Evolution of Comparative Politics: Focus, Science, and Origins

1. Intro to Comparative Politics Sept. 22

2. Lecture Overview • Focus of comparative politics • The “science” of political science? • Quick history of comparative politics

3. Focus of Comparative Politics What is the focus of comparative politics?

4. Focus of Comparative Politics Internal Power Structures: “Comparative politics does not ignore external influences on internal structures, but its ultimate concern is power configurations within [political] systems” (Caramani, 2008: 3).

5. Focus of Comparative Politics • often simply means studying foreign countries • the use of case studies • area specialists It need not be explicitly comparative. The editor of our textbook doesn’t endorse such an approach (Caramani, 2008: 4).

6. Focus of Comparative Politics A comparative study may focus on a small number of countries (two or more) or it may attempt to incorporate the analysis of a very large range of countries. Countries, in fact, need not be the unit of analysis, sub-national regional political units or supra-national units may be the focus.

7. The “science” of political science? “the intent of comparative politics is that of a rigorous scientific and empirical field of study: description, explanation, and prediction (Caramani, 2008: 20). Is political science a science? Do social sciences differ from natural sciences? How and why?

8. The “science” of political science? Daniele Caramani suggests (2008: 3) that, “Whereas political theory deals with normative questions (about equality, democracy, justice, etc.), comparative politics deals with empirical questions.” • “Even though comparative political scientists are of course concerned also by normative questions, the discipline as such is empirical and value-neutral”

9. The “science” of political science? • Is it possible to create a value-free or ‘neutral’ political science? • Is it desirable to create a value-free or ‘neutral’ political science?

10. Origins of comparative politics • Plato and Aristotle, while usually considered political theorists, were engaged in the process of comparing different political regimes: • aristocracy, oligarchy, democracy, tyranny

11. Origins of comparative politics Modern comparative politics can be traced back to (among others): • Machiavelli, The Prince, 1532. • Montesquieu, On the Spirit of the Laws, 1748 • Alexis de Tocqueville, OnDemocracy in America, 1835

12. Formal-legal, institutional approach • First half of the 20th century, the emerging discipline of political science focused on the formal-legal institutions of the state.

13. Political Behaviour, Political Culture • In the 1950s and 60s, attention turned toward the study of the political behaviour and political attitudes of the public. • The “behavioural revolution” • This was facilitated by developments in survey techniques and emerging computerization. This greatly increased the possibility for number-crunching among social scientists.

14. The reaction against the behavioural revolution • The new form of empirical political science still has its proponents today, but by the late 1960s it was under attack from a variety of directions and for a variety of reasons.

15. The Politics of Political Science Methodology York University, 1969: “Fifty student radicals converged on a meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association…to denounce what they called the methodology of political science.” Protesters “walked into the Vanier College dining hall carrying balloons, flowers and signs denouncing [David] Easton’s systems analysis theory.” See: http://imprint.uwaterloo.ca/pdfarchive/1969-70_v10,n06_Chevron.pdf

16. A Return to Institutions • By the 1980s, various scholars were attempting to ‘bring the state back in’ to the centre of their analysis. • This form of institutionalism often portrays state actors as having a degree of autonomy and different state structures as influencing political outcomes.

17. B. Guy Peters, chapter 2 (next week): • The 5 ‘I’s: • Institutions, • Interests, • Ideas, • Individuals, • International environment • a bonus, 6th - interactions