POL 2104 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Area Studies, Comparative Politics, Inductive Reasoning
20 Aug 2016
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POL2104
January 11th 2016
Chapter 1: Introduction
-comparative politics is the study and comparison of domestic politics across countries
-within national borders
-does not compare governments between or among different countries
-looks at elections, political parties, revolutions, and judicial systems
-may overlap with international relations on topics such as ethnic conflict
-it is a subfield that compares the pursuit of power across countries
-helps theorists make arguments about cause and affect using examples that we have from
evidence through studying countries across time and space
-informs and challenges ideals, provides alternatives and questions norms or assumptions
-researchers rely on a comparative method - a way to compare cases and draw conclusions
-doing this allows scholars to seek conclusions and generalizations that could be valid and
helpful in other alike cases
-inductive reasoning is used to go from studying a case to generating a hypothesis
-is a foundation on which greater theories can be built
-deductive reasoning involves starting with a specific case and generating some hypotheses
about cause and effect from this (to test against a number of other cases)
-institutions are organization or activities that are self-perpetuating and valued for their own
sake
-they define and shape what is possible and realistic in political life by laying out rules,
norms and structures
-goal of the game is the right mix of freedom and equality
-politics vs power:
-politics is the struggle in any group for power that will give one or more persons the ability
to make decisions for the larger group (can occur anywhere, e.g.: “office politics” or
“classroom politics”)
-power is the ability to influence others or impose one’s will on them
-thus it is hard to separate the idea of politics from power
-comparativists face 7 major challenges in attempting to examine political features across
countries
-political scientists have difficulty controlling the variables (1)
-variables are a function of real world politics and are random
-many variables are tied together to produce particular outcomes, called multicausality (2)
-variables are interconnected and interact
-there are limits to our information and the way we gather information (3)
-research is hindered by the same factors that make countries so interesting (4)
-corruption makes biases or distorted information more prevalent
-expensive travel, stricter research regulations, etc
-as a result, comparativists often master knowledge of a single country, which although
valuable, presents an extremely narrow focus
-focus is limited to a single geographic region (5)
-furthermore, area studies have been distributed unevenly (particularly Western Europe
— possibly due to the plethora of scholars and civilization that started there)
-bias makes it harder to control variables and select appropriate cases (6)
-none are randomized, all scholars and researchers have a special interest to the area or
topic they are studying
-the problem of finding a cause and effect (7)
-endogeneity refers to not knowing which is the cause or which is the effect
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Document Summary
Comparative politics is the study and comparison of domestic politics across countries. Does not compare governments between or among different countries. Looks at elections, political parties, revolutions, and judicial systems. May overlap with international relations on topics such as ethnic con ict. It is a sub eld that compares the pursuit of power across countries. Helps theorists make arguments about cause and affect using examples that we have from evidence through studying countries across time and space. Informs and challenges ideals, provides alternatives and questions norms or assumptions. Researchers rely on a comparative method - a way to compare cases and draw conclusions. Doing this allows scholars to seek conclusions and generalizations that could be valid and helpful in other alike cases. Inductive reasoning is used to go from studying a case to generating a hypothesis. Is a foundation on which greater theories can be built.
