qualitative data: text-based descriptions

    • Words based

  • Need to source analysis: ability to read and analyze texts

1.3 - Comparing Economic Development

  • Human Development Index: aggregate measure of life expectancy, education, and per capita income

    • Categorized from very high to low development and are ranked from 1-189

      • Criticized of equal weighting

    • Development: becoming like the Western world

      • Economically: urbanize  and industrialize 

        • Ie. China

      • Poli sci says economic growth isn’t direct development

        • Focus on poorest of the poor in terms of development

    • Amartya Sen: goal of development should be enhancing capabilities of each person to lead fulfilling lives 

      • Healthy, educated, and free (emphasis on free)

        • No gender norms

        • Live in democracy

      • Basis of HDI

  • GDP: represent total value of goods and services produced in a country per year; comprehensive measure

    • Indicator of country’s economic health

      • Critics because doesn’t account for population or black market

    • GDP per capita: 

      • GDP/population

      • Better comparison but it’s average not distribution(so doesn’t capture most citizens)

    • GDP growth rate

      • Measure how much GDP has grown over time

  • Gini Index:

    • Measures income inequality

      • Supports notion rich stay rich and poor stay poor

      • Higher the score the bigger the gap

        • Leads to civil unrest

      • If all equal could mean all poor so not always good

  • As economy improves everyone improves so rich stay rich and poor stay poor

1..4 - Comparing Political Development

  • Freedom House: NGO that advocates for human rights and democracy and measures freedom around the world

    • Studies -> policy recommendations

    • hold s gov. Accountability

    • Freedom house scores: classified as free, partially free, and not free

      • Based on political rights and civil liberties

        • Political rights(up to 40): free and fair elections, pluralism, and participation

        • Civil Liberties(up to 60): freedom of expression, belief, association, rule of law, and individual rights and autonomy

      • Can score negative

    • Critics say you can’t number freedom

  • Democratic Consolidation: regime developed stable democratic institution with a lot of civil liberties and won’t go back

    • Democracy is widely accepted by citizens and gov

  • Transparency International: NGO that reduces corruption by advocating for transparency and accountability

    • Corruption: abuse of official power for personal benefit

      • Grand Corruption: at the highest level of society and causes significant harm but bc elite no punishment 

      • Petty Corruption: everyday abuse of power by gov. In interactions with citizens

      • Hinders democracy as it overrides rule of law and harms trust

  • Corruption Perception Index: measure corruption in a system 

    • Measures people’s encounters with corruption

    • 0-100 (100 is clean)

  • Fragile State Index: highlight countries in imminent danger of failure (high scores are bad)

    • Based on social indicators, economic indicators, political indicators, and cohesion indicators (military, police, leadership, groups)

    • Strong state: provides necessary gov. Services

    • Weak state: distributes certain necessities but not well

      • Easy to replace by local strongmen, church, ngo, or cartel

    • Failed state: weake state that loses control

      • Gov. collapse

      • Lacks resources for basic needs citizens support is gone

        • Lack of resources leads to little pay

          • Leads to corruption

    • Steps to Strengthen State:

      • Diverse economy

      • Improve infrastructure

      • Improve education 

      • Protect environment

      • Enhance democracy

      • Prevent overpopulation

      • Help refugees

    • Critics: vague and can’t predict when collapse will occur