CPO2002 EXAM 1 STUDY GUIDE CHAPTERS 1 7 Chapter 1 Introduction I What is comparative politics The study of political phenomena that occur predominantly within countries International politics vs comparative politics o Between nations vs within nations o International politics addresses conflicts foreign policy and international organizations that shape relationships between countries o Comparative politics focuses on party systems elections identify politics and interest group relationships within countries II State Failure o Ex 911 One of the key sources of economic instability III Economic Determinants of Democracy Countries are more likely to become a democracy as economies become more modern less reliant on exports more educated productive etc Or modernization helps democracies stay democratic but does not help dictatorships become democratic IV Cultural Determinants of Democracy Democracy is incompatible with some cultures o Ex Islam is said to be the most anti democratic because there is not many contemporary Islamic democracies today o Our time is considered the age of democracy V Institutional Design The effects and suitability of particular institutions are likely to depend on local conditions such as a country s social structure political environment geography economy and history o Designing democracy presumes that we know both have various democratic institutions work and what their consequences will be U S presidential democracy Germany Japan parliamentary democracies Electoral laws help shape a country s political party system Party systems take shape from evolving nature of political competition in a country Electoral systems combine with attributes of a country s social structure to determine both the number and types of parties likely to exist Chapter 2 What is science Introduction I Scientific theory a theory that has not been proven Science a method and a culture o Comparative politics subfield of political science II The Comparative Method Systematic research for the necessary and sufficient causes of political occurrences o Mill s methods Method of Agreement and Method of Difference Political scientists employ these methods to discover the causes of political phenomena III Necessary and Sufficient Conditions Necessary condition circumstance in whose absence the event in Ex Take oxygen away and there will be no fire but add oxygen to a given situation and there may or may not be Sufficient condition a circumstance in whose presence the event in question cannot occur o If E then Cn o If no Cn then no E fire question must occur o If Cs then E o If no E no Cs Ex If fire there be smoke If no fire no smoke Necessary and sufficient condition a circumstance in whose absence the event in question will not occur and whose presence the event in question must occur o If and only if you can t get one without the other Mill s Method of Agreement if two or more instances of the occurrences have only one circumstance in common the circumstance where all instances agree is the cause and effect of the given phenomenon This is where the instances agree Mill s Method of Difference compares cases that differ in regard to the outcome explained IV A Critique of Mill s Methods To draw valid inferences from Mill s Methods of Agreement and Difference the following assumptions must be met o The causal process must be deterministic o There can be no interaction effects o There can only be one cause of the outcome o All of the possible causes must be identified o All the instances of the phenomena that could ever occur have been observed by us or all the unobserved instances including future instances must be just like the instances that we have observed In order to determine whether these assumptions are necessary for drawing valid inferences we must observe two causes o Deterministic cause one that always produces a specific outcome o Probability cause one that influences the probability of the outcome The second assumption required for drawing correct inferences from Mill s methods is that there cannot be interaction effects o Interaction effect occurs when the effect of one variable on an outcome depends on the value of another variable V An Introduction to Logic Valid and Invalid Arguments o Argument a set of logically connected statements with a premise and a conclusion o Premise a statement presumed to be true within the context of an argument leading to a conclusion o Conclusion claim supported by premises o Valid argument if you accept premises accept conclusion o Invalid argument if you accept premises you can accept reject conclusion o Categorical syllogism major premise minor premise and conclusion Affirming the Antecedent A Valid Argument Major premise If P then Q Ex If a country is wealthy then it will be a democracy Minor premise P Ex The country is wealthy Conclusion Therefore Q Therefore the country will be a democracy Affirming the Consequent An Invalid Argument Denying the Antecedent An Invalid Argument Denying the Consequent A Valid Argument VI The Comparative Method Revisited No matter how many cases researchers observe that appear to exhibit the predicted pattern they are never logically justified in claiming that their conclusions have been confirmed or verified If our observations are inconsistent with our theory then we can draw valid inferences about the truthfulness of our theory we can conclude that it is wrong o Falsificationism an approach to science where scientists generate testable hypotheses from theories designed to explained phenomena of interest It emphasizes that scientific theories are constantly called into question and that their merit lies only in how well they stand up to rigorous testing Science is falsifiable testable there must be some imaginable observation that could falsify refute it o Tautology true by definition Ex Strong states are able to overcome special interests in order to implement policies best for our nation o Scientific method process of how scientists learn about the world Step 1 Question Why did that occur Step 2 Theory or Model Theory logically consistent statements that tell us why the tings we observe occur Uniformity of nature if x cause y today it will also cause y tomorrow It is unchanging Step 3 Implications Hypotheses Step 4 Observe the World Test hypotheses Critical test allows the analyst to use observation to distinguish between 2 or more competing explanations of the same phenomena Step 5 Evaluation Chapter 3
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