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Concepts and Measurements in Comparative Politics: Understanding Democracy Framework

Explore the concepts and measurements in comparative politics, focusing on defining democracy using Adcock's and Collier's framework. Learn about conceptualizations, systematized concepts, indicators, and scoring for democracy across different countries.

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Concepts and Measurements in Comparative Politics: Understanding Democracy Framework

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  1. Core Issues in Comparative Politics(PO233)Module Director: Dr. Renske DoorenspleetAssociate Professor in Comparative Politicsdirector Centre for Studies in DemocratizationDepartment of Politics and International StudiesUniversity of Warwick, UK www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/staff/doorenspleet/ www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/research/csd/ e-mail: renske.doorenspleet@warwick.ac.uk

  2. Content Lecture week 3 • (A) What are concepts and measurements? • (B) Adcock’s and Collier’s framework & • the example of ‘democracy’ • (C) Homework seminar week 3

  3. Concepts and measurements Some ‘big questions’ • Why do people vote and why do they vote the way they do? • Why do people support racist and xenophobic ideas? • Why are some countries (or people) more corrupt than others? • Does Islam have a negative impact on democracy?

  4. Concepts and measurements from The Guardian (October 12th, 2006) ‘Security threat. Gaza sliding into civil war. Economic crisis worsens clashes between Hamas and Fatah’

  5. Theory Research Questions Concepts New theory Case Selection Data analysis Data collection Concepts and measurements ESSENTIAL part of research process

  6. (B) A&C framework and Concept of Democracy See Figure 1 in Adcock and Collier (2001) Conceptualization Level 1: Background Concept Level 2: Systematized Concept Measurement Level 3: Indicators Level 4: Scores for Cases

  7. (B) A&C framework and Concept of Democracy Conceptualization Level 1: Background Concept the broad constellations of meanings and understandings related to a given concept Different types of concepts • direct observables (colour of apple) • indirect observables (historical events) • constructs (IQ and Power) See Babbie’s book for more information

  8. (B) A&C framework and Concept of Democracy Measurement Level 2: Systematized concept specific formulation of a concept that uses ideas of (group of) scholars, an explicit definition of the concept Measurement Level 3: Indicators measures or operationalization

  9. (B) A&C framework and Concept of Democracy On level 3, your task is to develop – on the basis of the systematized concept – one or two indicators which can be used to score or classify the cases e.g. is water consumption an indicator of welfare or of sustainability? see also: www.sustainablemeasures.com e.g. is number of children an indicator of poverty or of welfare? see also: www.worldbank.org/data Context-specific: in rich countries, it is an indicator of welfare, while in poor countries it is an indicator of poverty

  10. (B) A&C framework and Concept of Democracy Measurement Level 4: Scores for cases use the indicators to produce scores for the cases

  11. (B) A&C framework and Concept of Democracy

  12. (B) A&C framework and Concept of Democracy

  13. (B) A&C framework and Concept of Democracy Level 1: Background Concept (see Adcock and Collier 2001: p. 531) Democracy is a highly contested concept Brainstorm: what is democracy in your opinion? Meaning according to different surveys around the world

  14. (B) A&C framework and Concept of Democracy Level 2: Systematized Concepts / Clear Definition (see Adcock and Collier 2001: p. 531) Democracy is a political system with: • Competition: competitive struggle for votes • Inclusiveness: right to vote (Dahl 1971)

  15. (B) A&C framework and Concept of Democracy Level 3: Measurements / Operationalizations / Indicators There are many different measurements of democracy (see Appendix 1 in Doorenspleet 2005) Problems: • Limited to years/periods • Limited to developing countries

  16. (B) A&C framework and Concept of Democracy Still… Two Interesting Measurements • Freedom House • See data:www.freedomhouse.org • Polity IV • See data:www.cidcm.umd.edu/inscr/polity

  17. (B) A&C framework and Concept of Democracy Level 4: Scores for cases Freedom House scale from 2 till 14 South Africa Zimbabwe Argentina, India North Korea See: www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=22&year=2007 2 = most free 14 = not free

  18. (B) A&C framework and Concept of Democracy Polity IV Project scale from -10 till 10 China Mongolia Libya Switzerland See: www.cidcm.umd.edu/inscr/polity/report.htm -10 = most autocratic 10 = most democratic

  19. (B) A&C framework and Concept of Democracy Problems of Polity IV scale • Insufficient validity: definition is not same as measurement (focus on competition, but inclusiveness is ignored). So, level 1 and 2 = not level 3 and 4 • Insufficient reliability: who are the coders?

  20. (B) A&C framework and Concept of Democracy So, how to measure democracy? • Use Freedom House • Use Polity Project • Develop your own measurement which: • Uses the framework of A&C • Is related to concept (e.g. Dahl’s two dimensions) • Is worldwide in scope, and from 1800 until 2000 (see Doorenspleet 2005)

  21. (C ) Homework seminar week 4 • Preparation seminar: Choose two countries and describe their level of democracy or regime change. Discuss the concepts of democracy, and the measurements (including the validity and reliablity of the scales of the polity IV and Freedom House). Give a presentation (5 minutes) and time for Q&A (5 minutes) • 2) read the required literature of week 3. • 3) collect interesting statements on the basis of the required literature of week 3. WRITE YOUR STATEMENTS DOWN!

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