POL 204 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Arab Spring, Pentagon, Comparative Politics
10 Sep 2016
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Question: what is comparative politics: a method of comparison to understand politics and political system across the globe, studies: a. i. Anything to more broadly understand democracy: question driven knowledge. 4: factor x causes phenomenon y, if a than b, use and similarity to the scientific method to establish causality b. i. Parsimonious research design and limiting the number of variables: quantitative c. i. Much like aristotle in the 4th century c. i. 1. a. Compares cases where almost everything is similar except the outcome or similar in nothing except the outcome d. ii. Small n ( 1-10) number or compared cases d. iv. Single country comparison cant confirm or deny a theory: qualitative: e. i. Example: relationship between economic development and democracy e. iii. Macro based: comparison is based on common factors; oranges-oranges. Some countries may be comparable on x factors but incomparable on z factors: avoiding ethnocentricity g. i.
