POLI 203 Midterm Exam Notes – Comparative Politics
Concordia University winter 2024
• Aristotle: first one to do comparative politics
Forms of Ruler:
Rules on behalf of MANY: Rules on behalf of HIMSELF:
Individual Monarchy Individual Tyranny
Majority Polity Majority Democracy
Few Aristocracy Few Oligarchy
Democracy: Regime by all population: allows for political/civic liberties
Anocracy: Regime that have some features of democracy but not all
Autocracy: Regime of one person with absolute power
Comparative Politics: The subfield of political science that aims to analyze multiple cases
using the comparative method
Aim (comparative method) : develop claims about cause and effect by testing different
hypotheses
• Answers to 5 W’s: who/where/when/why/what
• Comparativism is meant to answer why things are the way they are in the first place
Empirical Argument:
• Drawn from observations of the world
• arguments that link cause and effect
• Answers to why the political world works as it does
• Empirical evidence: to have proper evidence, the facts need to prove your point
Empirical Theory: About factors and variable that cause things to happen
Normative Argument:
• Looks at which institutions/ practices are ethically correct
• Emphasizes the way things should be
Normative Theory: Questions of moral belief
The Four Freedoms (Rockwell):
Concepts:
• Used to understand the world around us
• Good concepts have:
1- Clarity
2- Coherence
3- Consistency
4- Usefulness
,Conceptualization: deliberate process through which we create/ select social-scientific concepts
, • Needs to be: clear, consistent and useful
Sartori’s ladder of abstraction: ladder from most specific questions to least
- ex: freedom is not a specific term
Operationalization: Process through which we make a concept measurable
• When a concept is clear, we need to measure it
Level of Analysis: Level at which observations are made, or at which causal processes operate
• Ex: If you want evidence about gender attitudes in Saudi Arabia, you are not going
toclaim only what a small group of men think
Case: In comparative analysis; a unit or example of a phenomenon to be
studiedEx: unit can be a country
Variables: Factor that is likely to change, or vary from case to case
• Outcome = effect: something that is produced or changed in any social/ political process
Cause Effect
Independent Variable (X) Dependent Variable (Y)
Explanatory Variable Outcome
• When comparing two or more cases to make an argument, we look at similarities/
differencesbetween cases (variations)
Variations: difference between cases in studies of comparative politics
Ways to find difference between variations:
1- Most-Similar- Systems (MSS): Compare cases with many similarities and analyze the
differences
2- Most-Different-Systems (MDS): Used by comparing two cases that have many
differences and one must analyze its similarities
- Ex: The “method of difference” (J.S. Mill): If 2 instances of the same phenomenonhave
1 circumstance in common – this circumstance is the cause of the phenomenon
Comparative Checking: Testing conclusions from a set of comparisons against additional cases
or evidence
• MDS + MMS may not be reliable for everything
Generalizability: Quality that a given theory, hypothesis or finding has of being applicable to a
wide number of cases
Within-Case-Comparison: Comparative analysis of variation that takes place over time or in
distinct parts of a single case
- Looking more carefully within one case to examine the variations
Concordia University winter 2024
• Aristotle: first one to do comparative politics
Forms of Ruler:
Rules on behalf of MANY: Rules on behalf of HIMSELF:
Individual Monarchy Individual Tyranny
Majority Polity Majority Democracy
Few Aristocracy Few Oligarchy
Democracy: Regime by all population: allows for political/civic liberties
Anocracy: Regime that have some features of democracy but not all
Autocracy: Regime of one person with absolute power
Comparative Politics: The subfield of political science that aims to analyze multiple cases
using the comparative method
Aim (comparative method) : develop claims about cause and effect by testing different
hypotheses
• Answers to 5 W’s: who/where/when/why/what
• Comparativism is meant to answer why things are the way they are in the first place
Empirical Argument:
• Drawn from observations of the world
• arguments that link cause and effect
• Answers to why the political world works as it does
• Empirical evidence: to have proper evidence, the facts need to prove your point
Empirical Theory: About factors and variable that cause things to happen
Normative Argument:
• Looks at which institutions/ practices are ethically correct
• Emphasizes the way things should be
Normative Theory: Questions of moral belief
The Four Freedoms (Rockwell):
Concepts:
• Used to understand the world around us
• Good concepts have:
1- Clarity
2- Coherence
3- Consistency
4- Usefulness
,Conceptualization: deliberate process through which we create/ select social-scientific concepts
, • Needs to be: clear, consistent and useful
Sartori’s ladder of abstraction: ladder from most specific questions to least
- ex: freedom is not a specific term
Operationalization: Process through which we make a concept measurable
• When a concept is clear, we need to measure it
Level of Analysis: Level at which observations are made, or at which causal processes operate
• Ex: If you want evidence about gender attitudes in Saudi Arabia, you are not going
toclaim only what a small group of men think
Case: In comparative analysis; a unit or example of a phenomenon to be
studiedEx: unit can be a country
Variables: Factor that is likely to change, or vary from case to case
• Outcome = effect: something that is produced or changed in any social/ political process
Cause Effect
Independent Variable (X) Dependent Variable (Y)
Explanatory Variable Outcome
• When comparing two or more cases to make an argument, we look at similarities/
differencesbetween cases (variations)
Variations: difference between cases in studies of comparative politics
Ways to find difference between variations:
1- Most-Similar- Systems (MSS): Compare cases with many similarities and analyze the
differences
2- Most-Different-Systems (MDS): Used by comparing two cases that have many
differences and one must analyze its similarities
- Ex: The “method of difference” (J.S. Mill): If 2 instances of the same phenomenonhave
1 circumstance in common – this circumstance is the cause of the phenomenon
Comparative Checking: Testing conclusions from a set of comparisons against additional cases
or evidence
• MDS + MMS may not be reliable for everything
Generalizability: Quality that a given theory, hypothesis or finding has of being applicable to a
wide number of cases
Within-Case-Comparison: Comparative analysis of variation that takes place over time or in
distinct parts of a single case
- Looking more carefully within one case to examine the variations
