Comparative politics focuses on politics within nations International relations focuses on politics between nations Mutually exclusive requires that it not be possible to assign Collectively exhausted that we have a place to categorize Comparative politics and international relations are not mutually Ch 1 any single case to more than one category every entity that is observed exclusive because of the few examples given in the graph in the book revolution political economy and environmental politics CP and IR are also not collectively exhaustive because of American politics and public policy The line between both of these definitions can be blurred You cannot understand the European Union economic policies without understanding the policies within nation states So International politics and Comparative Politics overlap when involving revolutions political economies and environmental politics to name a few Ex NAFTA goes in both IR and CP why they are not Ch 2 Falsifiable there must be some imaginable observations that could falsify or refute them and they must be potentially testable If a question states that it will change the probability then it is not falsifiable If we see A and get a 100 of seeing B then it is falsifiable Falsification an approach to science in which scientists generate a testable hypothesis from theories designed to explain phenomena of interest Model a simply tentative explanation of observed phenomena used to better understand the world Models need not be accurate in every aspect sometimes referred to as theory explanation or story Theory a set of logically consistent statements that tell us why the things that we observe occur A theory is sometimes referred to as a model or an explanation mechanisms are unchanging in the sense that if X causes Y today then it will also cause Y tomorrow and the next day and so on Critical test allows the analyst to use observation to distinguish between two or more competing explanations of the same phenomenon Uniformity of nature asserts that nature s operating Why must scientific statements be falsifiable science relies on criticism and the thing that allows criticism is the possibility for it to be wrong The thing that distinguishes science from nonscience is that it is falsifiable meaning that there could be something that could refute them What must be true for political science to be a science 1 It must accumulate knowledge over time 2 Science helps answer explanatory questions which can motivate evaluative questions or inform answers to evaluative questions 3 Scientific process Steps in the scientific process 1 Systematic observation questions 2 Experiment Game theory model regression analysis 3 Formulate hypothesis implications 4 Measurement 5 Observe test evaluate 6 Confirm reformulate Mill s Method of Difference Compares cases that disagree in regard to the phenomenon to be explained Also known as the comparative method involves the systematic search for the necessary without it it cannot occur can falsify but not approve and sufficient with it it must occur can prove or falsify a condition causes of political phenomena The comparative method comprises the Method of Agreement and the method of Difference observations of the world and then use these observations to develop general laws and theories about why certain political phenomena occur Political scientists who employ these methods collect The point is to identify the causes of political events If you in Law school then you took the LSAT If you took the LSAT then your in Law school not LSAT is necessary and Law school is the sufficient three different type of questions we ask in political science 1 evaluative question how should the world look 2 descriptive questions how does the world look ex Should the US go to war with Iran Should the president have the power to declare war Should the rich be taxed a a higher rate than the poor also normative questions Ex How many chambers does the Swedish legislature have How powerful is the president of France How many parties are in the UK 3 Explanatory questions why does the world look this way Ex Why does an event occur What causes some event Why are some sates democratic but other authoritarian Why do dictatorships become democracies Necessary conditions is a circumstance in whose absence the phenomenon in question cannot occur Ex Ethnic homogeneity is not a necessary condition for democracy Because Belgium is a democracy despite being ethnically diverse Ex A parliamentary system is not a necessary condition for democracy The US is a democracy despite having a presidential system Sufficient condition a circumstance in whose presence the phenomenon in question must occur Ex If you found a nonwealthy democracy you can conclude that wealth is not a sufficient for democracy Ch 3 What is Politics balance of power between citizens and states Also when citizens will take action against the state when states will respond positively to the demands of their citizenry and how citizens will rebel against the state We use the EVL Exit voice loyalty Game to analyze the Exit you accept a negative change in your environment and you alter your behavior Voice to try to change the environment back to its original condition Loyalty you accept the fact that your environment has changed and you make no change to your behavior Game theory a fundamental tool for analyzing strategic situations Strategic situation in this the choices of one actor depend on the choices made by other actors Game a situation in which an individuals ability to achieve her goals depends on the choices made by other actors of the citizen uses voice then the state has to choose whether to respond positively or to ignore it If the state decides to ignore the citizens voice then the citizen has to decide whether to exit or to remain loyal possible outcomes turns aka this is the game that looks like a family tree payoff in a game indicates how the players value each of the extensive form games make the choices sequentially take has choice nodes a point where players must choose an action and branches represent the actions that can be taken at each choice node It ends with a terminal node a place where the game ends each represents a possible outcome of the game game tree the entire specification of choice nodes and branches that comprise an extensive form game normal strategic form game help us examine strategic situation where players make decisions at the same time
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