Political Science 175

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I. Politics and Comparative
Politics
II. Issues in Comparative
Politics

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 Social Sciences
(especially Political Science)
are not strictly experimental science
in search of law
but an interpretive one
in search of meaning.

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 “Politics is a (complex) term with varied uses and
nuances.”

 Working Definitions of Politics

-Authoritative allocation of scarce resources.
(Easton, 1965)

-Activity or process by which groups reach

binding collective decisions through
attempting to reconcile differences among their
members. (Hague & Harrop, 2001)

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 “POLITICS is part of our FATE, we have NO CHOICE
but to PRACTICE it.” (Hague & Harrop, 2001)

Necessity of Politics:

Collective character BODY

Political Of Human life POLITIC
ANIMAL

Politics is thus ESSENTIAL

in all human activities.

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1. a COLLECTIVE activity;
2. presumes an initial DIVERSITY of VIEWS (Politics is
thus always equated to CONFLICT. This does not
create however a negative image on Politics);
3. involves RECONCILING such differences thus
DISCOURSE will be its WEAPON and
4. expected Outcome: Political Decisions---
AUTHORITATIVE POLICIES

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 Comparative Enquiry
“Political Science has its beginning
when an observer notes that another
people is not governed as we are and
asks question, ‘why?’” (Rose, 1991)

“An awareness of diversity provides

the starting point for comparative
enquiry.” (Hague and Harrop, 2001)

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 COMPARE & CONTRAST
“Without COMPARISONS to make, the mind does not know how to
proceed.” (Tocqueville, 1830)

Comparative Politics
 Refers to a subject matter, a field or specialty
within the academic study of Political Science
(Area of Specialization: 1.Comparative Politics; 2.Political theory;
3.International Relations and 4.US Politics) and a method or
approach to the study of politics.

“All explanatory research is by nature comparative.”

(Holland, 1986)

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 It pertains to the family of strategies and
techniques with advance understanding within
the field.
 It is the ‘master strategy’ for drawing
inferences about causation in any area of study
by uncovering the relationship of cause and
effect.

Subject Matter or Unit of Analysis

 Domestic Politics of the Political System

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Importance of Comparative Politics

“By taking us beyond our familiar

arrangements and assumptions,
comparative analysis
helps expand our awareness of the
possibilities of Politics.”
(Almond and Powell, 2004)

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 A Comparativist’s View of
Politics

• “Politics has many faces and can be a force for

good as well as evil.”
• It has to do with human decisions and PoSc is
the study of such decisions.
• A Political Decisions
• One that is PUBLIC (Politics is inherently social.
Political Solitaire is not possible! It is thus a
collective activity (Easton, 1965)) and
AUTHORITATIVE.
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• A Comparativist must not be
imprisoned in a strait-jacket
called explanation.

• “Good description is better than

bad explanation.” (King,
Keohane & Verba, 1994)
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A Political Scientist, “is NOT TO PROVE a THEORY,
but to DISCONFIRM alternative hypotheses.”
(Popper, 1968)

THUS…

The objective of a Comparativist is to describe and to

comprehend but not necessarily to explain cross-
national similarities and differences.
(Hague and Harrop, 2001)
[ i.e. 1st, to identify then to explain thereafter.]

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 Core Unit
Country (Domestic Politics)

(1)Social context of politics

(2)State as a whole

(3)Institutions of govts..

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Institution-centered

Society-centered.

State-centered

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 The organization of government and the
relationship between them.
 Heart of body politic = Government
 The formal political structure of the State [A
concept under the exclusive domain of Political
Science]. (Rhodes, 1995)
 ‘Institutions’ - major organization of national
govt, those defined in the constitution.
 - organization charged with the task of government.

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 FOCUSES on…
 Institutional Analysis
 Roles matter more than people who occupy
them;
 Capacity of institutions to shape the
behavior of members
 Reliability of their long-term commitments
 “Conceived as possessing a history, culture
and memory of their own, sometimes
embodying founding values and
traditions… (Sait, 1935)
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◘ People acquire interests such as defending the
organization against predators and ensuring
their own personal progress within the
structure;

◘ People defending the interests of the

organization they work for;

◘ People are driven by the institutions

(institutions bring forth activity which takes
place because it is expected.)
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 Society-Centered Approach
How social factors influence individual behavior in politics.

 History (1960 & 1970)

 The unpalatable taste of institutions
 The search for Generalizations about the
political attitudes and behavior of
individual (after WW II)

 Focus is on social foundations

 i.e the State is embedded in society
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 G
A
T
Demands The Authoritative
E
Support political system Decisions
K
E
E
P
E
R
S

FEEDBACK

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 The drivers are not the institutions anymore
but the inputs.
 The essence of politics as lying in its
relationship with the wider society.
 Political system is used as a mechanism for
converting demands from society into concrete
policies.
 The people have the ability to shape the
institutions.

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 The priorities of the state and their impact on society.
 History (1980)
 ‘Bringing the state back in’
 Return to the study of state as a whole and as a
single central concern of the political activity.

 State itself as an active agent, shaping and re-

shaping society.

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 State is no longer embedded in society
(behavioralist) but society is already
part of a configuration defined largely
by the State itself.
 State acts autonomously and not just
imprisoned by social forces.
 State using its administrative capacity
and monopoly of legitimate force to
bring about fundamental social
changes.

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 “aiding the comprehension
of daily news from abroad.” ( Munro, 1925)

1. Learning about other governments

broadens our understanding, casting fresh
light on our home nation.
2. Comparison improves our classifications of
political processes.
3. Comparison enables us to test general
hypotheses about politics.
4. Comparison gives us some potential for
prediction and control.
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1. By definition, comparative research demands
knowledge of more than one political system.
2. The ‘same’ phenomenon can have different
meanings in different countries. This makes it
difficult to compare like with like.
3. Relationships between countries mean they
cannot be regarded as independent,

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further reducing our ability to test theories.
4.There are not enough countries in the world to
allow theories to be tested precisely.
5. The countries or other cases selected for study
may be unrepresentative sample, limiting the
general significance of the findings.

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“When due weight is given
to description
as well as explanation,
some methodological
difficulties fade away.”
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 Comparativist

Case Studies Statistical

Analysis

Focused Comparisons
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 Intensive scrutiny of one or few countries

 Provide a detailed account of a

few examples falling into a
wider category.
 How the factors at work interact
to form a particular
configuration or conjuncture.

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 Systematic analysis of
variables drawn from a
larger number of examples.

 Examines the relationships between political

variables applying across different cases.

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 “Making sense in the most tumultuous times.”

BRAVE NEW WORLD

(Giddens, 1996)
LABORATORY
Contemporary Politics OPPORTUNITIES
Dramatic & Unpredictable &
Events RISKS

COMPARATIVE POLITICS

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 Analyzes in detail the government and politics
of the internal environment of the Political
System;
 Identifies the common themes in the
development of the countries by explaining
longer term causes of both changes and
continuities;
 Provides a cross-national comparisons and
 Identifies where countries are moving beyond
the crossroads.
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 Where Political Decisions
Take Place?
 Inside the (Almond and Powell, 1988) Political
System
-System:
 an ecological concepts implying an organization
interacting with an environment, influencing it and
being influenced by it.
-Political System:
 A part of the arrangements that a society has for
formulating and pursuing its collective goals
pursued in many areas.
 Collective goals are pursued through institutions or
structures that carry on specific activities or
functions.

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 Politics takes place within and between political systems.

 Properties:
1. A set of interdependent parts; and
2. Boundaries towards the outside environment

 The term refers to the whole collection of related,

interacting institutions and agencies.

Com Pol is the study of political systems,

not as isolated cases
but through generalizations and
comparisons.
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 Some Important Concepts
Political System
• Set of institutions and agencies concerned
with formulating and implementing the
collective goals of society or of organs
within it.
Government
• Policy making part of the political system
(Decision as backed up by coercion & obedience)

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 PHILIPPINES

DOMESTIC ENVIRONMENT
System functions
Socialization, Recruitment, Communication

Policy O
I Functions U
N
Process functions
T
P P
U U
T Interest Interest Policy Policy Implementation Extraction,
Articulation Aggregation Making and adjudication Regulation, T
S and Distribution S

Structure of A Political System

By: Almond and Powell
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 Environments
1. Domestic Environment
2. International Environment

The Political System exists in both environments

molding these environments and being molded
by them in return.

They receive inputs of demands and supports from

these environments & attempts to shape them
through its outputs.

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 Three (3) Broad Functions
1.System Function – determines the inputs
(Socialization, Recruitment & Communication)
The three functions are concern with the maintenance of
the system.

2.Process Function
(Interest Articulation, Interests Aggregation, Policy Making
& Policy Implementation and Adjudication)
Relate to the process by which collective decisions are
made and implemented.

3.Output Function
(Policy Extraction, Regulation and Distribution)
Treats the output.
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 Almond and Powell’s
Functions of political systems

Political Socialization Their attitudes to the political system

must be formed and sustained.
Political Recruitment People must be recruited to fill political
roles from voters to government
leaders.
Political Communication Politically relevant information must be
transmitted.
Interest articulation Demands for particular policies must be
expressed.
Interest aggregation Demands must be selected and
combined into a manageable number of
major alternatives.
Policy-making Demands must be converted into authoritative
decisions and policies.
Policy implementation These decisions must be put into effect.

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 Heywood, Andrew (2002). What is Politics.
 Almond, Powell, et. Al (2004). ‘Issues in
Comparative Politics’, in Comparative
Politics.
 Almond, Powell, et. Al (2004). ‘Comparing
Political Systems’, in Comparative Politics.
 Hague & Harrop (2001). Comparative
Governments & Politics: An Introduction.

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