Comparing Political Systems

1. Comparing Political Systems Comparative Politics

2. How We Compare • The ways to study political systems • Describe them • Explain them • Predict them

3. Description • We describe political systems using a conceptual framework • The conceptual framework has a • System • Structure • Function

4. Political Systems: Environment & Interdependence • System means that the parts are working together, they depend on each other. • Political system is the institutions and agencies that society uses to accomplish its goals • Government is the policy or law making part of a political system • Political Systems involve international and domestic environments • Political Systems and environments try to shape each other • Political Systems have become so internationally dependent on each other that globalization has occurred • Globalization has resulted in interdependence among nations for imports and exports.

5. Political Systems: Structures & Functions • Structures are • Parliaments • Bureaucracies • Administrative Agencies • Courts • Each of the structures above perform a function • These functions all the government to … policies • Formulate • Implement • Enforce

6. There are six smaller types of political structures that are formal organizations working within the political system • Political Parties • Interest Groups • Legislatures • Executives • Bureaucracies • Courts

7. The reason we need to know the smaller six structures is because • The main six structures may be in several systems/countries, but have vastly different powers • In other words, just because it says it’s a parliament, doesn’t mean there’s free voting • By understanding how the smaller six in each country work, we can begin to compare the larger six of each country • Thus allowing for accurate comparison of political systems

8. To begin with, we have to analyze the smaller six (basically their process functions) under five different headings: • Interest Articulation – this is where political parties and interest groups make their concerns/demands known to the government • Interest Aggregation – this is where the legislative body takes the concerns/demands and puts them into public policies, aka LAWS • Policymaking – this is where the Legislative and Executive work together to formulate the laws • Policy Implementation – this is the bureaucracy enforcing the laws • Policy Adjudication – this is the courts interpreting the law when disputes arise.

9. When we explain the five different process functions from the previous slide, we usually use the STRUCTURAL-FUNCTIONAL APPROACH • The S-FA has two very important points that we must keep in mind: • Different countries may have the same structure, but it may do different things in each country • Institutions often share functions, they don’t have total control over their area

10. For all of these aspects to work together smoothly, there are three system functions needed • Socialization • Recruitment • Communications

11. Political Socialization – attitudes are formed by • Family • Education • Media • Church • Political Recruitment – the selection of people for political activities • Political Communication – what is presented to the public about politics. In an authoritative gov’t, the ruler controls it all. In a democracy, people can say almost anything.

12. How We Explain • By understanding the process functions and overall system functions, we can explain how they work together to run a particular government

13. How We Predict • Predicting is difficult at best… • If we can describe the functions we will be able to… • Explain how they work together • By explaining how they work, we can attempt to predict attitudes and decisions that could be made