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POLS 2100 Textbook Notes
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Comparative politics: the study and comparison of domestic politics across
countries
Politics: the struggle in any group for power that will give one or more
persons the ability to make decisions for the larger group
Power: the ability to influence other or impose one’s will on them
Major thinkers in comparative politics:
1. Aristotle (384-322BCE)
 Separated the study of politics from that of philosophy
 used comparative method to study Greek city states
2. Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)
 Cited as first modern political scientist because of his emphasis on
statecraft and empirical knowledge
 Analyzed different political systems
3. Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
 Developed the “social contract”
 Freedom for safety
 Life without political authority
4. John Locke (1632-1704)
 Argued that private property is essential to individual freedom and
prosperity
5. Charles Louise de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755)
 Studied government systems
 Advocated the separation of powers within government
6. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
 Argued that citizens’ rights are inalienable and can’t be taken away by the
state
 Influenced the development of civil rights
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7. Karl Marx (1818-1883)
 Inequality in Das Kapital
 Predicted the eventual collapse of capitalism and democracy
8. Max Weber (1864-1920)
 Wrote on topics such as bureaucracy, forms of authority, and the impact
of culture on economic and political development
Traditional approach: emphasis on describing political systems and their
various institutions
Behavioral approach: the shift from a descriptive study of politics to one
that emphasizes casualty, explanation, and prediction
Chapter 2: States
State: the organization that maintains a monopoly of violence over a
territory
Sovereignty: the ability to carry out actions and policies within a territory
independent of external actors and internal rivals
Regime: the fundamental rules and norms of politics
Government: the leadership that runs the state, limited by the regime
Consensus: individuals band together to protect themselves and create
common rules: leadership chosen from among people, security through
cooperation  democratic rule
Coercion: individuals are brought together by a ruler, who imposes
authority and monopolizes power. Security through domination 
Authoritarian rule
Types of legitimacy:
1. traditional legitimacy: built by habit and custom over time, stressing
history; strongly institutionalized (ex. Monarch)
2. Charismatic legitimacy: built on the force of ideas and presence of the
leader; weakly institutionalized (ex. Revolutionary hero)
3. Rational-legal legitimacy: built on rules and procedures and the offices
that create and enforce those rules; strongly institutionalized (ex. Elected
executive)
Federalism: powers such as taxation, lawmaking, and security are devolved
to regional bodies and to local legislatures that control specific territories
within the country
Asymmetric federalism: power is divided unevenly between regional
bodies
Unitary states: political power is concentrated at the national level, and
local authority is limited
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Chapter 3: Nations and Society
Ethnicity: we emphasize a person’s relation to other members of society
Ethnic identity: a set of institutions that bind people together through a
common culture. Often based on customs, language, religion, or other
factors
Nation: a group that desires self government through an independent state
National identity: an institution that binds people together through
common political aspirations
Nationalism: a pride in one’s people and the belief that they have their own
sovereign political destiny that is separate from others
Citizenship: an individual’s relation to the state; the individual swears
allegiance to the state, and the state in turn provides certain benefits or
rights
Nation-state: a sovereign state encompassing one dominant nation that it
claims to embody and represent
Ethnic conflict: conflict between ethnic groups that struggle to acheieve
certain political or economic goals at each other’s expenses
National conflict: seeks to gain sovereignty, clashing with one another
over the quest to form an independent state
Radicals: believe in dramatic, often revolutionary change of the existing
political, social or economic order
Ideologies:
1. Liberalism: favors a limited state role in society and economic activity;
emphasizes a high degree of personal freedom over social equality
(conservative)
2. Communism: emphasizes limited personal freedom and a strong state in
order to achieve social equality; property is wholly owned by the state and
market forces are eliminated; state takes on task of production and other
economic decisions (radical)
3. Social democracy: supports private property and markets but believes
that state has a strong role to play in regulating the economy and providing
benefits to the public; seeks to balance freedom and equality (liberal)
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4. fascism: stresses a low degree of both personal freedom and equality in
order to achieve a powerful state (reactionary)
5 anarchism: stresses the elimination of the state and private property as a
way to achieve both freedom and equality for all; believes that a high degree
of person freedom and social equality is possible (radical)
Chapter 4: Political Economy
Political economy: the study of how politics and economics are related and
how their relationship shapes the balance between freedom and equality
Markets: the interactions between the forces of supply and demand, and
they allocate resources through the process of those interactions
 sellers seek to create products that will be in demand
 buyers seek to buy the best or most goods at the lowest price
 markets are the medium through which buyers and sellers exchange
goods
 markets emerge spontaneously and aren’t easily controlled by the state
Property: the ownership of the goods and services exchanged through
markets
 land, buildings, businesses or personal items
Public goods: goods provided or secured by the state, that are available for
society and indivisible, meaning that no one private person or organization
can own them
Social expenditures: the state’s provision of public benefits, such as
education, health care and transportation
Central bank: an institution that controls how much money is flowing
through the economy, as well as how much it costs to borrow money in that
economy
 controls the amount of money in an economy
 controls the cost of borrowing money
 lowers interest rates to stimulate the economy
 raises interest rates to check inflation
Inflation: an increase in the overall prices in the economy (also deflation)
Hyperinflation: inflation that is higher than 50% a month for more than 2
months in a row
Tariffs: taxes on imported goods
Quotas: limit the quantity of a good coming into the country
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Arguments over the regulation of trade:

Why regulate trade?
- To generate state revenue
- To foster local industry
- To protect local jobs
- To keep wealth in the country

-
Why not?
To promote competition
-
To keep the costs of goods low
To stimulate domestic innovation in areas of comparative advantage
Political economic system: the actual relationship between political and
economic institutions in a particular country, as well as the policies and
outcomes they create
Laissez faire: let do
Capitalism: a system of private property and free markets
How do social democracies seek to achieve greater equality?
- Through taxes, which make high levels of social expenditure possible
while redistributing wealth from rich to poor
- Through trade, which is promoted but balanced with preserving
domestic industry and jobs
- Through government regulation and even ownership of important
sectors of the economy
Contributors to the theories of political economy:
 Liberalism: The wealth of nations, considered one of the first texts on
modern economics. Articulated the idea that economic development
requires limited government interference – Adam Smith
 Mercantilism: Nation system of political economy rejected free-trade
theories of liberalism, arguing that states must play a strong role in
protecting and developing the national economy against foreign
competitors – Friedrich List
 Communism: Das Kapital, asserted that human history is driven by
economic relations and inequality and that revolution will eventually
replace capitalism with a system of total equality among people – Karl
Marx
 Social democracy: Evolutionary Socialism, Rejected Marx’s belief in the
inevitability of revolution, arguing that economic equality can be achieved
through democratic participation – Edward Bernstein
How do mercantilist states seek to achieve economic power?
- By directing the economy toward certain industries and away from others
through the use of subsidies and taxation
- Through partial or full state ownership of industries that are considered
critical
- With the strong use of tariffs, nontariff barriers, and other regulations
- By limiting social expenditures and thereby keeping taxation to a minimum
- With low interest rates set by the central bank to encourage borrowing and
investment
GDP: measures total production within a country, regardless of who owns
the products
PPP: takes cost of living and buying power into account
GINI: assess inequality
HDI: assess health, education and wealth of the population
Liberalization: cutting taxes, reducing regulation, privatizing state owned
businesses and public goods and expanding property rights
Chapter 6: Nondemocratic Regimes
Nondemocratic Regime: a political regime is controlled by a small group of
individuals who exercise power over the state without being constitutionally
responsible to the public
 a small group of individuals exercises power over the state
 government isn’t constitutionally responsible to the public
 public has little or no role in selecting leaders
 individual freedom is restricted
 nondemocratic regimes may be institutionalized and legitimate
Totalitarianism: a form of nondemocratic rule with a highly centralized
state whose regime has a well defined ideology and seeks to transform and
fuse the institutions of state, society and the economy
 seeks to control and transform all aspects of the state, society and
economy
 use violence as a tool for remaking institutions
 have a strong ideological goal
 have arisen relatively rarely
Populism: a specific ideology and in fact draws much of its power from an
anti institution approach
Nondemocratic means of control:
- Coercion public obedience is enforced through violence and surveillance
- Co-optation: members of the public are brought into a beneficial
relationship with the state and government
- Personality cult: the public is encouraged to obey the leader based on
his/her extraordinary qualities and compelling ideas
Corporatism: emerged as a method by which nondemocratic regimes
attempted to solidify their control over the public by creating a limited
number of organizations to represent the interests of the public and
restricting those not set up or approved by the state
Clientelism: where the state co-opts members of the public by providing
specific benefits to a person in return for public support ex. Voting
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Kleptocracy: those in power seek only to drain the state of assets and
resources
Patrimonialism: an arrangement where the ruler depends on a collection of
supporters within the state who gain direct benefits in return for enforcing
the ruler’s will
Bureaucratic Authoritarianism: a regime in which the state bureaucracy
and the military share a belief that a technocratic leadership, focused on
rational, objective and technical expertise, can solve the problems of the
country – unlike emotional or irrational ideology based parties
Types of nondemocratic rule:
1. Personal and monarchial rule: rule by a single leader with no clear regime
or rules constraining that leadership
2. Military rule: rule by one or more military officials, often brought to power
through a coup detat
3. One party rule: rule by one political party, with other groups banned or
excluded from power
4. Theocracy: rule by god: holy texts serve as foundation for regime and
politics
5. illiberal regimes: rule by an elected leadership, through procedures of
questionable democratic legitimacy
Political Violence
Political Violence: politically motivated violence outside of state control
 ex. Revolutions, civil wars, riots and strikes
3 Explanations for political violence
1. Institutional: Existing institutions may encourage violence or constrain
human action, creating a violent backlash ex. Presidentialism
2. Ideational: Ideas may justify or promote the use of violence ex. Some
forms of religious fundamentalism; nationalism
3. Individual: Psychological or strategic factors may lead people to carry out
violence ex. Humiliation
2 Forms of political violence
1. Revolution: an uprising of the masses, who take to the streets, seize
control of the state, and depose the old regime
 a public seizure of the state in order to overturn the existing government
and regime
2. Terrorism: much more secret and hidden, a conspiratorial action carried
out by a small group
 the use of violence by non state actors against civilians to achieve a
political goal
Relative deprivation model: according to this model, revolutions are less
a function of specific conditions than of the gap between actual conditions
and public expectations
 it isn’t absolute conditions that instigate revolution but rather how the
public perceives them
State sponsored terrorism: terrorism supported directly by state as an
instrument of foreign policy
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Shifting Views of Revolution
Phase
Approach
Criticisms
First: Pre - world War
II
Studies of Revolutionary Unsystematic and
events
descriptive
Second: Post - World
War II Behavioral
Revolution
Studies of disruptive
change, such as
modernization, as
driving revolutionary
action
Not clear why change or
rising discontent leads
to revolution in some
cases and not others
Third: 1970s present
Studies of domestic and
international state
power as providing the
opening for revolution
Too focused on
institutions, to the
neglect of ideas and
individual actors
Guerrilla War: involves non-state combatants who largely accept traditional
rules of war and target the state rather than civilians
Nihilism: a belief that all institutions and values are essentially meaningless
and that the only redeeming value on can embrace is violence
 Violence is desirable for its own sake
Regime Type and Terrorism
Regime Type
Effect on
Terrorism
Result
Risk of
Terrorism
Authoritarian
Authoritarian
may foster
terrorism, but
the state can
repress
Limited
terrorism, but
may be
redirected
outside of the
Lower
domestic
country toward
terrorists; the
state is
unhindered by
civil liberties
more vulnerable
targets
Participatory
institutions and
civil liberties
are likely to
Domestic
terrorism less
likely, but
country may be
undercut public
support for
terrorism
a target of
international
terrorism
generated in
nondemocratic
regimes
Democratic
Illiberal/Transitional Weak state
capacity,
instability, and
limited
democratic
institutions may
generate both
opportunities
and motivations
for terrorism
Terrorism more
likely, with
domestic and/or
international
support
Moderate
Higher
Advanced Democracies
Political Diversity in Advanced Democracies:
1. Participation:
- Standards of voter eligibility digger
- referenda and initiatives are used in varying degrees
- some states automatically register all eligible voters
- voting is compulsory in some nations, but voluntary in most
2. Competition:
- different methods and levels of funding are used for political parties and
campaigns
- separation of powers varies greatly and is based primarily on the relative
strength of different branches of government
3. Liberties:
- distinctions exist in the regulation, allowance, or prohibition of activities
such as abortion, prostitution, and hate speech
- different degrees of individual privacy are protected from state and
corporate intrusion
Supranational system: where sovereignty is shared between the member
states and the EU
Means of Devolution:
- transfer of policy making responsibility to lower levels of government
- creation of new political institutions at lower levels of government
- transfer of funds and powers to tax to lower levels of government,
affording them more control over how resources are distributed
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Communism and Post communism
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Communism: a set of ideas that view political, social, and economic
institutions in a manner fundamentally different from political thought
Terms in Marxist Theory
1. Surplus value of labour: the value invested in any human made good that
can be used by another individual. Exploitation results when one person or
group extracts the surplus value from another
2. Base: the economic system of a society, made up of technology and class
relations between people
3. Superstructure: all noneconomic institutions in a society. These ideas and
values derive from the base and serve to legitimize the current system of
exploitation
4. False consciousness: failure to understand the nature of one’s exploitation
5. Dialectical materialism: process of historical change that is not
evolutionary but revolutionary. The existing base and superstructure would
come into conflict with new technological innovations, generating growing
opposition to the existing order.
6. Dictatorship of the proletariat: temporary period after capitalism has been
overthrown during which vestiges of the old base and superstructure are
eradicated
7. proletariat: the working class
8. Bourgeoisie: the property owning class
9. Communism: state and politics would disappear, and society and the
economy would be based on equality and cooperation
10. Vanguard of the proletariat: that an elite communist party would have to
carry out revolution, because as a result of the false consciousness,
historical conditions would not automatically lead to capitalism’s demise
Important figures in communism
- Karl Marx: first philosopher to construct a theory explaining why capitalism
would fail and be replaced by communism
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- Lenin: Applied Marxist thought to Russia. Modified Marxist ideas by arguing
that revolution would occur in struggling countries
- Stalin: embarked on rapid industrialization of the country, modifying
Marxism to argue that socialism could be built within just a single country
- Mao Zedong: led the Chinese communist party and fought against Chinese
rivals and Japanese occupiers during WWII. Modified communism to focus on
the peasantry instead of the working class
- Deng Xiaoping: fought with Mao Zedong against Chinese nationalists and
Japanese occupiers during WWII . Pursued economic liberalization in the
1980’s and supported repression of the Tiananmen square protest
- Fidel Castro: led the Cuban revolution in 1959 and defended the
communist system against anticommunist forces and US opposition;
continues to defend Cuban socialism in spite of the collapse of the Soviet
Union and other communist regimes in Eastern Europe
- Mikhail Gorbachev: general secretary of the communist party of the Soviet
Union in 1985, initiated the twin policies of economic restructuring and
political liberalization
Politburo: political bureau
Communist political economy:
- markets and property are wholly absorbed by the state
- central planning replaces the market mechanism
- individual property, profit, unemployment, competition, are eliminated
- the state provides extensive public goods and social services
Societal institutions under communism
1. Ideal
- Religion, the opiate of the masses will disappear
- men and women will be economically, socially, and politically equal
- repressive institutions such as marriage will be replaced by an openly
legalized system of free love
- nationalism, exposed as part of the elite’s divide and conquer strategy will
be eliminated
2. Reality
- religion was suppressed but not eliminated
- opportunities for women increased, but women were still expected to fulfill
traditional duties in the home
- many communist countries remained very sexually conservative
- though discouraged from doing so, people clung to old national and ethnic
identities
Privatization: the transfer of state-held property into private hands
Marketization: the recreation of the market forces of supply and demand
Shock therapy: rapid market reforms that would free prices and being an
end to central planning and state subsidies for business overnight
Less Developed and Newly Industrializing Countries
Newly Industrialized Country: A historically less developed country that
has experienced significant economic growth and democratization
Less developed country: A country that lacks significant economic
development or political institutionalization or both
Imperialism: where a state extends its power to directly control territory,
resources, and people beyond its borders
- Was propagated by European powers from the 16th – 21st C
- Is driven by economic, strategic, and religious motives
- Often led to colonialism, the physical occupation of foreign territories
Colonialism: a greater degree of the physical occupation of a foreign
territory through military force, business, or settlers
Political and Social institutions of imperialism:
- The state, as a form of political organization, was imposed on much of the
world outside of Europe
- Ethnic and national identities were created where none had existed before
colonization
- Gender roles from the imperial country were often imposed on colonies
Economic institutions of imperialism:
- Traditional agricultural economies were transformed to suit the needs of
the imperialist power
- Economic organization under imperialism impeded domestic developed in
the economies
- Free trade was often suppressed as colonies were forced to supply goods
only to the imperial country, creating extractive economies in the colonies
Challenges to building state autonomy and capacity in less
developed countries:
- Absence of professional bureaucracy
- Clientelism, rent seeking, and corruption in the handling of state jobs and
revenue
- Sovereignty often comprised by external actions
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Challenges to building a unified nation state:
- Ethnic and religious divisions among different groups in heterogeneous
societies
- Arbitrary political boundaries imposed by imperial powers
Import substitution: countries restrict imports, raising tariff or nontariff
barriers to spur demand for local alternatives
Export oriented industrialization: sought out technologies and developed
industries that were focused specifically on export, capitalizing on what is
known as the “product life cycle”
Three paths to Economic Growth:
1. Import substitution:
- Based on mercantilism
- State plays a strong role in the economy
- Tariff or nontariff barriers are used to restrict imports
- State actively promotes domestic production, sometimes creating state
owned businesses in developed industries
- Criticized for creating “hothouse economies” with large industries reliant on
the state for support and unable to compete in the international market
2. Export oriented industrialization:
- Based on mercantilism
- State plays a strong role in the economy
- Tariff barriers used to protect domestic industries
- Economic production is focused on industries that have a niche in the
international market
- Seeks to integrate directly into the global economy
- Has generally led to a higher level of economic development that import
substitution
3. Structural adjustment
- Based on liberalism
- State involvement is reduced as the economy is opened up
- Foreign investment is encouraged
- Often follows import substitution
- Criticized as a tool of neocolonialism and for its failure in many cases to
bring substantial economic development
Globalization and the Future of Comparative Politics
Globalization: linkages between states, societies, and economies appear to
be intensifying, and at an increasingly rapid pace, challenging long standing
institutions, assumptions and norms
Multinational corporation (MNC): firms that produce, distribute, and
market goods and services in more than one century ex. Microsoft
Nongovernmental organizations (NGO): national and international
groups that are independent of any state and pursue policy objectives and
foster public participation ex. Greenpeace, Red Cross
Intergovernmental organizations (IGO): groups created by states to
serve the EU, and the organization of American states ex. UN, EU
International regime: link states together through rules and norms that
shape their relationships to one another, usually regarding some specific
issue (such as greenhouse gases or trade)
Bretton Woods System: was created to manage international economic
relations, whose inability was commonly cites as a driving force behind the
great depression and WWII
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