January 8, 2015 Chapter 1: Introduction and the Evolution of Comparative Politics Flashcards Preview

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Flashcards in January 8, 2015 Chapter 1: Introduction and the Evolution of Comparative Politics Deck (26)
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1
Q

What are the two types of questions asked in comparative politics?

A

Methodological and substantive questions.

2
Q

Methodological questions.

A

Why compare? How should we compare? What can or should we compare?

3
Q

Substantive questions.

A

Why are poor countries poor? Why is East Asia rich?

4
Q

What are the 3 subfields of political science?

A

Political theory, comparative politics, and international relations.

5
Q

What does political theory deal with?

A

Normative and theoretical questions. What the society ought to be.

6
Q

What does comparative politics deal with?

A

Empirical questions. What the society is.

7
Q

What does international relations deal with?

A

The interactions between political systems.

8
Q

Explain the difference between normative and empirical questions.

A

Normative is how things should be, empirical is how things are.

9
Q

A comparative study must focus on two countries. True or false?

A

False. A comparative study may focus on a small number of countries (2 or more), or it may incorporate the analysis of a very large range of countries.

10
Q

What are some components of the political system that can be compared?

A

National, sub-national, supra-national, single elements, or components.

11
Q

What is compared in comparative politics?

A

Political systems, regimes, institutions, actors, processes, and policies.

12
Q

Describe the comparative politics of pre-modern times using 3 characteristics.

A

Speculative, normative, and anecdotal.

13
Q

In pre-modern comparative politics, boundaries between ___, ___, and ___ were not clearly defined.

A

Philosophy, jurisprudence, and history.

14
Q

How was pre-modern comparative politics modernized?

A

By drawing from the historical theories of evolution (Darwinism and Marxism) and the works of John Stuart Mill.

15
Q

According to John Stuart Mill, the social sciences implied two methods. What are they?

A

Method of Agreement and Method of Difference.

16
Q

What is John Stuart Mill’s Method of Agreement?

A

When comparing cases with similar variables. For example, what everyone ate when everyone gets sick at a restaurant.

17
Q

What is John Stuart Mill’s Method of Difference?

A

When comparing cases with different variables. For example, what the person who didn’t get sick didn’t eat at the restaurant.

18
Q

Modern comparative politics looks at political ___ and ___.

A

Behaviour, culture.

19
Q

During the ___ and ___, attention turned towards the study of the political behaviour and political attitudes of the public. What was this shift called?

A

1950’s and 60’s. Behavioural revolution.

20
Q

What triggered the behavioural revolution?

A

Breakdown of democracies and the rise of new types of regimes.

21
Q

What are some consequences of the behavioural revolution for comparative politics?

A
  • Increase in the variety of political systems.
  • Study of non-formal institutions.
  • New methodology.
  • New language.
  • Developments in survey techniques and emerging computerization.
22
Q

Due to the development of new methodology, language, and survey techniques and computerization during the behavioural revolution…

A

The possibility for social scientists to do number-crunching increased.

23
Q

The behavioural revolution in political science was met with resistance in the ___.

A

1960’s.

24
Q

What are some signs of the move away from behavioural revolution in the 1960’s?

A
  • Social movements and disobedience among young people.
  • Inability to predict youth political apathy, move away from political parties.
  • Duplicating an alienated political world by its survey.
25
Q

What is post-modernism?

A

Contested the idea of objective “social facts.” Instead, social facts are seen as social constructs.

26
Q

Post-modernism is not a completely new theory, but rather a set of ___ ___.

A

Theoretical assumptions.