Political economy and the comparative method

1. Political economy and the comparative method Dr Roberto Espíndola Department of Development and Economic Studies Room P1.32 Pemberton ext. 3823 R.Espindola@Bradford.ac.uk

2. The Political Economy perspective... Or rather International Political Economy (IPE) • It studies the interaction of political and economic structures • It considers that interaction both historically and comparatively

3. Dominant theories in IPE • Mercantilism or economic nationalism • Liberalism • Critical theories (Marxism, feminism, environmentalism)

4. Economic nationalism or merchantilism • Key actor: the state • Primacy of the political, the state is prior to the market • Market relations shaped by political power • IPE constituted through actions of rational states • Conflict and cooperation? Realism

5. Liberalism • Focus on individuals, and from the state to corporations, interest groups, NGOs • Centred on the market, economic progress results from interaction of market actors • Oppose intervention in markets • View IPE as essentially cooperative, e.g. theory of comparative advantage

6. Critical perspective • Focus on collectives, e.g. classes, gender groups • Consider the market as exploitative and in need of control • Explain IPE in terms of dependency, relations of dominance and exploitation

7. Our emphases to study the IPE of European integration • Processes and institutions, rather than history or a characterisation of actors • Seeking to study interactions at the supranational, national (intergovernmental) and subnational levels • And we’ll do it from a comparative perspective

8. How de we compare in the Social Sciences? • Well... • We can compare like with like... • Or can we compare different units?

9. In terms of method: • Most similar systems design (MSSD) • Most different systems design(MDSD)

10. Most similar systems design (MSSD) • Researchers take cases that appear to be similar in as many ways as possible, in order to explain differences between them • Example: Morlino's study of democratisation in Southern Europe

11. Most different systems design (MDS) • Researchers take cases that are different, but where similar phenomena have occurred, seeking to explain those phenomena. Most different, similar outcomes. • Example: Skocpol's analysis of revolutions in France, Russia and China

12. MSSD → individualising, variation finding • MDSD → universalising, encompassing

13. MSSD MDSD Case 1 Case 2 Var I a b Var II c d Var III e f Var X x3 x3 Var Y y3 y3 Case 1 Case 2 • Var I a a • Var II b b • Var III c c • Var X x1 x2 • Var Y y1 y2