1

INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS A. PURPOSE OF THE COURSE B. WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT STATES? C. DEFINITIONS D. ISSUES OF IMPORTANCE IN THE STUDY OF

COUNTRIES E. STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE F. COUNTRIES G. READINGS H. GRADING I.CONTACTING TA AND PROFESSOR J. ATTENDANCE AND BEHAVIOUR IN CLASS

2

A. PURPOSE OF THE COURSE 1.Make you think about why politics in a country happens the way it does. * why people behave differently in different political systems

2. Look for patterns in political activity by citizens and leaders.

* develop explanations for those patterns and test those explanations * look for relationships among social, economic, and political phenomena

3

3. Learn about how different states or

political systems function

4. Understand how scholars of politics

differentiate among states * evaluate their explanations for why

things occur as they do, are they

right?

4

B. WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT COUNTRIES?

1. Political Variations: * structure of government, freedom with which people can associate politically, freedom of the press, levels of political stability * How do we measure political stability? * leadership turnover, number of riots, protests * strength of the government or state, its ability to fulfil its role of governing—capacity * age of the state and its relationship to stability * See “Formation of Nations Since 1776”

5

6

2. Economic Variations: * level of economic development--percent of

population in agriculture, GNP, mortality rates * See Figure “Percent of Economically Active

Population in Agriculture for Selected Nations” * level of inequality, annual growth rates, role of

foreign trade in the economy, per capita income, per capita GNP, purchasing power parity

3. Social Variations: * level of literacy, levels of education, number of ethnic groups, power of different religious groups, level of communication

4. What do you see as important differences?

7

8

C. DEFINITIONS

1. State: domestic political authority over a population within a bounded territory and with international legal standing.

* characterized by having an army, bureaucracies (government organizations) which is able to raise taxes, maintain public order, regulate economy, pursue public welfare.

* also have clear territorial boundaries, customs duties, membership in international organizations.

* is comprised of individuals who work within it but who may use the organs of state power for their own interests.

9

2. Nation: social groups within the state which have no formal political authority but which may have allegiance to the state or to non-state organizations.

* many states are multinational states, with two or more nations within them

3. Ethnic Group: social hereditary group with common beliefs and behaviours

4. Nationalism: psychological or emotional attachment to the nation or the state

Problems arise when you get multinational or multi-ethnic states which do not have the loyalty of some of the nations or ethnic groups.

10

D. ISSUES OF IMPORTANCE IN THE STUDY OF

COUNTRIES 1. Political Modernization and Good Governance: * assumption that states, like economies, progress

towards some more developed type, with government organizations able to perform certain functions or roles

* questions of power of the state, with strong/weak state dichotomy

* democracy often equated with “development”

2. Political participation and intra-state conflict * who participates, by what rules, how do they

organize, what are the cleavages in society, how deep are they, do people act violently over them

11

3. Nationalism: * is it supportive of the state or divisive, can

the state use it to mobilize people to do the state's bidding?

* can it be used as a force for making war and aggression overseas?

4. Nature of Political Elites: * how are they chosen, what is their

relationship to social classes, ethnic groups?

* how do members of society control them?

12

5. Internationalization and Transnational Ties

* extent to which actions of people within the state are affected by outside forces * has picked up significantly with the growth of globalization * globalization and role of foreign trade, foreign investment, East Asian crisis * impact of migration, environmental issues as transnational ones * limits on national government’s ability to control events

13

6. Economic Development and Inequality * does economic development and levels of

income inequality affects political activity?

* does political actions of government improve economic development and narrow inequality?

* public policy and government capacity

14

E. STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE (see syllabus)

1. Introduce conceptual approaches to the study of politics

2. See extent to which they vary according to system or regime type and see how they vary within regime types--parliamentary versus presidential system

3. How states are established: * role of classes, ethnic or religious cleavages, outside powers on revolution and social

change; * how the state brings about social changes in post- revolutionary society

15

4. Political Institutions: formal institutions of government, parties, bureaucracy and military

5. Pattern of Political Participation and Conflict:

* how people participate in politics, make their interests known, organize, conflict with each other and the state

16

6. Elite Politics: * who gets power, how they get there, how they behave when they get there and why, how the makeup of political elites changes over time.

7. Policy Making and Good Governance: * how do different regime types, or states with different characteristics in above categories have differing abilities and mechanisms for delivering public policies to their citizens

17

F. COUNTRIES: a. CANADA, with implicit comparison to U.S. * type of parliamentary democracy, multi-ethnic

or multinational state * potential to fall apart due to national division

between English and French (Quebec)

b. CHINA, with comparison to former Soviet Union/RUSSIA

* try to show how socialist states can be very different, different histories, different abilities to adapt to changes in international system and different abilities to reform.

18

c. EGYPT an example of an authoritarian state that:

* has not made the democratic transition (compare to Korea or Taiwan)

* did not have a deep social revolution (compare to China),

* unsuccessful effort at land reform and internationalization of its economy

19

G. READINGS AND GRADING - see syllabus, one book, please buy it

H. GRADING - grading system is on the syllabus - can do a paper rather than the final

exam, but must declare after mid-term and stick to it.

20

I. Contacting Teaching Assistant and Professor

- Zweig: sozweig@ust.hk - Shi Weiwei: shww@ust.hk

J. Attendance and Behaviour – Zero tolerance for eating and talking in class.

--Don’t mind drinking non-alcoholic beverages.