GENERAL ASPECTS OF COMPARATIVE POLITICAL ANALYSIS
Is a multidisciplinary effort to understand different political realities.
Come to exist formally after the World War II, distinguishing itself from previous comparissions among states and not broad political realities.
The fast proliferation of new nations increased the demand for comparing broader political systems instead of only state structues.
Come out first as a modeling effort and very dependent on classificatory schemes.
Its first influences resorted to previous thinkers:
The Weberian notion of value judgment, neutrality and objectivity.
Durkheim's attempt to describe and define the method in the study of social facts.
Chilcote points that Marx, unlike Weber and Durkheim, did not prepare a manual on theory and method, but those concerns are apparent through his writings.
The attempts to theorize CPA come first:
Maurice Duverger (1964), who tracked the historical development of the social sciences, discussed techniques of observation and examined the use of theory and hypotheses as well as classifications and conceptualization in research.
Frohoc (1967) accessed method in terms of search for paradigms.
Howard Scarrow (1969) offered a brief methodological introduction.
Holt and Turner (1970), Przeworski and Teune (1970) explored more deeply the subject of political inquire.
Galtung (1967) looked critically at theory and method.
Main areas of CPA:
System Theory (Prominent during the 1950's).
GENERAL INSPIRATIONS
Weber's concept of gradual changes
Newtonian physics in search for general laws that have universal application
Biology (Ludwig Von Beralanffy)
Cybernetics (Norbert Wiener)
Operations research and systems analysis
The social sciences
Simulations, input-output
Game theory
GENERAL IDEAS
Systems are abstractions of the real society
Elements close to each other are taken to define the boundaries of the system.
Those elements usually can be measured, therefore being called variables if they can change theirselves or constants (parameters) if they are insulated from change.
Elements of any system may include structures, functions, actors, values, norms, goals, inputs, outputs, response and feedback.
Pablo Gonzales Casanova highlights 2 types of systemic studies:
Functionalism (inspired on XIX Century positivism and linked to Talcott Parsons)
Also called grand theory and ahistorical oriented
David Easton
Systems Analysis ()
Gabriel Almond
David Easton (1953/57) set forth the concept of the political system together with its inputs and outputs, demands, supports and feedbacks.
Inspirations
Karl Deutsch; Morton Kaplan and Herbert Spiro
Charles Merrian, George Catlin and Harold Lasswell started the 'revolution in Political Sciences'
Occasional references to Redcliff-Brown and Malinowski
His system of input-output, feedback, maximization reminds Adam Smith's economics approach
Core ideas
Was one of the pioneers on defending the shift from State Comparative Analysis to Political Systems Analysis.
His work took 3 different moments:
Presented the case for a general theory of political sciences
Set forth the major concepts for development of such a general theory
Attempt to elaborate concepts to expose the theory empirically
Political life is a balancing game, accounting for changing but also presenting a counter-tendency of equilibrium.
Power is seen as the ability to influence actions of others
Picture 5.1 !!!
Acknowledges the possibility of separating political life from the rest of society (environment)
Critiques
Dictatorship times in Latin America raised the issue of increasing importance of State despite of the claims for a less Estate centered analysis. This position was supported by:
Guillermo O'Donnell
Ralph Miliband
Nicos Poulantzas
Peter Evans
Theda Skocpol
W. Mitchell pointed that he (David Easton) was unable to deal with particular changes
Austin points that his (David Easton) theory is not empirically testable
Eugene Miller pointed that he failed to identify the object of political inquire
Theodore J. Lowi said it was everything therefore it was nothing
The fact that rational choices may not always be the most logic lead critiques like Anthony Down, James Buchanan, Gordon Tullock, Willian Riker, Robert Bates, John Elster and Barry Hindess... to overcome the classic functionalism and access the context in which choices occur.
Gabriel Almond and the theory of systems as structure and functions (Macro-structural functionalism)
Inspirations:
Functionalist antropologists like Bonislaw Malinowski and A. R. Radcliffe-Brown
Needs that serve to maintain the system
Sociologists like Max Webber and Talcott Parsons
Despite opposing much of Parsonian functionalism, the notions of action and social system were kept, as well as his notions of maintenance and adaptation
Was also interested in the Parsonian emphasis on the cultural secularization of developing systems
Political Scientists Arthur Bentley, David Truman (Group Theory) and David Garson (pioneers in the middle-range approach)
Karld Deutsch's resort to Norbert Wiener cybernetic theory in postulating a systemic model of politics
Aristotle, Eisenstadt, Shils, Coleman, Apter
Levy and Merton and Robert Dahl (whose attention to plurality of interests within the system may be labeled a pattern of micro-structural functionalism)
Core ideas
Turned away from grand theory to middle-range concerns
Offered an inclusive concept which covers all the patterned actions relevant to the making of political decisions
Instead of institutions, organizations or groups, he turned to the roles and structures, and centered the role as the interacting units and the structure as the interacting patterns.
Introduced the concept of political culture
Thesis that political systems have universal characteristics
Stressed interdependence, and not harmony, between inputs and outputs, parts, boundaries and environment
That made his theory less static and conservative while putting the emphasis on equilibrium or harmony of parts
Pointed out four political systems with respective categories of structuring and functioning and related those concepts to culture and development.
Anglo-American; Continental European; Totalitarian; Preindustrial system
Or else: primitive (minimal structural differentiation and parochial culture), traditional and modern systems (very intense differentiations and secular)
Constructed the parameters and concepts of a political system
Despite valuing the shift to Political Systems instead of States comparative analysis, he recognized that Political Science owe its existence to the analysis of the Estate.
Critiques
Chilcote says it strives to holistic but tends toward ahistorical and middle-range analysis
His outputs were government functions corresponding to the traditional use of three separate powers within government in U.S. And European specific realities, therefore biasing his scheme
Chilcote call it determinist, conservative, restrictive, or simply false
I. C. Jarvie says it lacks explanatory power
Economist Sherman Roy stressed the functional character tendency to exaggerate cohesiveness of such system
Sociologist Don Martindale:
Conservative ideological bias
Preference for status quo
Lack of methodological clarity
An overemphasis on the role of closed systems in social life
Fail to deal with social changes (also backed up by Barber and Buckley)
Hempel called it illogical
David Apter discussed a number of weaknesses
Groth pointed out the difficulties of defining a system and its boundaries
Powell:
Ambiguous in terminology
Difficulties in determining political relationships
Confusion in the use of facts and values
C Writ Mills and Ralf Dahrendof said his functionalism was neither relevant for facts nor reached the level of theory
Sanford says it was designed to make propaganda of liberal democracy and liberal pluralism
Finer said it was a very unclear language
Holt and Turner pointed the difficulty on refining, operationalizing and testing hypotheses
F. X. Sutton
Agricultural and industrial systems
James S. Coleman
Competitive, semicompetitive and authoritarian systems
David Apter
Dictatorial, olygarchical, indirect representational and directly representational systems.
Fred W. Riggs
Fused, prismatic and refracted systems
S. N. Eisenstadt
Primitive systems, patrimonial empires, nomad or conquest empires, city-states, feudal systems, centralized bureaucratic empires, modern systems (democratic, autocratic, totalitarian and underdeveloped)
Leonard Binder
Traditional, conventional and rational systems
Edward Shils
Political democracies, tutelary democracies, modernizing oligarchies, totalitarian oligarchies and traditional oligarchies
Arendt Lijphart
Majoritarian and consensus models of democracy with focus on the experience of twenty-two democratic regimes.
Culture Theories (prominent during the 1960's).
Gabriel Almond () was one of the pioneers
Inspirations
Traditional work on culture from anthropology
Socialization and small group studies from Sociology
Personality studies in Psychology
Core Ideas
Political Culture consisting on beliefs, symbols and values that define situations in which political action occurs.
Subjective orientations of people toward their national system.
Types of Political Cultures that characterizes systems:
Parochial
Subject
Participant Political Culture
Each of those types reflect the psychological and subjective orientations of people toward their national system.
Critiques
Inherent bias towards an Anglo-American model of politics.
Sidney Verba () was one of the pioneers
Worked on Political Culture with special regard to the role of Communication
Lucian Pye
Tried to reduce the Aglo-American bias by trying to relate Political Culture to the politics of specific nations (e.g. Burma).
James S. Coleman
Worked on Political Culture with special regard to the role of Political Socialization
In the 70's there was a large investigation on agencies shaping political attitudes
In the 80's there was a large investigation on individual choice
Non-Marxist contribution from Ronald Inglehart
Marxist perspective of Adam Przeworski
GENERAL INFLUENCES
Those authors recounted the contribution of the classics (Montesquieu, Compte, Durkheim, Marx and Weber) to the concept of Political Concept:
Michael Thompson
Richard Ellis
Aaron Wildavsky
GENERAL CRITIQUES
Chilcote says that culture Theories tend to reflect the conservation of values, attitudes and norms, therefore emphasizing stability and continuity in political life.
Development Theories.
GENERAL INFLUENCES
It come as an outcome of the emergence of many new states in the Third World.
5 cathegories:
Traditional notions of democracy and political development turned in to a more complex/abstract terminology
Gabriel Almond
Inspirations
His ideas come as an attempted to link his structural and cultural ideas with the potential of development he saw in some backward areas
Core Ideas
Walt Rostow (Stage development)
Critiques
Conceptions of Nation Building
Hans Kohn
Karl Deutsch (stressing the role of communication in this process.)
Kalman Silverts
Structural-functionalism to create a theory of modernization
Marion J. Levy
David Apters
Studies of change
Samuel Huntingtons Political Order in Changing Societies.
Studies about how to preserve order in changing process, which are aimed to be gradual and moderated.
Critiques of ethnocentric development studies
Ideas of development and underdevelopment
Non-Marxist ones:
Desarrollista (Prebisch)
Structuralist (Furtado)
National Autonomous Development (Sunkel)
International Colonialism (González Casanova)
Poles of development (Andrade)
Marxist ones:
Monopoly Capitalist (Baran and Sweezy)
Subimperialism (Marini)
Capitalist development of underdevelopment (Frank, Rodney)
New Dependency (Theotônio dos Santos)
Dependent capitalist development (Cardoso)
Class theories (to be developed yet...)
Theories of Political Economy ( to be developed yet...)
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