Within political science, there are several subfields. One of these subfields is the study of comparative politics. The definition of comparative politics is in its name; that is, it compares the politics of different countries in an effort to test theories about how the world works. In political science, there are often theories without clear answers. However, if researchers are able to compare two countries, they are able draw conclusions in ways they wouldn’t otherwise be able to. It sounds simple but in reality it is difficult to accurately do. Comparative politics struggles to establish itself as a science due to multiple obstacles. In science, it is important to control for variables. When researchers study cause-and-effect, they want to be sure that the effect is not in fact being influenced by something else. If researchers wanted to study the …show more content…
The reasons researchers have for selecting their cases can often be flawed. While in other sciences case selection is randomized to varying extents, it is not possible in political science due the difficulty in controlling variables, limited number of cases, and difficulty in access. Researchers often choose to study a country they are already educated in or wish to travel to. There is also the problem in how cases are frequently selected; if a researcher is examining cause-and-effect, it is important they examine how the proposed cause affects many countries, not just the countries where it had the effect in question. In other words, using an example from “Essentials of Comparative Politics” by Patrick O’Neil, if a comparativist is studying revolutions and hypothesizes that the primary cause of revolutions is a rapid increase in inequality, they should examine a wide variety of places where a growth of inequality took place. They shouldn’t, as many researchers mistakenly do, study only the countries in which the growth of inequality led to a
I 1. Compare and contrast the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Point out the similarities and the differences in geography, religion, social structure, political systems, economy, status of women, and other factors, and explain the effect of these differences and similarities upon each civilization. The similarities between Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia as far as geography is both civilizations depended on a drainage system for their existence.
Into the Wild, written by Jon Krakauer, is a story about a young, twenty four years old, man who chose to explore the wilderness and his limitations. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He was intelligent, idealistic and a truth-seeker. One of the epigraphs, Krakauer used to start a chapter, is about Everett Ruess. Everett, a twenty years old man, also invented a new life for him by leaving the city to live in nature.
Political outcomes are now on based which party has the majority of votes. Yglesias explains how
The discussion of polling techniques relates because poll representations categorize people as for or against something, even when some people have no opinion. This supports Fiorina’s opinion, “The simple truth is that there is no culture war in the United states…”. The discussion of political influence is relevant because everyone has different opinions about everything. The different opinions are based upon political influences the person has encountered throughout their life. The discussion of media types and power is important because media influences the opinion of the
According to Webster’s dictionary, expansionism is a policy or practice of expansion and especially of territorial expansion by a nation. While imperialism is the policy of extending the rule or authority of an empire or nation over foreign countries, or of acquiring and holding colonies and dependencies. These are two different definitions defining two different things. As expansionism came to an end around 1870, imperialism was just getting started. Competition with other countries, making these countries a military and economic interest rather than taking them over, and the need for new technical advancements all demonstrate that imperialism is not a continuation of prior expansionism.
Political socialization is a life time process by people in which they form their own ideas and beliefs of politics and acquire political values. My political socialization was influenced by my family. However, the mass media and my future educational achievements and financial goals had created an impact on my political socialization. My political socialization is that my belief understanding of politics came from the time when I was a young teenager. It was when my family had taught me about understanding politics and what the meaning of it is.
Eliezer Wiesel and Jeanne Wakatsuki have very many things in common through rough experiences in the camps they were in. Eliezer and Jeanne have a lot in common like how they both changed personality’s throughout the story, how they showed fear in many situations, and lastly they both learned from these hard experiences. Even though Eliezer and Jeanne can relate in many ways they are actually quite different and experienced different things. For instance, Eliezer was not obstinate like Jeanne. Also, there was a point in the novel where he was completely alone while Jeanne had her family with her throughout the whole time in the camp.
Albeit Aristotle and Locke lived 2,000 years apart, their periods in history were similar. Both eras were marked by wars, tyrannical figures, and political and social instability in ancient Greece and medieval England. However, there was one major difference in their epochs, religion. The Greeks practice polytheism, while Christianity was practiced in Europe during Locke’s time.
Among our closest counterparts are Russia with its oligarchs and Iran. While many of the old centers of inequality in Latin America, such as Brazil, have been striving in recent years, rather successfully, to improve the plight of the poor and reduce gaps in income, America has allowed inequality to grow.” (Stiglitz 2011) Inequality doesn’t give anyone an equal
Compare and Contrast The American Civil war and War world two might have been separate wars but they were similar in many ways. Though they were separated by many years both wars had new technological advances, new weapons and new stargetys.
Republicans vs. Democrats When the United States of America was founded, George Washington warned against the formation of political parties. By the time the second election came around there were already two political parties, the Federalist and Democratic-Republicans. These parties eventually turned into the Republican and Democratic parties we have today. While these parties have shifted to become almost polar opposites politically, they still share some common goals.
Historians have gained the ability to recognize certain differences between specific governments from
First of all, I need to clarify that there is no dominant method of comparison between countries. Every method has its own advantages and disadvantages involving the level of abstraction, the scope of covering, etc. (Landman & Carvalho, 2016).In the early days, Lijphart (1971) called comparing many countries when using quantitative analysis, the ‘statistical’ method and on the other hand, when comparing few countries with the use of qualitative analysis the ‘comparative’ method. But nowadays, comparative studies are conducted to compare similarities and differences across countries and within countries.
Undoubtedly politics is “the study of influence and the influential”, there is most certainly truth in Harold D.Lasswell’s definition of politics. Throughout the course of this essay the study of politics will be examined in relation to Laswell’s definition. Furthermore the concept of government and how people influence government action will be looked at. In Lasswell’s book “Politics, Who Gets What, When and How” he clearly outlines the “influential are those who get the most of what there is to get”, in his opinion politics was primarily to do with power and influence. Lasswell’s definition of politics has been in the past supported by prominent political scientists such as Abraham Kaplan and Robert A. Dahl, both men believe the study of politics is largely to do with the use of influence by those who find themselves in influential positions.
In today’s day and age, climate change is becoming a hot topic. Whether one is an advocate for change or is just skeptical of the entire belief, there is no doubt that this concept is relevant to the modern society. In an article by Robert J. Antonio titled, “Climate Change and Society by John Urry," he evaluates the research of scientist and breaks down the complexities of climate change for the audience. In a separate article by Ashokankur Datta and E. Somanathan titled, “Climate Policy and Innovation in the Absence of Commitment”, the authors evaluate policies concerning the pricing of adapting to more emission-free, healthier technology for the environment. These two articles will be compared and contrasted based on reasons why the public