2ComparativeTheory

Click to edit Master title style,Click to edit Master text styles,Second level,Third level,Fourth level,Fifth level,Chapter Two,Comparing Political Systems,Comparative Politics Today,9/e,Almond,Powell,Dalton&Strm,Pearson Education,Inc.publishing as Longman 2008,Why We Compare,“,Without comparisons to make,the mind does not know how to proceed,.”,-Tocqueville,Benefits of comparison,Methodological core of the scientific study of politics,Aristotle,Contemporary political scientists,Try to explain differences between the processes and performances of political systems,How We Compare,First stage in the study of politics is description.,To describe it we need a set of concepts that are clearly defined and well understood.,Conceptual framework,Easier this set of concepts is to understand and the more generally it can be applied,the more helpful it is to the study of politics.,Political Systems:Environment and Interdependence,To utilize a structural-functional systems framework to compare political systems we need to discuss three general concepts:,System:suggests an object having interdependent parts,acting within a setting or an environment,Structure,Function,Political system:a set of institutions and agencies concerned with formulating and implementing the collective goals of a society or of groups within it,Political Systems:Environment and Interdependence,Governments are the policymaking parts of political systems.,Decisions of governments are normally backed up by legitimate coercion;obedience may be compelled.,A political system exists in both an international environment and a domestic environment.,A system receives inputs from these environments.,International,Exchanges among countries may vary in many ways:small to great.,Interdependence has increased enormously in the last decades.,Globalization,Domestic,Economic and social systems,Political culture of its citizens,Political Systems:Structures and Functions,Structures:parliaments,bureaucracies,administrative agencies,and courts,Structures perform functions,which in turn enable the government to formulate,implement,and enforce its policies.,Policies reflect the goals;the agencies provide the means.,Six types of political structures:political parties,interest groups,legislatures,executives,bureaucracies,and courts.,Formal organizations engaged in political activities.,Some structures,such as ruling military councils or governing royal families,are found in only a few countries.,Similar structures may have very different functions across political systems.,Ex:China and Britain,Political Systems:Structures and Functions,Process functions,:distinctive activities necessary for policy to be made and implemented in any kind of political system,Interest articulation,Involves individuals and groups expressing their needs and demands,Interest aggregation,Combines different demands into policy proposals backed by significant political resources,Policymaking,Decides which policy proposals are to become authoritative rules,Policy implementation,Carries out and enforces public policies;policy adjudication settles disputes about their application,Political Systems:Structures and Functions,Three additional functions which are not directly involved in making and implementing public policy-socialization,recruitment,and communication,are fundamentally important.,These are,SYSTEM,functions.,They determine whether or not the system will be maintained or changed.,Political socialization:involves families,schools,communications media,churches,and all the various political structures that develop,reinforce and transform the political culture,the attitudes of political significance in the society,Political recruitment:refers to the selection of people for political activity and government offices,Political communication:refers to the flow of information through the society and through the various structures that make up the political system,Political Systems:Structures and Functions,Outputs=the implementations of the political process.,Substantive impacts on the society,the economy,and the culture,Regulation of behavior;extraction of resources;distribution of benefits and services,Reflect the way way the policies interact with the domestic and international environments,Example of structures and functions in Russia before and after the breakdown of communist rule in the Soviet Union,Approach-structural functional comparison,Allows us to examine how the same functions are performed in different countries,or in the same country at two different points in time,Political Systems:Structures and Functions,Process functions are performed by political structures.,The structural-functional approach stresses two points:,In different countries,the same structure may perform different functions.,While a particular institution may have a special relationship to a particular function,institutions often do not have a monopoly on any one function.,Ex:Presidents and governors may share in the pol