Chapter One Introduction Terms to Know Comparative Politics the study of political phenomena that occur predominantly within countries International Politics the study of political phenomena that occur predominantly between countries Political Science is the study of politics in a scientific manner o International Politics o Comparative Politics the study of political phenomena that occurs between countries the study of politics within countries Complementary definitions Scientific typology logically exhaustive By defining the two this way scholars have exhausted the logical possibilities involved in the study of politics All good scientific typologies should be mutually exclusive unable to both be true at the same time Mutual exclusivity requires that it not be possible to assign any single case to more than one category Logical exhaustion implies that we have a place to categorize every entity that is observed The line between comparative and international politics is often blurred because many current issues contain both within country and between country factors Such as Comparative politics elections party systems interest groups International politics conflict international organization executive legislative relations legislatures Both revolution international organization political economy environmental politics o In most political science departments in the United States American Politics is considered a different subfield Historically a second traditional definition of comparative politics has been that it is the study of politics in every country except the one in which the student resides Thus comparative politics is the study of what economists like to call the rest of the world They study this through the comparative method Chapter 2 What is Politics Terms to Know Politics the subset of human behavior that involves the use of power of influence Exit you accept that there has been a negative change in your environment and you alter your behavior to achieve the best outcome possible given your new environment Voice you use your voice complain protest lobby or take direct action to try to change the environment back to its original condition Loyalty you accept the fact that your environment has changed and make no changes to your behavior Game Theory a fundamental tool for analyzing strategic situations Strategic Situation in this type of situation the choices of one actor depend on the choices made by other actors Game a situation in which an individual s ability to achieve her goals depends on the choices made by others Payoff in a game it indicates how the players value each of the possible outcomes Extensive Form Game players make their choices sequentially Normal Strategic Form Game players make their choices simultaneously Choice Node a point in an extensive form game at which a player must choose an Terminal Node a place where the game ends Initial Node a place where the game begins Branches represent the actions that can be taken at choice nodes Game Tree the entire specification of choice nodes and branches that comprise an extensive form game Subgame Perfect Equilibrium SPE an important solution concept for extensive form games SPE can be found using a method known as backward induction Backward Induction the process of reasoning backward from the end of a game or situation to the beginning in order to determine an optimal course of action action What do these five statements have in common o 1 Science is a collection of facts that tell us what they know about the world o 2 A scientific theory has been proven o 3 The sun revolves around the earth is not a scientific statement o 4 If my theory is correct then I should observe that rich countries are more likely to be democracies I do observe that rich countries are more likely to be democracies Therefore my theory is correct o 5 Politics cannot be studied in a scientific manner o All of these statements are wrong 1 It is not a collection of facts 2 Theories CANNOT be proven 3 It IS a scientific statement 4 The argument is logically invalid theory cannot be concluded 5 Politics CAN be studied in a scientific manner What is Science Science is a method however it is also a culture The scientific method at its core is a critical method Science is not a static unchanged set of beliefs to be conserved knowledge is tentative Comparative politics is a subfield of political science Science is a method for provisionally for the time being understanding the world Science is the answer to the question o How do we know what we know o to which the scientist replies o Because we have subjected our ideas to the scientific method But is science any quest for knowledge o No science is a particular quest for knowledge o Science is a recklessly critical pursuit of knowledge in which the scientist continually subjects her ideas to the cold light of logic and evidence Falsifiability Science is a quest for knowledge that relies on criticism What thing allows for criticism o The possibility that our theories or claims might be wrong Thus the thing that distinguishes science from nonscience is that scientific statements must be falsified o There must be some imaginable observation that could falsify or refute them o This does not mean that our theories will ever be falsified just that there is a possibility they could be falsified o Only if a statement is potentially testable is it scientific o We deliberately say potentially testable because a statement does not have to have been tested to be scientific all that is required is that we can conceive of a way to test it Nonfalsifiable Statements What sort of statements are not falsifiable o A tautology is a statement that is not falsifiable because they are true by definition Ex strong states are able to overcome special interests in order to implement policies that are best for the nation This statement may be true but unless we can think of a way to identify a strong state without referring to its ability to overcome special interests then it s just a definition and therefore unscientific o A hypothesis and other statements are non falsifiable because they refer to unobservable phenomena Ex God exists God created the world Cannot be tested This does not mean that nonscience is nonsense or that the claims are necessarily fake o All that is required for a statement to be scientific is that it is falsifiable The Scientific Method Scientific Method describes the process by which
View Full Document
Unlocking...