Unformatted text preview:

CPO3930: Exam 1Introduction from the Text Book• The political science that a college student at the end of WW2 might have encountered was primarily descriptive and judgmental while now it is more explanation and analysis. • Models are purposely stripped-down versions of the real thing. • Theory is a specialized elaboration of a model intended for a specific application.Introduction from Class• *What is an Institution? Rules that govern social interaction, constraining the options for action. They also guide deliberation, structure aggregation of preferences, and govern protocol.◦ Some examples are: Congress, The Constitution, Robert's Rules• *There are parchment institution which are formal rules, regulations, and protocol that are written down. These are things like the syllabus. This is what we will be focusing on.◦ The parchment neither necessary nor sufficient.◦ For institution to be effective constraints, they don't need to be written down. (necessary)◦ Jut the act of writing them down matters little (nor sufficient) Institutions must be self-reinforcing◦ What is important is definition of institution as eq behavior participants in social interactions◦ The act of writing things down creates mutual expectations for behavior. Under these circumstances, the institutions are worth more than the paper on which they are written.• *Old Institutionalism in CP◦ Approach to studying political institutions that focused on legalism, formal rules, and documentation of procedural ◦ How a bill becomes law◦ Legalism and formal rules◦ Comparative Politics ▪ The advantages of this is you get a lot of description▪ However, it also make things apply to a different context. It had the tendency to be overtly..• *The Behavioral Revolution : (1950-1960) was the reaction to old institutionalism and the emphasis on real politics and hard data. This was the first time that public opinion polls, voting behavior, and party competition; stop scientist's focus on archives and merely reading laws. The Civic Culture would get public opinion data about democracy in different cultures. ◦ *Maximizing Behavior - • *Social Choice Theory - there are a lot of ways to construct representative democracy and majority rules. Social choice theorist focused on this type of problem.▪ Intellectual reaction to Old Institutionalism in economics that emphasizes the consequences of rules and procedures with particular regard for preferences aggregation electorates, legislature, and committees. ▪ A motivation for comparative research on institution says that the same set of preferences among political actors, different methods of pref aggregation produce different result. It follows that institutions matter to political outcomes. ▪ Hypothesis about the connection between institutional design and political outcomes are often drawn from formal theories of SC◦ New Institutionalism – casualty and empirical analysis, social choice and game theory, and concern for rules, agenda setting, vote aggregation.• BR + SC = New Institutionalism which has three sub groups: Ration Choice Institutionalism, Historical Institutionalism, and Constructivist Institutionalism• *Coordination with Conflict has to do with institutions: ◦ The game matrix box thingy (look at the slides)◦ Equilibrium: when neither party has a unilateral incentive to move ( we want to change it but not on our own – for our in class example [dog and movies] they both want to do something together rather than alone; it's coordination because they want to be together; there is conflict because they don't have the same first choice) ◦ Multiple equilibrium can exist: useful to remember for CP. Moving from one eq to the next may be contentious. ◦ *Two Insights▪ Coordination models highlight the following: multiple eq possible, moving across eq sticky, and institutional origins and change is contentious.▪ Helps us to explore why coordination happens at one eq and not another. It also, reminds us that changing is contentiousTheories and Methods for Institutional Study*Rational Choice Institutionalism• RCI usually identifies with Deductive Research Approach • Deductive (starts with theory, then hypothesis, observation, and then confirmation -RCI)• *RC theorist aim to produce parsimonious statements of social processes in order to generate testable hypothesis and falsifiable theories within explicit scope conditions • *RCI's objective is to devise a model of human behavior. ◦ A model is a simplified version of real life◦ If the model doesn't work, its the fault of the model, not of the human or of real life. • *The RC approach attempts to divorce normative(what ought to be) influence from analytical process. Though important normative questions might be raised along the way.• Unit of analysis is individual actors and it assume these individuals are rational and that they act intentionally.• In this context rationality is adopted as an analytical assumption in order to connect purposeful actors to their actions. They do the best they can within the constraints they face with the information they have.• Assumption of Rationality includes: ◦ Individuals have preferences: preferences are wants, desires, and motivations. It can be anything. They do not ask why; they are taken as exogenous (given, outside the model. ▪ These preferences must satisfy two criteria:• Completeness: the actor prefers options X to Y, option Y to X, or is indifferent between them. They are comparable in actors' mind. For example not comparing apples to blue.• Transitivity: If I prefer X to Y and I prefer Y to Z, then I must prefer X to Z or be indifferent between them ▪ The C and T properties imply that among individual actors' options, there is a “top” preferences. Actors maximize utility by picking the top preference.◦ *External Environment: the external environment is everything else like constraints, institutions, incentives, and other actor's behaviors ▪ *The EE is exogenous to the model; external is taken as given◦ Beliefs: uncertainty: people are unsure about how their choices will influence their outcome• Preferences + Beliefs = Rational Actions: Pref combine with belief to help actors generate their expected utility. The payoff they expect and assign to any course of action. Weights (probabilistically) to account for uncertainty in their environment• Strengths of RCI:• Criticisms


View Full Document

FSU CPO 3930r - Exam 1

Download Exam 1
Our administrator received your request to download this document. We will send you the file to your email shortly.
Loading Unlocking...
Login

Join to view Exam 1 and access 3M+ class-specific study document.

or
We will never post anything without your permission.
Don't have an account?
Sign Up

Join to view Exam 1 2 2 and access 3M+ class-specific study document.

or

By creating an account you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use

Already a member?