1. Comparing Political Systems
Comparative Politics

2. How We Compare The ways to study political systems Describe them
Explain them
Predict them

3. Description We describe political systems using a conceptual framework
The conceptual framework has a
System
Structure
Function

4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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.

9. 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

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

11. 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.

12. How We Explain
By understanding the process functions and overall system functions, we can explain how they work together to run a particular government

13. 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