1. Comparative Politics and the Welfare State
Political economics
Comparative Politics and the Welfare State
Lecture 1 AY
Paolo Graziano

2. Brief introduction
Politics: power struggle for the distribution of resources
Policies: specific instruments of regulation and resource distribution from the political to the economic and civil society
Political regimes: systems where politics and policies take place, and specific power relations are established

3. Democracy: a definition (Dahl, 1971)
Right to vote
Right to be elected
Political (party) competition
Free and fair elections
Freedom of expression
Freedom of association
Media pluralism
Accountability

4. Political regimes: typological criteria
Pluralism: presence of several political actors in competition for power
Ideology: cognitive and normative framework of the political regime
Mobilization: mode of political participation
Leadership: modes of selection of governmental bodies

5. Authoritarian regimes I
Pluralism: political system with limited, not responsible political pluralism. Often quite extensive social and economic pluralism.
Ideology: political system without elaborate and guiding ideology but with distinctive mentalities.

6. Authoritarian regimes II
Mobilization: political system without extensive or intensive political mobilization except at some points in their development
Leadership: political system in which a leader or occasionally a small group exercises power without formally ill-defined but actually quite predictable norms
Example: Spain between the ‘50s and the ‘70s

7. Totalitarian regimes I
Pluralism: no significant economic, social, or political pluralism. Office party has de jure and de facto monopoly of power
Ideology: elaborate and guiding ideology that articulates a reachable utopia. Commitment to some holistic conception of humanity and society.

8. Totalitarian regimes II
Mobilization: extensive mobilization into a vast array of regime-created obligatory organizations. Private life is decried.
Leadership: totalitarian leadership rules with undefined limits and great unpredictability for members and nonmembers. Often charismatic.
Example: USSR before 1953

9. Post-totalitarian regimes I
Pluralism: limited, but not responsible social, economic and institutional pluralism. Almost no political pluralism because party still has monopoly of power.
Ideology: guiding ideology still officially exists and is part of the social reality. But weakened commitment to or faith in utopia.

10. Post-totalitarian regimes II
Mobilization: progressive loss of interest by leaders and nonleaders involved in organizing mobilization. Routine mobilization of population within state-sponsored organizations.
Leadership: growing emphasis by post-totalitarian political elite on personal security. Checks on top leadership via party structures, procedure, internal democracy.
Example: Hungary,

11. Sultanistic regimes I
Pluralism: economic and social pluralism exists but is subject to unpredictable and despotic intervention.
Ideology: highly arbitrary manipulation of symbols. Extreme glorification of ruler. No elaborate or guiding ideology or even distinctive mentalities outside of despotic personalism.

12. Sultanistic regimes II
Mobilization: low but occasional manipulative mobilization of a ceremonial type by coercive or clientelistic methods without permament organization.
Leadership: highly personalistic and arbitrary. No rational-legal constraints. Strong dynastic tendency. No autonomy in state careers.
Example: Romania under Ceausescu ( )

13. Democratic regimes I
Pluralism: responsible political pluralism reinforced by extensive areas of pluralist autonomy in economy, society, and internal life of organizations.
Ideology: extensive intellectual commitment to citizenship rights and procedural rules of contestation.

14. Democratic regimes II
Mobilization: participation via autonomously generated organization of civil society and competing parties of political society guaranteed by a system of law.
Leadership: top leadership produced by free elections and must be exercised within constitutional limits and state of law. Periodical free elections.
Example: several existing political regimes