1. AP Comp Day 3 – 3 groups
Goal – to understand the methods of comparison available and the method we will use in this course. To analyze how the textbook relates to our method of comparison.
Questions from homework?
Review 5 Substantive Topics –our method
How will we compare in this course?
Read AR #10 p Systems Theory, Structural-Functional, Historical, Typological
Evaluate pros and cons of each method
Read AR #13 p – how to compare? Why STs?
Review A&P’s S-F approach in AR 11– groups will
a) Use US to develop statements correctly using the 1st 26 glossary terms AR # 8 p 20
b) complete Structural-functional approach pre-quiz
b) draw an S-F diagram for the US system
How does Kesselman compare to the STs and A&P’s S-F approach?

2. Pragmatist named to post key to Iranian clerical body
By Ramin Mostaghim and Jeffrey Fleishman
TEHRAN, Iran - Former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani rose to a key religious post yesterday in a move that moderates considered a victory at a time Tehran is facing international pressure over its nuclear ambitions and U.S. threats to brand its Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization.
VAHID SALEMI / Associated Press
Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani will lead the clerical body that selects the supreme religious leader.

3. 4-Year Growth in Jobs Ends; Stocks Plunge
The New York Times
Employers eliminated 4,000 jobs in August, the Labor Department said today, bringing an end to four years of uninterrupted job growth.
Economists said the report provides the Federal Reserve with ample justification to lower interest rates at least a quarter point when it meets Sept. 18. But the numbers also raised fresh fears of a recession and suggested that the damage from the recent turmoil in financial markets could be spreading.

4. Groups for Presentation 1 / Presentation 2
United Kingdom/ Iran –
Russian Federation/ Nigeria -
People’s Republic of China/ Mexico -

5. State – collection of all individuals, groups and institutions involved in making, implementing and adjudicating public policies.
Government – members of the “temporary” administration – generally the executive branch
Nation - group of people with common language, culture, identity and affinity to land,
Regime – the system of rules under which the political system operates

6. Substantive Topics and AP Terminology
Sovereignty, Authority, Power,
Political Institutions
Citizens, Society & State
Political and economic Change
Public Policy
Identify the key questions that each of the above ST’s asks you to understand about each of the nation-state case studies.

7. Political System – collection of institutions involved in the creation and implementation of public policy
System-environment approach- focus on general process and interaction between inputs, decision-making, outputs, feedback and the environment
Structural-functional approach – focus on the process within each step in the system - the who and how each of inputs, decisions and outputs
AND the evaluation of the effectiveness of the entire system in maintaining the regime and providing for the satisfaction of its people
Typology approach – focus on comparing the various types of gov’t from authoritarian to democratic. Here system theory is augmented by categorization to better evaluate the success of various types and their strengths and weaknesses relative to each other
Historical Approach – looking at the past to better understand where the political system will go in the future. Probably includes study of the political culture as it interacts with the political system

8. environment
inputs
Decision-
making
outputs
Feedback
Political system

9. History and culture inputs environment Regime type outputs Feedback
structure-function
inputs
Decision-
making
outputs
Feedback
Political system

10. outcomes outputs inputs feedback outputs outcomes System Functions
Policy functions
inputs
aggregation
implementation
articulation
Policy making
feedback
outputs
outcomes
Foreign state