INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS

THE MODERN STATE

State is central to the study of domestic politics because it defines the League of Nations gave mandate to France and Britain to temporarily govern
territorial framework and institutional landscape Middle Eastern states.
State is the primary causal elements that shape, frame, and condition the how, Post-World War 1 New States 14
what, when, and why of domestic politics Post-World War 2 New States 54
History of modern states is marked by adjustments and adaptations, Post-Cold War New States 23
sometimes revolutionary transformations. Max Weber classic definition of the state is human community
State is the normal and prevailing mode of political organization, state-to-state Webers constituent part of his definition is Community, Legitimacy,
interaction is the cornerstone of international relations. Monopoly of Force, and Territory
State claims preeminent right to rule and regulate the affairs. States are based on Population that share a Sense of National Identity and
The State alone possesses a preponderance of the means of Deadly Violence Unity
that it can deploy for purposes it alone sees fit. Nationalism, a political doctrine that demands a vertical and horizontal
State is the Central political institution in modern society, Its reach is deep and congruence between nation and state.
wide Vertical Nationalism, political leaders be of the same national composition as
There are 193 internationally recognized states that are also members of the like the general population. (Hates Foreign or Alien rule)
United Nations Horizontal Nationalism, State territorial boundaries encompass all members of
Another 18 entities are potential states like former Yugoslav province Kosovo, the nation as well as the land on which they reside.
but lacks international recognition Giuseppe Mazzini
Ethiopia and Liberia was the two independent states prior to the 1950s Parts of a State:
1880 to 1914, Europe began for scramble for Africa 1. Sovereignty, Possession of supreme authority over a given territory, no other
Colonies by the European powers in Africa: Great Britain had Nigeria, Ghana, entities may interfere.
Egypt, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa; France 2. Authority, Moral right to rule with the obligation of the ruled to obey.
controlled western Africa and Madagascar; Spain controlled Morocco and 3. Legitimacy, Compliance in an authority relationship is acceptable and given
Western Sahara; Portugal controlled Angola and Mozambique; Italy had voluntarily.
Somalia, Eritrea and Libya; Germany had Namibia and Tanzania. 4. Power, Use of coercion to get someone to do something they should not
1960s most of Africa achieved statehood otherwise do.
U.S. Pres. Woodrow Wilson said the empires of Czarist Russia, Germany 5. Hegemony, Masses provide consent to a system of authority that exploits
(other monarchial powers before) that they matched their domestic them.
authoritarianism with an extreme belligerence that he called Militarism
 INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS
THE MODERN STATE
-According to Antonio Gramsci, Hegemony is a form of capitalist rule in
which popular consent is accorded to the ruling class for the general discretion
of social life.
-Louis Althusser characterized it as an ideological state apparatuses.
6. Territory, without territory, states do not exist.
- States: provide a framework or container for the practice of politics
-The concepts that populate the field of politics, including the concept of politics
itself are what the the Giovanni Sartori describes as experience carriers.
-In other words every concept has its own unique history
-Political life and the things political were not perceived by the Greeks as a part or a
single aspect of life; they were its essence and totality (Sartori,1973)
Politics-as-war
-conveys that politics is a struggle for power among antagonistic groups and
individuals.
-Power is the most the most important good to be secured, for its possession is the key
to accumulating all desirable goods, including wealth, status and reputation.(Power:
use of coercion to get someone to do something he or she would not otherwise do.)
Politics-as Process
-citizens in civil society have different interest so clash is likely.
-liberalism maintains that such clashing interest are best constrained not by all-
powerful state, but instead an effective set of political institutions that limit the state
power over individuals.
-Territory of the modern state serves to demarcate the jurisdiction within
which claims of authority and the monopoly of the means of violence are
applied, also a fundamental framework for domestic politics.
-Determines the human community over whom states exercise an authority
and against whom the state may apply violence.
Absolutism, Political doctrine advocating unchecked centralized rule.
A free market requires an effective state
-constituions are set of procedures that regulate citizen-government relations and
internal government.
-the state in this conception is neutral umpire dictating disputes and providing a
framework for governments according to the rule of law and with the consent of the
governed.
Politics-as-Participation
-democracy is greek in orign and invokes the Athenian practice of the full
participation of citizens in decision making.
-demos means people and kratos means authority; hence the phrase rule by the
people
-Man for Aristotle is uniquely a creature of logos or reasoning capacity.
-For Mill politics serves an educative function for citizens.
-To Mill, when citizens take part in the political process a sense of responsibility for
direction of society develops in then. (e.g. voting)
End of Poitics
- The desire to eliminate politics because it is an evil component of human
nature can be traced back to Plato, who argued that only Philospher Kings-
that is the wisest should rule.
 INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS
STATE AND POLITICS
- Government of men will be replaced by the administration of things. (Fay,
1975)
- Politics is impossible to abolish. As long as socities are burdened with scarce
resources, conflicts over their distribution among competing social groups are
inevitable.
States, Regimes and Governments
- The government comprises the day-to-day officeholders- that is, those in
authority positions are charged routinely devising, implementing and
enforcing public policy.
- The government essentially runs the state.
- Democratic regimes, for example can be represented by a written constitution
or by an unwritten one that reflects tacit but widespread conventions,
agreements and understandings adhered to by politically significant actors.
Democracy
- Is a set of rules and process encompassing key features like competitive
elections, a free press, multiple parties, offices open to all, the right to petition
government, the right to assembly, the right of habeas corpus, to see a judge
and to be informed of the lawful grounds for detent ion and so on.
- Democratization is a power transition from a regime in which political power
is in the hands of the elites who are not accountable to their populations for
their exercise of that power (i.e authoritarianism) to a regime with the
characteristics of procedural demorcracy.
- History suggests that regimes embarking on a democratic path often find
themselves taking a non-democratic path along the way.
- The zeitgeist (spirit of times) was that democracy was failing, and that
political salvation n could be found only in transformative, totalitarian
ideologies like fascism, ultranationalism or communism.
Presidential vs. Parliamentary Government
3 broad models of exec-legislative relations
United States an exemplar to the Presidential model
1) Presidential
United Kingdom the Mother of Parliaments, exemplar to the parliamentary model
- International factors constitute a 3rd major force that can promote regime
transition
Authoritarianism
- uncertain rules, certain outcomes
- There also exists a growing variety of authoritarian regimes that incorporate a
veneer of democratic practice, such as partly fee elections and limited press
freedom.
- This types of regimes outnumber all other types in 70s
- Military regimes were among the most common in the 70s and 80s
- In single party regimes, a political party monopolizes power by either banning
all political completion or severally restricting its opponents ability to
organize and campaign.
Totalitarianism
- Demands the mobilization of society in pursuit of objectives established by
the ideology of the ruling party.
- North Korea stands alone as sole remaining totalitarian regime.
Comparing strong, weak, and failed states
- Comparative scholars have develop a threefold typology to categorize distinct
levels of state power.
1. Popular legitimacy, administrative sufficiency, and effectiveness.
2. The capacity to mobilize and extract resources(taxes) from the people
3. The ability to establish and preserve law and order.
- Social democratic model offers a visible hand that pushes and pulls levers of a
capitalist to produce outcomes that are fair.
2) Parliamentary
3) Semi-Presidential
 INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS
PRESIDENTIAL AND PARLIAMENTARY HYBRID
Presidential Government
Minoritarian democracy The philosophical basis of the American government
Separation of executive and legislative, federalism and bicameralism -essential to potential
majority domination and repression to minorities
Separate popular election of the exec and legislative so as to endow each of them with an
independent base of authority and legitimacy 1st defining feature of presidential government
In the USA
Only the House of Representatives is directly elected
The President is indirectly elected to this day why? Because hes chosen by the Electoral
Colleges (i.e. George W. Bush in 2000)
SEPARATE ELECTION ASSURES THE MUTUAL INDEPENDENCE OF THE TWO
BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT
The president cannot dismiss legislature but legislature can impeach a President for and on
Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high crimes and Misdemeanors
Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton only Presidents to be impeached, but later acquitted at
trial.
Separation of personnel Individuals cannot hold positions in exec and legi simultaneously
Members of Congress can resign their positions to be secretaries of state (Hillary Clinton in
2009)
Leaders of the major government departments are called the CABINET
Mutual dependence despite being elected separately, the legi and exec need each other to
govern
Examples of shared powers are:
1. Both branches are required to sign legislative proposals before they can pass into law
2. The president can veto legislative proposals arising in Congress, but Congress can
override the veto with a 2/3s majority in both houses
3. The president may generally have the upper hand in initiating legislative proposals,
but it is Congress that controls the purse strings and allocates monies for the
execution of legislation
4. The president is commander-in-chief of the armed forces, but it is Congress that has
the power to declare war
5. The president appoints SC justices, cabinet secretaries, diplomats, and other
government officials, but only with the advice and consent of the Senate
The constitution was designed to place the elected members of the executive and legislative
perpetually at odds with each other for reasons of serving different constituencies and having
different time horizons
Laws outcome of an incessant process of negotiation, compromise, and concession in s
governance system in which multiple actors have the potential to stall legislative proposals
Parliamentary Government
Majoritarian democracy philosophical basis of parliamentary government
Lawmaking power is fused in two senses
It is concentrated in the lower house and is not widely shared with government bodies (i.e.
upper houses) that are unelected or indirectl philosophical basis of parliamentary
government
Lawmaking power is fused in two senses
 INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS
PRESIDENTIAL AND PARLIAMENTARY HYBRID
1. It is concentrated in the lower house and is not widely shared with government bodies
(i.e. upper houses) that are unelected or indirectly elected
2. Concentration of power entails parliamentary lower powers necessarily performing
the executive and legislative functions
Control comes with winning a majority of seats in it
3 broad types of parliamentary government
1) Single-party: formed when one party wins a majority of the seats in its own right
and assumes sole responsibility in governing the country
2) Coalition: formed when no single party wins a majority so that two or more parties
formally band together behind a negotiated set of common goals and acquire the
majority of seats needed to pass legislation and govern the country
3) Minority: might be formed comprising either a single large party or a coalition of
parties
Prime minister not directly elected, rather chosen by the Parliament (most of the time, is the
leader of the biggest party)
HAS THE SAME CABINET AS THE US WITH THE DIFFERENCE BEING IS
THAT THE CABINET HAS TO HAVE A VOTE OF CONFIDENCE FROM THE
LOWER HOUSE TO ASSUME THE POSITION
Key features of parliamentary government
a. Governments are directly dependent on the legislature and accountable to it for their
(in)actions
b. Only way to remove government is through a vote of no confidence
c. The no-confidence vote can be called at any point in the life of the parliament
Semi-presidential system
Its distinctive feature is that it combines elements of the purer parliamentary system and the
presidential system
Dual executive having both a prime minister and a president
Prime minister deals with the local affairs while,
President deals with the foreign affairs
Cohabitation used to describe the potential deadlock of the two heads with different
ideologies
Majoritarian versus Proportional Electoral Systems
Important facets of election law
1. The electoral formula: which individual votes are translated to parliamentary seats
2. District magnitude: determines the number of representatives per electoral district
Plurality/Majority Electoral System
3 major variants
1. Single-member district plurality: first-past-the-post or winner-take-all system
2. Two-round: if no candidate gets the majority win, another round occurs to decide the
winners
3. Alternative-vote: ranking of preference
*** ito yung itinuro ni sir na huli basically, ito yung medj komplikado***
Proportional Electoral Systems
-to award legislative seats to parties in proportion to the share of the vote they win
Two main types
1. List PR: seats are awarded on the basis of votes cast for party lists of candidates
2. Single transferable vote: rank candidates in the district
Difference between this and the plurality/majority is that it uses multimember districts rather
than single-member districts
 INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS
PRESIDENTIAL AND PARLIAMENTARY HYBRID
List PR: closed-list systems: votes cast their ballot for the party list as a whole, open-list
system: preference for candidates within the party list, free-list systems: gives many votes are
there are seats to be filled and allows them to distribute those votes among multiple
candidates within a single party list or among candidates from different party lists

STV: to win a seat, a candidate must obtain a particular quota of votes, which is roughly the
total number of valid votes in the district divided by the number of seats plus one

PR SYSTEMS are praised for producing roughly proportional seat to vote shares for each
party in the election

Mixed Electoral Systems

-hybrid where there are two groups of elected members, one of which is elected under
plurality/majority system and the other under a PR system: the two can be linked to produce a
relatively proportional result (mixed-member proportional or MMP) or they can be conducted
independently of each other to produce a non-proportional mixed-member majority (MMM)
outcome.

MMM system is also called the parallel system, it involves the use of majoritarian and
proportional electoral formulae in what are essentially two separate elections conducted
independently of each other.