Source: O’Neill Essentials of Comparative Politics– Ch. 1 Notes

• A. 20 years of change• Rise of Asia• Wealth is shifting around the world--enriching

some, bypassing others• Collapse of Communism---- Spread of

Democracy• Globalization• New technology-- Internet and WWW• Cell phones, I-Net--instant

communication-- attractive but also threatening, technology can be used against us (9/11)

• War on Terror 

B. Questions to Consider --• Will change bring about greater

understanding and community or greater inequality and conflict?

C. Will the sovereignty of individual states disappear into political conglomerates like the EU?

• Harmony-- prosperity-- peace? OR • Backlash against homogenization--ethnic

conflict, international terrorism, public demonstrations @ WTO and EU

D. Comp Politics will give us the vocabulary and the tools to make sense of change and enable us to understand implications and draw our own conclusions

• A. First define politics: struggle for influence resulting in discretion to make decisions for a group--"leadership"

• Comparative politics: comparing struggle across countries to discern:

• why some countries are democratic-- others not?

• why power is spread among people -- or concentrated w/in a few?

• whether these traits are determined by culture or economics?

• whether any one system is superior?

Comparative method: compare two or more countries to make generalizations about politics that could be valid in other cases

look for patterns and similarities to find "correlation" between variables (ex. high rates of poverty/less likely democracies)

 

• 1 CAUTION--CORRELATION IS NOT CAUSATION• causation difficult to prove-- can't control

variables (countries too diverse)• #2 LIMITED NUMBER OF CASES (less than 200

countries)-- limited time (most democracies are <50 years old--not enough data for valid conclusions

•  • #3 SIGNIFICANT BARRIERS TO FIELD WORK --

language, access to information-- restricted, incomplete or distorted to serve political agenda. Most comparativists only master knowledge of a single country.

•  

• Some comparativists use quantitative method--gathering statistical data across a large # of countries to look for correlations and test hypothesis re: cause and effect

•  • Benefits: conclusions expressed in

numbers-- lots of data and easy to control variables-- issues like inflation, population growth, election results

• Emphasis-- wide-- not deep

• Criticism: quantitative conclusions like those in natural sciences are impossible 

• Other comparativists use qualitative method-- mastering a limited number of cases through detailed study of history, language and culture

 • Benefits: focus on unique aspects of

countries -- history and culture-- to get a true understanding

 • Criticism: qualitative method limited to

description and storytelling-- not valid for explanation or prediction 

D. Response to limits: Use both-- Rationale: -- We ignore the outside

world at our peril-- ex. 9/11 Rationale:--Comparative politics will

enable us to make more informed political choices about our own lives and the positive influence we can exert as active citizens.

• A. THE BIG GUNS--• Aristotle--Separates politics from

philosophy-- compared different Greek city-states--different forms-- strengths and weaknesses

• Machiavelli--The Prince-- analyzed different political systems-- tried to predict success/failure based on mechanics of gov, diplomacy, military strategy and power. "Ideals have no place in politics". 

• Hobbes--Leviathian--originated idea of social contract-- man surrenders liberty in exchange for order-- advocate of strong state

• Locke--Two Treatises--Private property is essential to freedom and prosperity-- advocated for --strictly controlled weaker state

• Rousseau--Social Contract-- unalienable rights that no government may take away-- development of civil rights

• Montesquieu--governmental systems-- separation of powers by function to prevent tyranny

Karl Marx--Das Kapital--focus on economic development and inequality-- predicted collapse of capitalism and democracy

Max Weber--focus on impact of culture on political development-- and authority of bureaucracy

 

Early twentieth century-- comparative politics-- limited and ethnocentric-- descriptions of countries and institutions-- no explanation or prediction

• Post WWII-- Comparative politics must become a true science-- technology will transform economics, society and politics for the better. Two superpowers in the world-- Western Political Scientists see their role to strengthen capitalist democracy around the world.

• Modernization theory-- set of hypothesis about how countries develop-- as societies become "more developed" they will become capitalist democracies-- sharing a common set of values and characteristics

 • 50's -- 60's Behavioral Revolution-- A way

to approach politics shift from institutions to study of political behavior of individuals-- quantitative methodology.

 • Late 60's -- Crash of Modernization

Theory-- historical events contradicted predictions and explanations-- many new democracies collapsed and were replaced by nondemocratic systems. 

• Critics cited work as serving foreign policy of a developed world

70's --80's -- Comparative politics divided by debates about methodology and bias

• Rapid industrialization of Asia--Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and China mass produce sophisticated products for export-- tripled standard of living for millions

• Possible explanations: • "Asian cultural values"?• New trade policies?• Nondemocratic governments-- harsh

sacrifices by majority of populations?

• Collapse of Communism--80's reforms of Gorbachev intended to liberalize communism resulted in revolt in Eastern Europe and break-up of Soviet Union

Why didn't comparativists see this coming?

• ideological bias that blinded us to inherent weakness of Soviet system in favor of equality that it produced? 

Third Wave of Democracy--70's 80's – Many countries in Asia, Latin America

and Europe deposed authoritarian rule

Why did this wave of democracy occur among such diverse countries?

Will these fragile democracies survive?

Huntington: triumph of capitalism far from certain

• Western democracy and capitalization not easily transferrable in different cultures (Jeffersonian separation of church and state in Iraq?)

• Political cleavages will align along cultural, ethnic and religious lines

• Barber questions value of spreading western institutions-- that they will foster more inequality, destroy local cultures and lead to backlash against globalization (Osama bin Laden?)

• Fukuyama– Huntington, Barber? Who makes the most valid arguments??? WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Characteristics of Institutions Organization or pattern of activity—self-

perpetuating /valued for its own sake Embodies norms/values central to our lives Influences conduct of politics Varies from one country to the next Examples: army, taxation, elections and

the state The “glue” of society that binds us together

—we will defend and die for institutions (democracy/liberty in our country—religion or ethnic group in other societies)

Return to study of institutions in comparative politics combines traditional and behavioral theoretical frameworks

Acknowledges diversity compares and evaluates institutional differences between countries

Allows for discussion of cause and effect relationships

 

A. Question to consider: If politics is the struggle to make decisions for society—what are people struggling for? What do they want to achieve once they gain power?

Politics is also a struggle between individual freedom and collective equality

Freedom: ability to act independently w/o fear of punishment—includes speech, assembly, religion and other CL

Equality: shared material standard of individuals w/in a group

Relationship between Freedom and Equality measured in terms of justice and injustice

Ex. Greater freedom = smaller state—limits on state ability to redistribute wealth thru welfare and taxes

Ex. Greater equality = large state control of property and wealth and redistribution for “greater good”

Each political system must reconcile some sort of balance which will determine where power resides and how much…