1. Comparative Political Theory

2. Benefits of the Comparative Method
Can help us make sense of confusing global system – better understanding of forces that bring political change, significance and impact of change
Can help us understand ourselves – better understanding of the character, origins, strengths & weaknesses of our own system

3. Benefits of the Comparative Method
Can broaden our options – how similar problems are approached by different governments & perhaps offer ideas that might help improve the way we do things or avoid mistakes
Can broaden our horizons – avoid ethnocentrism & appreciate variety

4. Benefits of the Comparative Method
Can help us draw up rules about politics – the study of different political systems can help us develop and test explanations of the trends & underlying principles of politics
Can help us develop a more sophisticated understanding of politics in general…

5. Benefits of the Comparative Method
…including the nature of democracy and nondemocratic gov’t, the relationships between gov’t and people, & other concepts & processes
Can help us understand the linkages between domestic & international affairs

6. Benefits of the Comparative Method
Can assist explanations – why are some countries stable democracies and not others? Why do many democracies have prime ministers instead of presidents?

7. The Comparative Method
Comparison is not about deciding which political system is best!!
The purpose is to learn more about how and why political systems are different or the same and what effect the differences & similarities have

8. The Comparative Method
NORMATIVE POLITICAL THEORY – purpose is to get us to think coherently about the ultimate aims of politics & to think through possible consequences of alternative courses of political action
It often asks us to make value judgments

9. The Comparative Method
NORMATIVE POLITICAL THEORY
What is the best form of government?
What ought to be the main goals of political action?
How do we define these goals in practical circumstances?

10. The Comparative Method
EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS – centered on facts
Seeks to discover, describe, and explain facts and factual relationships, to the extent that the facts are knowable
Probes the “what”, the “how”, and the “why” of politics

11. The Comparative Method
EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS
What is democracy and how does it work?
How do people behave in politics?
What is a military dictatorship?
Why does it tend to occur in some countries but not in others?

12. The Comparative Method
EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS
Tends to be a value-free political science
Requires us to keep our investigations of political reality free from our own particular values and biases, no matter how well-intentioned our convictions are

13. Key Concepts
The State
A broad concept that includes all the public institutions & individuals that exercise power
A monopoly of force over a specific geographic territory
Sovereign

14. Key Concepts The Nation A psychological concept
Cultural, linguistic and other identities that can tie people together
Can use the word “ethnic” here

15. Key Concepts The Government
Particular set of institutions & people authorized by formal documents to pass laws, regulations, provide protection, etc.
Exercises state power but rarely holds all the power
Limited by the existing regime

16. Key Concepts The Regime
Sets of rules and institutions that control access to, and the exercise of, political power
These endure from government to government or administration to administration (in American terms)
Regime change occurs when these rules & institutions have been replaced