POL S235 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Political Question, Comparative Politics
6 Oct 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
The five w questions (who what where when why how) The relevance of the why" question for comparative politics. Why is more important as is requires a more complex answer than the rest. Answers to why" questions go beyond basic/simple facts. Answers to why questions are debated, well-argued, and supported by logical evidence. Normative: what ought to be; prescriptive; value judgement; driven by moral/ethical considerations. Not just what is but also what was and what ought to be . A puzzle is an interesting political question; a confounding action, decision, or problem. Puzzles can be theoretical (from theory) or empirical (from the real world observation) Even the concept of politics" has no agreed definition. Concepts must be clear, coherent, consistent, and useful. Comparative politics is largely concerned with empirical evidence. It must be relevant to topic being discussed. It must reflect the level of analysis of case being investigated. The conceptualization of a concept is to define a concept.
