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POSC 3315

POSC 3315. W12.1. Studying Latin American politics. Context Who’s in, who’s out. Should we include the excluded? Why don’t we? Is LA a region? Historically? Economically? Politically? Culturally?. Why does this matter? What does it let us do? Why Latin America is western.

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POSC 3315

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  1. POSC 3315 W12.1

  2. Studying Latin American politics • Context • Who’s in, who’s out

  3. Should we include the excluded? • Why don’t we? • Is LA a region? • Historically? • Economically? • Politically? • Culturally?

  4. Why does this matter? • What does it let us do? • Why Latin America is western. • Who says it isn’t? • Why say it is?

  5. Latin America and the Third World • What is the TW? • What are its common features? • What are its points of divergence? • How useful is the concept?

  6. How to study LA • Two approaches; not antithetical • Comparative Politics • Systematic • Problem-driven or theory-driven • Tries to transcend borders • Aims to build theory – midrange or grand • Deductive + inductive

  7. Area studies • Define by geography, cultural similarity, historical ties • Thick description • Inductive + deductive • Limited generalization • Detailed knowledge of culture, language, history

  8. Why together? • Need to think of logic of comparison and basic comparative politics research approaches. • Some need lots of detail; e.g., case studies, binary studies and small-N studies • Others, large-N studies, do not • But let us look at region-wide (20 country) questions.

  9. Most comparative politics =single case, binary ,or small-N studies • Single case • How can this be comparative? Why do this? • Binary studies: two cases • Most Similar Systems (MSS) • Least Similar/Most Dissimilar Systems (LSS/MDS)

  10. What’s the difference? • MSS: similar on most points; diverge on one • May not be able specify cause of difference’ may be multiple and interacting • Work well with within-case comparisons • MDS: similar on one; diverge on most • How do different systems  same/similar result? • Multiple, interacting causes here too • Either can be binary or small-N

  11. In case studies, binary comparisons and small-N studies • Select cases very carefully • Case study: a case of what? What principle is examined? • Binary and small-n: look for hard cases, ones that look unlikely to prove your point. • Large-N: above are qualitative, these are qualitative

  12. Large N works for some things, e.g., correlates of democracy, but not others, e.g., policies for rapid economic development • In Latin American area studies a large-N study might cover all 20 states • Case studies, binary and small-N studies well adapted to focusing on a specific area • Large-N studies let us take in all/most/many of the countries

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