Principles of Comparative Politics

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Comparative politics involves the systematic study and comparison of the world’s political systems, It seeks to explain differences between as well as similarities among countries. In contrast to journalistic reporting on a single country, comparative politics is particularly interested in exploring patterns, processes, and regularities among political systems.” By looking at different countries to understand what they have in common, and how they differ, comparative politics contributes to the study of international relations and conflict resolution to such an extent that some thinkers suggest that the two fields should merge. How a country works shapes how countries relate to one another. By the same token, how countries relate to one another has an impact on the internal workings of individual countries. Theories of comparative politics After more than 20 years in the profession, Principles of Comparative Politics is truly the first textbook that will pave the way to establish norms on how to teach Introduction to Comparative Politics. Traditional method is outdated and too historical. This textbook provides an introduction to the ‘science of politics.’" Author: Emizet Kisangani

William Roberts Clark is associate professor of political science at the University of Michigan. He is the author of Capitalism, Not Globalism, and his articles have appeared in American Political Science Review, Comparative Political Studies, Political Analysis, and European Union Politics, among other journals. He has been teaching at a wide variety of public and private schools (William Paterson College, Rutgers University, Georgia Tech, Princeton, New York University, and the University of Michigan) for over a decade. newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}}}\) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash{#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\) Politics is . . . the struggle in any group for power that will give a person or people the ability to make decisions for the larger groups. . . . comparative politics is a subfield that compares this struggle across countries.”Principles of Comparative Politicsoffers the most comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to comparative inquiry, research, and scholarship. In this thoroughly revised Third Edition, students now have an even better guide to cross-national comparison and why it matters. The new edition retains a focus on the enduring questions with which scholars grapple, the issues about which consensus has started to emerge, and the tools comparativists use to get at the complex problems in the field. What is comparative politics? It is two things, first a world, second, a discipline.” As a ‘world,’ comparative politics encompasses political behavior and institutions in all parts of the earth… The ‘discipline’ of comparative politics is a field of study that desperately tries to keep up with, to encompass, to understand, to explain, and perhaps to influence the fascinating and often riotous world of comparative politics.” If you have, you’ve already begun asking a few of the many questions scholars within the field of comparative politics ask when practicing their craft. Many of the questions and concerns within the realm of comparative politics are centered on a wide spectrum of social, political, cultural and economic circumstances and outcomes, which provide students and scholars alike with robust and diverse opportunities for inquiry and discussion. The field of comparative politics is broad enough to enable provocative conversations about the nature of violence, the future of democracy, why some democracies fail, and why vast disparities in wealth are able to persist both globally and within certain countries. Whether a student watches or reads the news, or expresses any outward concern for global and current events, many of the problems and issues within comparative politics inevitably affect every single person on the planet.

Principles of Comparative Politics is a very comprehensive, rigorous, and detailed text. It is logically and effectively organized, across and within chapters. One of its strengths is the way the text discusses the strengths and weaknesses of different types of institutions and introduces students to debates in the literature. I will continue to assign the textbook so students are made to engage with the heated and continuing debates in political science." Author: Tayna Bagashka A new intuitive take on statistical analyses that provides a clearer explanation of how to interpret regression results (Chapter 6); Cases and examples are drawn from a variety of countries–not just “the usual suspects”–and are incorporated into the chapters. A set of maps allow students to visualize the geographic distribution of various key institutions around the world. Matt Golder was previously assistant professor of political science at Florida State University. He is the author of articles which have appeared in the American Journal of Political Science, British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Electoral Studies, and Political Analysis among other journals. He has taught classes on comparative politics, advanced industrialized democracies, quantitative methods, and European politics at the University of Iowa, Florida State University, and the University of Essex.Quantitative research centers on testing a theory or hypothesis, usually through mathematical and statistical means, using data from a large sample size. Quantitative research can be beneficial in situations where a scholar or student is looking to test the validity of a theory, or general statement, while looking at a large sample size of data that is diverse and representative of the subjects being studied. International Relations, American Politics, Public Policy and Comparative politics can, depending on the subject they are considering, find practical applicable for quantitative research methods. Someone interested in International Relations may want to test, for instance, the influence of global trade on conflict between states. For this, the sample size of the study may be 172 states engaged in international trade over a period of 10, 20, or even 50 years. Perhaps the theory being tested would be this: trade improves relations between states, making conflict unlikely. The person testing this would need to find ways to quantify conflict over time, to measure alongside, perhaps, trade volume between states. Overall, some of the methods for quantitative research may involve conducting surveys, conducting bi- or multivariate regression analysis (time-series, cross-sectional), or carrying out observations to test a hypothesis. The book is now in its third edition (2017). Among other things, the updates to the third edition include: The work of Aristotle influenced a number of thinkers to continue the scientific tradition of scientifically approaching problems in political science and comparative politics. If considering political science broadly, Aristotle influenced Niccolo Machiavelli (author of The Prince), Charles Montesquieu, (author of The Spirit of the Laws), Max Weber (sociologist and author of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, 1905), to name a few. A new intuitive take on statistical analyses and a clearer explanation of how to interpret regression results are included. Multiple chapters have been streamlined to highlight key explanations and offer more coherent overview of literature.

The authors show students how comparativists construct and test theories, applying the principles of the scientific method and simple game theory to a wide variety of examples and cases. Students won’t get lost in detail they’ll never use or remember and instead learn exactly why the variations across institutional structures and functions are important. urn:lcp:principlesofcomp0000clar:epub:493256de-b93c-4b71-abe8-61ab8de01e7d Foldoutcount 0 Identifier principlesofcomp0000clar Identifier-ark ark:/13960/s2gw7jhp32q Invoice 1652 Isbn 9781608716791 Lccn 2012002163 Ocr tesseract 5.0.0-1-g862e Ocr_detected_lang en Ocr_detected_lang_conf 1.0000 Ocr_detected_script Latin Ocr_detected_script_conf 0.9946 Ocr_module_version 0.0.15 Ocr_parameters -l eng Old_pallet IA-WL-0000161 Openlibrary_edition Beginning with a clear and straightforward discussion of the comparative and scientific methods, each chapter outlines the debates about the political phenomena that drive current research, such as state failure, the economic and cultural determinants of democracy, or the effects of regime type and electoral system.An introduction to comparative politics should be a window onto the real world of comparative inquiry, research, and scholarship. At last, a groundbreaking text gives students meaningful insight into how cross-national comparison is actually conducted, and why it matters: the enduring questions that scholars grapple with, the issues about which consensus has started to emerge, and the tools comparativists use to get at the complex and interesting problems at the heart of the field. Examples from the gender and politics literature have been incorporated into various chapters and empirical examples and data on various types of institutions have been updated. The book′s outstanding pedagogy includes more than 250 tables and figures, numerous photos and maps, end of chapter exercises and problem sets, and a broader set of works cited.

End of chapter problem sets of 5-10 problems each to help students work through the comparative puzzles and game theory examples;Examples from the gender and politics literature have been incorporated into various chapters and empirical examples and data on various types of institutions have been updated. The book's outstanding pedagogy includes more than 250 tables and figures, numerous photos and maps, end of chapter exercises and problem sets, and a broader set of works cited. Principles of Comparative Politics provides an introduction to comparative politics. The book has three goals: (i) to introduce students to the major questions in comparative politics; (ii) to acquaint them with the field’s best answers to those questions; and (iii) to give them the tools to think critically about the answers. Research methods and models can sometimes be considered a subfield of political science in itself, as it seeks to consider the best practices for analyzing themes within political science through discussion, testing and critical analysis of how research is constructed and implemented. This subfield is concerned with finding techniques for testing theories and hypotheses related to political science. An ongoing and heated debate often arises out of the proper or applicable usage of quantitative versus qualitative research designs, though each inevitably can be appropriate for various research scenarios. A revised chapter on culture and democracy that includes a more extensive examination of cultural modernization theory (Chapter 7);