This document provides an introduction to key concepts in comparative politics and political science. It defines comparative politics as the study of domestic politics, institutions, and conflicts across different countries using empirical and comparative methods. Some key terms discussed include nation, state, nation-state, types of political regimes, factors that cause democratization, and differences between liberal democracies and illiberal democracies. It also distinguishes between procedural and substantive definitions of democracy.

1. Intro to
Comparative
Politics

2. • Comparative politics is a field and a method
used in political science, characterized by an
empirical approach based on
the comparativemethod. In other
words comparative politics is the study of
the domestic politics, political institutions,
and conflicts of countries.

3. What is political
science?
• the study of governments, public policies,
political processes, systems, and political
behavior

4. States and Nations
• Nation = a group of people with a common identity,
including a common history, ethnic, linguistic,
religious bonds
• State = political system that has sovereignty based
on a recognized right of self-determination
• Nation-states = when national identification and the
scope of legal authority in a territory coincide

5. Nation
USA
NORWAY
BELGIUM
WHICH ONE IS A NATION?
U.S.S.R.
CANADA
JAPAN
SLOVENIA
BOSNIA
YUGOSLAVIA
Norway Japan Slovenia
AUSTRALIA
BRAZIL
KURDS
Kurds

6. Nation-state
WHICH ONE IS A NATION-STATE?
CHEROKEE
FRANCE
PALESTINIANS
SWITZERLAND
HAWAII
DENMARK
CHILE
BARBADOS
RWANDA
France Denmark Barbados

7. A
Stateless Nation - Kurds: An ancient group with a distinctive language and culture,
and concentrate in Turkey, Iran, and Iraq. Smaller numbers live in Syria, Armenia,
and Azerbaijan.

10. Article: Future for US
as No 2 economy.
• Get out the article.
• How will the world change in your lifetime?
• What are the major trends of change?

11. Regime vs.
Government
• Government – the people currently in charge
– Ex.) Obama in the White House, Democrats in the
Senate, Republicans in the House
• Regime – institutions and practices that
typically endure from govt. to govt.
– Ex.) Democratic regime; authoritarian regime
• Regime change in Iraq different from change in
government in US

12. Regime Types
• Constitutional republic
• Single party republic
• Constitutional monarchy
• Absolute monarchy
• Theocracy
• Dictatorship
• Oligarchy
• Totalitarian

13. Political and Economic
Change
• Two major forces transforming political
systems and nations:
– Process of economic development
(marketization)
– Political democratization

14. What causes
democratization?
• Can democracies revert?
– Historical examples

15. Corporatism vs.
Pluralism
• Corporatism – economic policy is negotiated
among elites in government, labor, and business
– Usually outside of the regular electoral legislative
process
• Patron-client relationship – relationship
b/w powerful people seeking support and less
powerful people seeking benefits
• Pluralism – many different interests compete
to influence government policy

16. Electoral Systems: Single
Member Districts vs.
Proportional Representation
• Single Member District (First-Past-the-
Post / Winner-Take-All) – only one
representative is chosen from each
constituency/district
– Tends to produce two party system
• PR – parties receive a number of seats in
legislature proportionate to their share of the
vote
– Tends to produce multiparty system

17. Copy and Respond to
the quote
• “Today, however, we have to say that a state is
a human community that (successfully) claims
the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force
within a given territory. Note that "territory" is
one of the characteristics of the state.”
• Max Weber

18. What is a State?
• Differentiating Terms
– State
• Max Weber defines it as the organization that maintains a
monopoly of violence over a territory
– Must have sovereignty – the ability to carry out
actions or policies within a territory independently
from external actors or internal riots
» Sovereignty requires power, physical and otherwise,
to defend against these other actors
» Institutions are what we call actors which carry out
the state’s responsibilities (i.e., executive branch,
bureaucracy, military, courts, etc.)

19. Comparing State
Power
• Strong States
• Weak States
• Failed States
– These are simplistic ways to express the power of a
state

20. South Sudan
• What is type of state is South Sudan? Why

21. FSI: What is It?
• From Failed to Fragile:
Renaming the Index
• When the Failed States Index (FSI) was first published in 2005,
the use of the term ‘”failed state” was designed to highlight and
draw attention to the very real risk that people faced if their
state failed to address the factors and conditions that we were
measuring. While we all agreed that the term “failed state” was
fraught with issues, mainly that we were not calling any country
on the list failed, we knew it would likely get attention.

22. Liberal vs. Illiberal
Democracies
• What’s the difference?
• Examples

23. Criteria for Liberal
Democracies
• Civil liberties
• Rule of law
• Competitive, fair, free elections
– Possibility of alternation of parties in government
• Neutrality of judiciary
• Open, strong civil society – web of
membership in political and social groups
(voluntary associations)
• Civilian control of the military

24. Illiberal Democracies
• = Countries that have regular elections but
are missing others of the above qualities
• Ex.) Russia and Nigeria

25. Substantive vs.
Procedural Democracy
• Democracies may have elections (procedural)
but may lack the rule of law and civil liberties
(the substance of democracies)
• All substantive democracies are procedural, but
not all procedural democracies are substantive
– Ex.) elections but no independent judiciary + no
civil society allowed to exist

26. Democracy is NOT a
Dichotomy
• Most countries cannot be easily categorized as
absolutely democratic or authoritarian
– There will often be characteristics of both
• It is better to think of democracies as existing
along a continuum/spectrum
Democratic------------------Authoritarian

27. Where do each of the 6 core
countries fall on the
continuum?
Chart with a partner(s), give
one justification for each.
Democratic------------------Authoritarian
• China
• Iran
• Mexico
• Nigeria
• Russia
• United States
• United Kingdom

28. Role of Bureaucracies in
Modern Nation-States
• Bureaucracies = agencies that implement govt.
policy
• Size and number greatly increased throughout
20th century
– Bureaucracies have assumed increasing rule-making
powers in most political systems

29. Fragmentation

31. Democratization