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Why Compare?

Why Compare?. (4 min) Think of a question involving U.S. politics that needs to be examined in a comparative perspective. Why is this? Can you think of a political problem whose understanding would not require comparisons?. No comparison is possible without a problem.

michael-beard
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Why Compare?

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  1. Why Compare? (4 min) Think of a question involving U.S. politics that needs to be examined in a comparative perspective. Why is this? Can you think of a political problem whose understanding would not require comparisons?

  2. No comparison is possible without a problem

  3. Comparative politics is Problem Driven: “What motivates the best comparative politics research are puzzles of real-world significance: Under what conditions do democracies emerge and stabilize? Why do revolutions occur? What is the role of different types of regimes in facilitating prosperity and equity? This problem orientation distinguishes comparative politics from other social science fields.” Atul Kohli

  4. (Political?) realityReal Problems Theories/Paradigms = Research Problems

  5. In the U.S. • In 1999, there were 648 prisoners per 100,000. • In 1997, the Gini Index (index of inequality) was 40.8 (the lowest 10% got 1.8% of wealth, and the highest 10% got 30.5%). • The U.S. ranks as a Free Country

  6. Thus... • Are 40.8 Gini and 648 prisoners per 100,000 people LOW or HIGH? • Are these indicators related? Do they affect • Democracy? • Political participation? (What is freedom? Can we really measure it?) Are they affected by these factors? • How can we decide about this?

  7. 1. Prisons • In the U.S. (Cross-time)

  8. 1.Prisons (Cross-country)

  9. 2. Inequality

  10. … and Freedom Do you See Anything?

  11. But... Neither the cases nor the variables are a given.Instead, they result from -Choices/decisions of the researcher, conditioned by -Possibilities offered by the data, and -Trends (paradigms) in the academic community.

  12. Two Basic Aspects of Comparative politics • Empirical (gathering & comparing data) • Conceptual (producing fair definitions, i.e. “democracy”). Finding the right level of abstraction (neither too specific nor too general)

  13. New Challenges posed by Globalization • Michael Curtis: September 11, 2001 • “Isolation is not viable and international cooperation is imperative.” • Comparative Politics allows us to • Understand the politics (and political culture) of different countries • “Understand better our own system if we can appreciate its similarities to and differences from other systems.”

  14. Ruth Lane: • “Comparative politics as an area of study goes back to Greek antiquity, and has continued sporadically throughout history, but has achieved a special importance at the close of the twentieth century, when economics, technology, travel, and communicatins have brought all areas of the world into deep interdependence.”

  15. Comparative politics is a field that aspires to be scientific

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