Chapter one
The comparative approach: an introduction
Asking why: research questions in comparative politics
● Five W’s (who, what, where, when and why)
● Arguments - the placement of evidence in a logical form in support of a position or claim
● Comparative politics - The subfield of political science that aims to analyze multiple
cases using the comparative method
● The court's pursuit of comparative politics is to develop strong claims about cause and
effect, testing various hypotheses, using factual evidence, and develop logic theories
about why the world operates the way it does
● Mono casual meaning caused by one thing (very rare in political situations)
● Many political situations have multiple causes or factors
Major questions in comparative politics
● We can answer questions by comparing and contrasting the politics of different countries
● Questions asked
1. Why are some countries democratic another’s now?
2. Why are some countries rich and others not?
3. Why do countries have different institutions and forms of government?
4. Why do countries have different policies in a variety of areas?
5. Why do some social revolutions succeed and endure while others fall?
6. Why do some countries develop strong senses of statehood and nationhood and others
not?
7. Why are some societies subjected to terrorism and others not?
● Open-ended question - a question that in principle is open to numerous possible
answers- a question that in principle is open to numerous possible answers
● Under what conditions democracies form (causes of democracy)
● Additional questions
1. What are the consequences of different kinds of institutions for policy?
2. ?
3. What are the consequences of presidential versus parliamentary systems of government
for education policy?
4. ?
5. How do you major in social revolutions affect subsequent political developments in their
respective countries
Empirical arguments versus normative arguments
● Right and wrong relates to the issue of casual or empirical arguments versus normative
arguments
● Empirical - drawn from the observations of the world
● Normative - concerned with specifying which sort of practice or institution is Morley or
ethically justified
The comparative approach: an introduction
Asking why: research questions in comparative politics
● Five W’s (who, what, where, when and why)
● Arguments - the placement of evidence in a logical form in support of a position or claim
● Comparative politics - The subfield of political science that aims to analyze multiple
cases using the comparative method
● The court's pursuit of comparative politics is to develop strong claims about cause and
effect, testing various hypotheses, using factual evidence, and develop logic theories
about why the world operates the way it does
● Mono casual meaning caused by one thing (very rare in political situations)
● Many political situations have multiple causes or factors
Major questions in comparative politics
● We can answer questions by comparing and contrasting the politics of different countries
● Questions asked
1. Why are some countries democratic another’s now?
2. Why are some countries rich and others not?
3. Why do countries have different institutions and forms of government?
4. Why do countries have different policies in a variety of areas?
5. Why do some social revolutions succeed and endure while others fall?
6. Why do some countries develop strong senses of statehood and nationhood and others
not?
7. Why are some societies subjected to terrorism and others not?
● Open-ended question - a question that in principle is open to numerous possible
answers- a question that in principle is open to numerous possible answers
● Under what conditions democracies form (causes of democracy)
● Additional questions
1. What are the consequences of different kinds of institutions for policy?
2. ?
3. What are the consequences of presidential versus parliamentary systems of government
for education policy?
4. ?
5. How do you major in social revolutions affect subsequent political developments in their
respective countries
Empirical arguments versus normative arguments
● Right and wrong relates to the issue of casual or empirical arguments versus normative
arguments
● Empirical - drawn from the observations of the world
● Normative - concerned with specifying which sort of practice or institution is Morley or
ethically justified
