POLS 689 Study Guide
Last updated: April 5, 2007
Lijphart “Comparative Politics and the Comparative
Method”
Jackman “Cross-national Statistical Research and
the Study of Comparative Politics”
Describe experimental, statistical, and comparative methods
Discuss strengths and weaknesses of experimental, statistical, and comparative methods
Taagepera and Shugart
Why study electoral systems?
General features
Pathologies of electoral systems
Variables in electoral systems
Disproportionality
District magnitude
Allocation rules (Plurality, PR)
Thresholds
Duverger’s Law
Mechanical and psychological effects
Effective number of parties and electoral rules
Chhibber and Kollman
What empirical puzzle do they try to solve?
What do they argue?
How do they support their arguments?
Ethnic heterogeneity
Duverger’s Law
District level and national level
Party aggregation
Economic centralization
Aldrich
What does he argue in the book? How does he support his arguments?
Why do parties form?
Social choice problems
Majority rule and cyclical majority
Median voter theorem
Preference induced equilibrium
Structure induced equilibrium
Chaos theorem
Inheritability problem
The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Congress
Collective action problems
Prisoner’s dilemma
Turnout
Politicians’ ambitions
Cheibub
What does he argue in the book?
How does he support his arguments?
Empirical puzzle
Democratic breakdown
Alternative explanatory factors
Economic development, the size of the country, geographic location
Minority governments
Coalition governments
Legislative effectiveness
Deadlocks and instability
Incentives
Office seeking and policy seeking
Presidentialism and parliamentarism
Party discipline
Military-presidential nexus
Laver and Shepsle
What do the authors show in the book? What do they argue?
Chaos theorem
Model
Multidimensional equilibrium
Office seeking and policy seeking
Cabinet portfolios
Lattice
Dimension-by-dimension median cabinet
Strong parties
Simulation
Norris
What is the conventional wisdom? What does she argue?
The decline and fall of political activism
Modernization theory, Institutional accounts, and Agency theory
Postindustrial and developing societies
Regional differences
Social capital and civic society
Bratton, Mattes, Gyimath-Boadi
What do the authors show in the book?
The Afrobarometer
1990s
Hybrid regimes
Economic reform programs
Attitudes to democracy
Explanations
Demand, supply and regime consolidation
Bratton and van de Walle
Approaches to democratization
Neopatrimonial rule
Explaining political protest and political liberalization
The structure of transition processes
Managed transitions, National conference, rapid elections, pacted transitions
Military oligarchy, plebiscitary one-party, competitive one-party, settler oligarchy
Przeworski, Alvarez, Cheibub
and Limongi
How do dictatorships and democracies influence economic development? What do the authors show in the book?
Modernization theory
Advantages and disadvantages of democracy
Advantages and disadvantages of authoritarianism
Regime duration
Investment share, growth of capital stock, growth of labor force, growth of income, labor share
Diamond and Plattner
Democratic development and
Asian values
Political culture
Institutions
History
Economy
Lijphart (Patterns of Democracy)
What is the author trying to argue?
Majoritarian model and consensus model
Ten factors and how they are related to the majoritarian and consensus models.
Examples of majoritarian and consensus models