posc 3315 w12.1. studying latin american politics context ◦ who’s in, who’s out
TRANSCRIPT
POSC 3315W12.1
Studying Latin American politics
Context◦Who’s in, who’s out
Should we include the excluded?Why don’t we?Is LA a region?
◦Historically?◦Economically?◦Politically?◦Culturally?
Why does this matter?◦What does it let us do?
Why Latin America is western.◦Who says it isn’t?◦Why say it is?
Latin America and the Third World◦What is the TW?◦What are its common features?◦What are its points of divergence?◦How useful is the concept?
How to study LATwo approaches; not antitheticalComparative Politics
◦Systematic◦Problem-driven or theory-driven◦Tries to transcend borders◦Aims to build theory – midrange or
grand◦Deductive + inductive
Area studies◦Define by geography, cultural
similarity, historical ties ◦Thick description◦Inductive + deductive◦Limited generalization◦Detailed knowledge of culture,
language, history
Why together?Need to think of logic of
comparison and basic comparative politics research approaches.
Some need lots of detail; e.g., case studies, binary studies and small-N studies
Others, large-N studies, do not ◦But let us look at region-wide (20
country) questions.
Most comparative politics =single case, binary ,or small-N studies
Single case◦How can this be comparative? Why
do this?Binary studies: two cases
◦Most Similar Systems (MSS)◦Least Similar/Most Dissimilar
Systems (LSS/MDS)
What’s the difference?◦MSS: similar on most points; diverge
on one May not be able specify cause of
difference’ may be multiple and interacting
Work well with within-case comparisons
◦MDS: similar on one; diverge on most How do different systems same/similar
result? Multiple, interacting causes here too
◦Either can be binary or small-N
In case studies, binary comparisons and small-N studies◦Select cases very carefully
Case study: a case of what? What principle is examined?
Binary and small-n: look for hard cases, ones that look unlikely to prove your point.
Large-N: above are qualitative, these are qualitative
Large N works for some things, e.g., correlates of democracy, but not others, e.g., policies for rapid economic development In Latin American area studies a large-N study might
cover all 20 statesCase studies, binary and small-N studies well
adapted to focusing on a specific areaLarge-N studies let us take in all/most/many
of the countries