Chapter 1: The Comparative Method

• tldr

  • conclusions about a country or political system can br drawn only through scientific comparison to other countries or political systems
  • statements about a political statement can be either empirical or normative
  • political systems are complex, and the inputs and outputs of the system operate within political culture unique to that society
  • political scientists gather and use data for comparison and test their hypothesis with data in a similar method to other sciences

• empirical statements are facts (sarthak has more money than sam)

• normative statements include value judgements (sam should take up the same career path as sarthak)

• systems theory states the inputs of demands and support create decisions and actions through the political system and those outputs create more inputs which create even more outputs with the environment surrounding each input and output

  • the environment means the political culture of the society
  • inputs are demands made by political parties and interest groups but can also be made by citizen social movements and civil society groups regarding policies about changing tax rates, new environmental regulations, or more spending on national defense
  • outputs are the decisions and actions after public policies are mad that produce feedback to the inputting forces

• linkage institutions connect people to policy making (elections, political parties, interest groups, and the media)

• state institutions create and enforce the policies (legislative, judicial, executive, but also military and bureaucracy)

• remember correlation (one goes up the other goes up) does not mean causation (one goes up THEREFORE the other goes up)

• political culture ensures political actors conduct themselves properly