Comparing Political Systems

Comparative Politics

How We Compare

• The ways to study political systems– Describe them– Explain them– Predict them

• Description– We describe political systems using a conceptual

framework– The conceptual framework has a• System• Structure• Function

Political Systems: Environment & Interdependence

• System means that the parts are working together, they depend on each other.– Political system is the institutions and agencies that

society uses to accomplish its goals• Government is the policy or law making part of a political system• Political Systems involve international and domestic

environments– Political Systems and environments try to shape each other

– Political Systems have become so internationally dependent on each other that globalization has occurred• Globalization has resulted in interdependence among nations for

imports and exports.

Political Systems: Structures & Functions

• Structures are– Parliaments– Bureaucracies– Administrative Agencies– Courts

• Each of the structures above perform a function– These functions all the government to … policies

• Formulate• Implement• Enforce

• There are six smaller types of political structures that are formal organizations working within the political system– Political Parties– Interest Groups– Legislatures– Executives– Bureaucracies– Courts

• The reason we need to know the smaller six structures is because– The main six structures may be in several

systems/countries, but have vastly different powers• In other words, just because it says it’s a parliament,

doesn’t mean there’s free voting

– By understanding how the smaller six in each country work, we can begin to compare the larger six of each country• Thus allowing for accurate comparison of political systems

• To begin with, we have to analyze the smaller six (basically their process functions) under five different headings:– Interest Articulation – this is where political parties and interest

groups make their concerns/demands known to the government– Interest Aggregation – this is where the legislative body takes the

concerns/demands and puts them into public policies, aka LAWS– Policymaking – this is where the Legislative and Executive work

together to formulate the laws– Policy Implementation – this is the bureaucracy enforcing the

laws– Policy Adjudication – this is the courts interpreting the law when

disputes arise.

• When we explain the five different process functions from the previous slide, we usually use the STRUCTURAL-FUNCTIONAL APPROACH– The S-FA has two very important points that we

must keep in mind:• Different countries may have the same structure, but it

may do different things in each country• Institutions often share functions, they don’t have total

control over their area

• For all of these aspects to work together smoothly, there are three system functions needed– Socialization– Recruitment– Communications

• Political Socialization – attitudes are formed by– Family– Education– Media– Church

• Political Recruitment – the selection of people for political activities

• Political Communication – what is presented to the public about politics. In an authoritative gov’t, the ruler controls it all. In a democracy, people can say almost anything.

How We Explain

• By understanding the process functions and overall system functions, we can explain how they work together to run a particular government

How We Predict

• Predicting is difficult at best…– If we can describe the functions we will be able

to…– Explain how they work together– By explaining how they work, we can attempt to

predict attitudes and decisions that could be made