Why Compare?

(4 min) Think of a question involving U.S. politics that needs to be examined in a comparative perspective. Why is this?Can you think of a political problem whose understanding would not require comparisons?

No comparison is possible without a problem

“What motivates the best comparative politics research are puzzles of real-world significance: Under what conditions do democracies emerge and stabilize? Why do revolutions occur? What is the role of different types of regimes in facilitating prosperity and equity? This problem orientation distinguishes comparative politics from other social science fields.” Atul Kohli

Comparative politics is Problem Problem DrivenDriven::

(Political?) reality

Real Problems

Theories/Paradigms

= Research Problems= Research Problems

In 1999, there were 648 prisoners per 100,000.

In 1997, the Gini Index (index of inequality) was 40.8 (the lowest 10% got 1.8% of wealth, and the highest 10% got 30.5%).

The U.S. ranks as a Free Country

In the U.S.

Thus... • Are 40.8 Gini and 648 prisoners per 100,000

people LOW or HIGH?

• Are these indicators related?Are these indicators related?Do they affect– Democracy?– Political participation?

(What is freedom? Can we really measure it?)Are they affected by these factors?

• How can we decide about this?How can we decide about this?

1. Prisons

• In the U.S. (Cross-time)

Year # people in prison

1975 380,000

1985 740,000

1995 1,600,000

1.Prisons (Cross-country)Country Year # people in

prisonPrisoners per 100,000

U.S. 1999 1,785,079 648

Great Britain 1997 68,124 120

Germany 1997 74,317 90

Denmark 1997 3,299 62

Greece 1997 5,577 54

2. InequalityCountry Year Gini Lowest

10% (%)Highest 10%

U.S. 1997 40.8 1.8 30.5

France 1995 32.7 2.8 25.1

Germany 1994 30 3.3 23.7

Japan 1993 24.9 4.8 21.7

U.K. 1991 36.1 2.6 27.3

Mexico 1998 53.1 1.3 41.7

China 2001 40 2.4 30.4

India 1997 37.8 3.5 33.5

Russia 2001 39.9 1.7 38.7

… and FreedomCountry Gini Freedom 2003

U.S. 40.8 F

France 32.7 F

Germany 30 F

Japan 24.9 F

U.K. 36.1 F

Mexico 53.1 F

China 40 NF

India 37.8 F

Russia 39.9 PF

Do you SeeAnything?

But... Neither the cases nor the variables

are a given.

Instead, they result from

-Choices/decisions of the researcher, conditioned by

-Possibilities offered by the data, and

-Trends (paradigms) in the academic community.

Two Basic Aspects of Comparative politics

• Empirical (gathering & comparing data)

• Conceptual (producing fair definitions, i.e. “democracy”). Finding the right level of abstraction (neither too specific nor too general)

New Challenges posed by Globalization

• Michael Curtis: September 11, 2001

• “Isolation is not viable and international cooperation is imperative.”

• Comparative Politics allows us to– Understand the politics (and political culture)

of different countries– “Understand better our own system if we can

appreciate its similarities to and differences from other systems.”

Ruth Lane:

• “Comparative politics as an area of study goes back to Greek antiquity, and has continued sporadically throughout history, but has achieved a special importance at the close of the twentieth century, when economics, technology, travel, and communicatins have brought all areas of the world into deep interdependence.”

Comparative politics is a field that aspires to be

scientific