Concepts and Problems of Comparative Politics

Concepts and Problems of Comparative Politics Politics • • • • Focuses on human decisions Power Who gets what, when, where and why? The authoritative allocation of values for a society? • Political science – the study of human decisions Why Governments? • What are the functions of government? – – – – Enhance security, community, nation building Secure order Protect property Promote economic efficiency and growth • Addresses problems of market failure (electricity, water, sewer) • Public good(s) issues – – – – Non-excludable Not rival (consumption does not detract from someone else’s) Subject to market failure No incentive for private production (clean air, national security) Why Government? • Protect the weakest members of society • Provide parameters of social justice • Formally defined: – Governments are organizations of individuals legally empowered to make binding decisions on behalf of a community. OR – Governments are the formal institutions that make decisions about public policy and the processes and procedures of decisionmaking. Why Government? • Comparative Politics: – is thus the comparative study of decisionmaking in political systems – Related to a given territory (national territory) – Backed by authority and coercion (self-defense or expansion) Nature of Man in Social Groups • Thought: • Hobbes and Weber; Rousseau and Locke • Weber – The defining characteristic of government is its monopoly over the use of force • Hobbes – State of nature inhospitable (condition of man without government) – Man in conflict against all – Nature is barbaric and fear filled – Government is the only solution to inevitable chaos – Concerned with internal and external security Nature of Man in Social Groups – Rousseau • • • • State of nature brutish without law, morality Men ally to form “society” The Social Contract –agreement on membership Government is a source of power and inequality and thus human alienation and corruption – Questioned assumption that majority will always correct – Government should act morally. Should ensure freedom. – Locke • State of nature not in conflict until the creation of property • Property is the source of conflict (Its mine!) • Government with a limited role (protecting property) is good – Must have an agreed upon social contract – Establish and enforce property rights and rules of economic exchange. Government as the Problem? • Critics: Anarchists and Libertarians – Anarchists: • Communitarians who see societies as communities of people who in their natural condition are equal • Governments lead to corruption in these communities which leads to oppression and alienation • Alternative is voluntary cooperation Government as the Problem? – Libertarians: • Individualists who see society as composed of human beings with some fundamental rights (property, freedom of speech) • The more government gets involved, the more prone it is to violate basic rights; e.g. law enforcement. • Alternative is a society of unfettered individualism – Ayn Rand Government as the Problem? • Destruction of Community – Does government build or destroy communities? • Violations of Basic Rights – Define basic rights? – Does the power held by governments allow them to violate rights? • Economic Inefficiency – Surplus? Deficit? Government as the Problem? • Government for Private Gain – Rent Seeking – benefits created through government intervention in the economy • Tax revenue or profits created because government restricted competition – – – – Food subsidies Gas/oil/energy subsidies Influence trading? (insider information) One person’s gain is another’s (or society’s) loss • Vested interest and inertia – Once rents are created, difficult to abolish – House of Lords in Great Britain Alternatives to Government? • Markets and Voluntary coordination – Very small government – Extreme decentralization – Free market, individual property rights Thoughts???? Political Systems – Properties of • Two Elements: – Independent parts with environmental boundaries – A set of institutions that formulate and implement the collective goals of a society or groups within it? • Defined: A particular type of social system involved in making authoritative public decisions that has sovereignty. – Decisions are backed by legitimate coercion and compellance (power) – Legitimacy: those who are ruled believe that their rulers have a right (by law or custom) to implement their decisions by force if necessary • The “right to rule” • May ebb and flow over time States • • • • • Internal and External Sovereignty Old and New States Classification by Developmental Status Classification by Size Classification by Governmental or Political System Type • A particular type of political system that has sovereignty Internal and External Sovereignty • Sovereignty – Independent legal authority over a population in a particular territory based on the recognized right to selfdetermination • Kuwait • Internal Sovereignty – Right to determine matters regarding one’s own citizens without intervention • External Sovereignty – Right to conclude binding agreements with other states Sovereignty Today • Traditional forms joined by new forms • Supranational organizations – European Union – North American Free Trade Agreement – United Nations • Eg: 1994 17 peacekeeping missions, 100,000 peacekeepers – United Nations subunits or related orgs: • FAO, WHO, UNESCO, IMF, World Bank Old and New States • • • • 1945 - 68 states; increased by 117 by 1999 1999 – 185 member states in the U.N. 1990s - 20 new states Taiwan, Switzerland, Vatican not members of the U.N. • First, Second and Third World: – Advanced industrial democracies, Communist bloc, underdeveloped/developing nations – Still useful as a categorization? Does Size Matter in Politics? • Big and Small States: – Russia – 17 million square kms – Vatican City > ½ sq km and >1,000 residents – China – 1.2 billion population • Does size determine politics? • Does area and population determine economic development, foreign policy and defense issues? – Geographic location important to defense; central location means you need a large army; to do this you need high level of resource extraction =>authoritarian regime? • Population growth rates and implications for economic development – Economies need to keep pace with population growth Building Community • Common identity and sense of community among citizens important • Without a unifying factor cleavage can dominate – Japan: example of a population that is ethnically homogeneous with shared language, little religious diversity and strong political history; in addition, enjoys relative geographic isolation from neighbors – Nigeria: extremely large and diverse population; no common pre-colonial history; sharp religious divisions; 250 ethnic groups; language diversity Nations, states, nation-states? • Nation – a group of people with a common identity (how people identify themselves) – Nations do not necessarily have government or state – Some nations have close correspondence with state e.g.; Japan, France, Sweden – Nationhood as culture? • State – political system with sovereignty • Nation-state – cases in which the scope of legal authority and national identification coincide • What about multinational states? – U.S.S.R, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia Nationality and Ethnicity • Ethnicity – Weber – humans who entertain a subjective belief in their common descent because of similarities of physical type or of customs or both • Croats, Serbs and Muslim Bosnians – groups which differ by religious custom, marriage and historical memories – but are physically similar; may believe themselves to be descended from different ancestors and thus genetically different • Jewish population of Israel – today heterogeneous from a homogeneous start – culture endures but not genetic homogeneity Other sources of division • • • • Language Religious differences and fundamentalism What happens when divisions persist? How do these sources of difference impact politics? Cross-Cutting Cleavage • Political cleavage – When national, ethnic, linguistic and other divisions systematically affect political allegiances and policies • Cross-cutting cleavage – Groups that share a common interest on one issue are likely to be on opposite sides of different issues • Eg: Netherlands – class and religion cross-cut • Catholics and Protestants are equally likely to be rich or poor and discrimination does not focus solely on Catholics Cumulative Cleavage • Cumulative cleavages – the same people are pitted against one another over and over again on a wide variety of issues. – Eg: Northern Ireland; Catholicism and poverty and history of discrimination: Protestantism and wealth and no history of discrimination