People and Politics Worldwide

Lecture 1: Why Study Politics? Why Compare? Why Regions?

Introduction to Our Conceptual Framework: Political Setting, Institutions, Policy

Based on Magstadt, Chpt. 1

Why study politics?

For better or for worse, politics matters. Affects our lives.

Definition of politics: who gets what.

Political science’s scope is broader than you might think

Not just the study of governments, rules, institutions

But also the cultures, histories, social characteristics, and economic systems of various societies

These variables – culture, history, society, economy, politics

Are inter-dependent – i.e., related, connected, influence one another

The good and the bad news:

Politics does not occur in a vacuum or controlled, laboratory setting

Good news because it makes it interesting, diverse

Bad news because it makes it messy, hard to determine

“cause” and “effect”

Why Compare?

Broaden our horizons, evaluate our own society

Expose/understand political myths and their role in politics/policymaking

Discover patterns of political behavior, generalizations,

theories

Outside observers often see things insiders cannot

Insiders often blind to biases, idiosyncrasies of their own system

Assume “our way” is the only way, the natural way

Ethnocentrism – a narrow view of the world based on one’s own culture, religion, nationality, etc.

***This course aspires to be the antidote to American ethnocentrism

A regional approach: Why is the regional approach helpful in studying politics, understanding different parts of the world?

What kind of regions?

Transnational

Discover patterns across countries

Highlight the commonalities countries share

Particularly important in era of globalization

(defined as: the process by which various values, institutions, technologies and products, as well as a certain lifestyle associated with advanced industrial societies, are claimed by (or foisted upon) all parts of the world.)

What things are the countries in a region likely to have in common???

Cultural core values, geographic proximity, economic interdependence, political traditions

Give an example of a transnational region

What regions will we study??

Western Europe, Slavic Europe, Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin America

Comments/criticisms of these regions? Where does the US fit?

On-going question for our course:

Why are some countries rich, well-developed, politically stable while

Others are poor, under-developed, politically instable?

Theories/ideas??

Diamond’s Thesis

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies

Role of biodiversity, geography, climate, resources in creating histories

“winners” and “losers”

development’s leaders and laggards

The early bird gets the worm

Our Conceptual Framework: Political Setting, Institutions, Policy

To organize the material on the regions and countries we’ll study in the course we’ll use these three

organizing concepts:

political setting

institutions

policy

Political setting –

Political culture (values attitudes beliefs about politics, the good life)

History/collective memory

Political socialization

Institutions –

Magstadt calls is “patterns of rule”

Give examples of political institutions

Why do countries within regions tend to have similar institutions?

Policies –

What are the fundamental goals/challenges for each region/country?

What is its vision of the good life?

How is this vision translated into policy?