PSCI-1101 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Socialism, Middle Class, International Law
12 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
PSCI-1101
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Toby I.
Intro to Comparative Politics
Test 1
8/25/17
Comparative questions:
- Why are some countries poor?
- Why do people Riot?
- Who do empires collapse?
Example of Comparative Research: Why did the Soviet Union Collapse?
● Answer is in change over time due to events - this is the most important political unit of the 20th
century
● The soviet union was formed after the October Revolution and the civil war (1917-1922)
○ Second time that revolution was about reforming the Tzarist government
○ Led by Stalin (22-52)
○ They displaced the Tzar which created provisional government with a Duhma and the civil
conflict goes on for many years
● Lenin philosophized about 20th century Europe and Russia and he wanted to unify the revolutions
under an empire - this is the ethos of the early soviet union.
○ Stalin replaces Lenin
● Stalin was in power and there wasn't a lot of freedom - famine, murder, etc
○ Reinforcing Leninism
○ Marginalizes the role of the party and soaked up power
○ Industrialized the soviet economy
○ LAbor, camps, famines, death of intellectuals, etc
○ Centralization to the soviet union purposes
○ 50s and 60s led to an economic slowdown due to slowed productivity
■ Factory productivity led to costing more to make then the profit earned
○ Based heavily on literature and education yet created widespread corruption and food
shortages
● Gorbachev took over
○ Turned over 20% of the head government official and promoted allies
○ Elected as a young reformist and first official president of the Soviet Union
○ Wanted ppl who were sympathetic to his role but also let a lot of his enemies into the party
○ Emphasized political and economic change
○ Demonstrated power by taxing alcohol
● Ptrestroika
○ Broad economic reform package with tweaks to make it work
○ Coupled with the “Refinement of the electoral system and the work of soviets at all levels -
aimed at furthering soviet democracy”
■ New legislature
● Pulling party away from govt
○ New legislature --> deeply divided country
■ 300+ ppl lost their positions
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
■ Oppositions is formed
■ Disaster is viewed on live tv
● Yeltsin becomes president of soviet russia
○ Under soviet union - also enemies with union
● Gorbachev resigns, collapse of soviet union unfolded
● How did this example help with understanding Comparative politics?
○ Difficulty in finding out why these things happened
○ Why did we fail at seeing this coming?
■ We didn't have the right “skills”
● What about Perestroika could have caused the collapse?
Social
Economic
International
Protests
Ideology
Modernization
Cold war
Election reform
Education
Decline
International
environment
Political violence
Democratic values
& Cultural
heterogeneity
“Shocks, Austerity
and Debts”
International linkage
of soviet union
Fractionalization of
elite regimes
8/28/17
If you change X, what happens to Y? This is the goal of comparison
● Y is dependant
○ Change that we want to explain
● X is independent
○ Possible explanation for change
● Z is lurking
○ May relate to but is not often involved and can lead to incorrect conclusions when forgotten
● In order to talk about the comparison between X & Y, you need a well conceived research question
which includes the possible X within the research questions
● Causation v Correlation
○ Does X cause Y? Does X cause Y and Y cause X?
○ Does Z cause X and Z cause Y?
Examples: Check slides
● GDP & Infant mortality
○ Y = infant mortality
○ GDP is directly impacting Y
○ Those with lower GDPs do not have access to the health that needs to stop infant mortality
● Equator and GDP
○ Y = % of GDP Growth; x = geographical proximity
○ Z relationship - distance should not be correlated to economic outcome
○ Tropical diseases, far from trade, growing conditions, etc (could be solutions)
Comparative Politics
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Answer is in change over time due to events - this is the most important political unit of the 20th century. The soviet union was formed after the october revolution and the civil war (1917-1922) Second time that revolution was about reforming the tzarist government. They displaced the tzar which created provisional government with a duhma and the civil conflict goes on for many years. Lenin philosophized about 20th century europe and russia and he wanted to unify the revolutions under an empire - this is the ethos of the early soviet union. Stalin was in power and there wasn"t a lot of freedom - famine, murder, etc. Marginalizes the role of the party and soaked up power. Labor, camps, famines, death of intellectuals, etc. 50s and 60s led to an economic slowdown due to slowed productivity. Factory productivity led to costing more to make then the profit earned.
