{"id":341960,"date":"2025-07-04T00:40:31","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T19:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=341960"},"modified":"2025-07-16T17:14:57","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T11:44:57","slug":"psir-power-50-day-27-capsule-comparative-politics-practice-qs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/psir-power-50-day-27-capsule-comparative-politics-practice-qs\/","title":{"rendered":"PSIR Power 50 \u2013 Day 27 Capsule: COMPARATIVE POLITICS + Practice Qs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hello aspirants,<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s revision capsule of PSIR optional preparation covers <strong>COMPARATIVE POLITICS.<\/strong> There are <strong>one 20-markers, one 15-markers, and nine 10-markers<\/strong> from this topic in the last 12 years.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>COMPARATIVE POLITICS <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>1 | Why Compare? <em>(Aristotle \u2192 Sartori)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<table class=\"table-responsive\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Point<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Scholars \/ Key ideas<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Self-knowledge through others<\/td>\n<td><strong>Aristotle, Tocqueville (\u201cmind cannot work without comparison\u201d)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Build general rules &amp; theory<\/td>\n<td><strong>Peter Mair, Emile Durkheim, Giovanni Sartori<\/strong> \u2013 comparison as \u201ccontrol\u201d in lieu of laboratories<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Newer focus<\/td>\n<td>whole spectrum of political activity (<strong>Ronald Chilcote<\/strong>) not just governments<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>2 | What &amp; How We Compare<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Objects<\/strong> \u2192 systems, institutions, behaviour, culture, class\/production.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Levels \/ Methods<\/strong>\n<ol>\n<li><em>Experimental<\/em> (rare in politics)<\/li>\n<li><em>Case-study<\/em> \u2014 Tocqueville on US &amp; France<\/li>\n<li><em>Statistical<\/em> \u2014 Dahl, Przeworski<\/li>\n<li><em>Focused pairings<\/em> \u2014 India vs China population policy<\/li>\n<li><em>Historical \/ Mill\u2019s Agreement\u2013Difference<\/em> \u2014 Skocpol, Wolf<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Approach : Method : Technique<\/em> (Van Dyke) \u2192 framework : step-set : actual tool (e.g., regression).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>3 | Main Traditional Approaches<\/strong><\/p>\n<table class=\"table-responsive\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Approach<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Core focus<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Major names<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Capsule critique<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Philosophical<\/td>\n<td>Norms, \u201cideal state\u201d<\/td>\n<td><strong>Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau, Locke, Kant, Green, Strauss<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Abstract, a-empirical<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Historical<\/td>\n<td>Evolution &amp; context<\/td>\n<td><strong>Beard, Sabine, Tocqueville, Barrington Moore<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Descriptive, continuity-heavy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Institutional<\/td>\n<td>Formal structures<\/td>\n<td><strong>Bryce, Duverger, Finer, Sartori<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Too narrow, Euro-centric<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Legal<\/td>\n<td>Constitutions, rights<\/td>\n<td><strong>Dicey, Hobbes, Grotius, Bentham, Kelsen<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Ignores informal norms<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>4 | Modern \/ Post-1945 Turn<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<table class=\"table-responsive\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Family<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Distinguishing lens<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Hallmark works \/ people<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Behavioural<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Measurable behaviour<\/td>\n<td><strong>Lasswell, Merriam, Converse, Almond &amp; Verba<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Systems<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Whole interacting set<\/td>\n<td><strong>Easton (input-output), Almond (structural-functional), Deutsch (cybernetics)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Simulation \/ Cybernetic<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Info-flows, feedback<\/td>\n<td><strong>Karl Deutsch<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Quantitative<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Large-N, stats<\/td>\n<td><strong>Przeworski, Dahl<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Political-Culture<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Cognitive, affective, evaluative orientations; <em>parochial \/ subject \/ participant \/ civic<\/em><\/td>\n<td><strong>Almond &amp; Verba<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Political-Economy<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Power\u2013production nexus (see \u00a75)<\/td>\n<td>\u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Political-Sociology<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Society \u2194 State link<\/td>\n<td><strong>Marx \u2192 Pareto, Mosca, Michels, Weber; Kothari, B\u00e9teille<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Neo-Institutionalism<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Rules + norms + historical paths<\/td>\n<td><strong>March &amp; Olsen (normative), Skocpol, Evans<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>#Interpretive (Meaning-Centred) Approach <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Core claim:<\/strong> politics is best explained by reconstructing the <em>meanings, intentions and narratives<\/em> through which real actors interpret their world; structures and variables matter only insofar as people <em>believe<\/em> they do.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Method:<\/strong> close reading of speeches, rituals, historical \u201cstories,\u201d interviews and archival texts to tease out <em>traditions<\/em> (Oakeshott, Collingwood) or <em>discourses\/power-knowledge<\/em> (Foucault) that guide action.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Value for comparison:<\/strong> shows why the <em>same<\/em> institution can behave differently across settings, and why labels such as \u201cauthoritarian,\u201d \u201cliberal,\u201d \u201ccorruption,\u201d etc. cannot be lifted wholesale from one culture to another.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Contrast with structural or behavioural lines:<\/strong> moves the field \u201cinside\u201d actors\u2019 heads, complementing data-heavy or structural models and challenging universalist judgments rooted in Western experience.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>5 | Political-Economy Lines<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<table class=\"table-responsive\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Stream<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Core claim<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Representative voices<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Liberal \/ Neo-liberal<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Free market, minimal state<\/td>\n<td><strong>Smith, Ricardo, Malthus, Hayek, Friedman, Downs, Olson<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Marxist<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Class exploitation, surplus value<\/td>\n<td><strong>Marx &amp; Engels, Miliband, Poulantzas<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Modernisation<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Linear stages (traditional\u2192modern)<\/td>\n<td><strong>Rostow (five stages), Lipset, Apter, Pye, Organski, C.E. Black<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Dependency<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Development = underdevelopment<\/td>\n<td><strong>Paul Baran, A.G. Frank, Walter Rodney, Malcolm Caldwell<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>World-Systems<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Core \/ semi-periphery \/ periphery<\/td>\n<td><strong>Wallerstein; Chase-Dunn; Abu-Lughod (earlier origins)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Modes-of-Production<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Coexistence &amp; articulation of feudal, capitalist etc.<\/td>\n<td><strong>Alavi, Shivji<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>State-centred<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Relative autonomy, over-developed state<\/td>\n<td><strong>Poulantzas, Miliband, Evans, Bardhan<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>6 | Systems Derivatives in Depth<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<table class=\"table-responsive\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Model<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Key elements<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Classic critiques \/ merits<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Easton Input-Output<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Demands\/support \u2192 conversion \u2192 policies \u2192 feedback<\/td>\n<td>Abstraction; status-quo bias (Verma, Meehan) <em>but<\/em> valuable comparative grid<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Almond Structural-Functional<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Universal input\/output functions<\/td>\n<td>Overlooks interaction, Western tilt; yet handy taxonomy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Deutsch Cybernetic<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Communication channels, feedback, \u201cnerves\u201d<\/td>\n<td>Over-mechanical but spotlights info-processing<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Kaplan International Systems<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Six (later ten) world-system models: balance-of-power; loose\/tight bipolar; universal; hierarchical; unit-veto etc.<\/td>\n<td>Rigid linearity; ignores regionalism, but seminal taxonomy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>7 | Political-Sociology Arc<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Marx<\/strong> \u2013 class &amp; material base.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Elite theorists<\/strong> \u2013 Pareto, Mosca, Michels (iron law).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Weber<\/strong> \u2013 bureaucracy &amp; authority types.<\/li>\n<li>Post-war behaviouralism (US) adopts survey\/psych tools.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Huntington<\/strong> warns of \u201csociological reductionism\u201d; <strong>Skocpol<\/strong> &amp; neo-institutionalists \u201cbring the state back in\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>8 | Political-Culture <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<table class=\"table-responsive\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Type (Almond-Verba)<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Citizen role<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Parochial<\/td>\n<td>Unaware \/ indifferent<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Subject<\/td>\n<td>Aware, passive<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Participant<\/td>\n<td>Active influence<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Civic culture<\/strong> = balanced blend enabling stable democracy<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>9 | Limits of the Comparative Method<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Experimental control impossible; culture bias (\u201ccompare the comparable\u201d); small-N generalisation risk (Eckstein); data scarcity; over-mechanistic or presentist tendencies; Euro-\/US-centrism; difficulty capturing rapid change &amp; informal power.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Some key points<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Approach\u2013Method\u2013Technique<\/strong> chain (Van Dyke).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Input, Conversion, Output, Feedback<\/strong> (Easton).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Functions:<\/strong> socialisation, articulation, aggregation, communication, rule-making\/applic\/adjudic (Almond).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Modernisation vs Dependency<\/strong> \u2192 internal vs external causation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>New Institutionalism\u2019s six forms<\/strong>: normative, rational-choice, historical, sociological, discursive, feminist.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Scholars Index<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Janet Abu-Lughod\u2002|\u2002Hamza Alavi\u2002|\u2002Gabriel Almond\u2002|\u2002David Apter\u2002|\u2002Aristotle\u2002|\u2002Paul Baran\u2002|\u2002Pranab Bardhan\u2002|\u2002Charles Beard\u2002|\u2002Jeremy Bentham\u2002|\u2002Cyril E. Black\u2002|\u2002James Bryce\u2002|\u2002Andr\u00e9 B\u00e9teille\u2002|\u2002Malcolm Caldwell\u2002|\u2002Christopher Chase-Dunn\u2002|\u2002Ronald Chilcote\u2002|\u2002R. G. Collingwood\u2002|\u2002Philip Converse\u2002|\u2002Harold Lasswell\u2002|\u2002Charles Merriam\u2002|\u2002Anthony Downs\u2002|\u2002\u00c9mile Durkheim\u2002|\u2002A. V. Dicey\u2002|\u2002David Easton\u2002|\u2002Karl Deutsch\u2002|\u2002Harry Eckstein\u2002|\u2002Friedrich Engels\u2002|\u2002Peter Evans\u2002|\u2002Michel Foucault\u2002|\u2002Andr\u00e9 Gunder Frank\u2002|\u2002Milton Friedman\u2002|\u2002Friedrich Hayek\u2002|\u2002Thomas Hobbes\u2002|\u2002Samuel P. Huntington\u2002|\u2002Immanuel Kant\u2002|\u2002Morton Kaplan\u2002|\u2002Hans Kelsen\u2002|\u2002Rajni Kothari\u2002|\u2002T. H. Green\u2002|\u2002John Locke\u2002|\u2002Peter Mair\u2002|\u2002Thomas Malthus\u2002|\u2002James G. March\u2002|\u2002Karl Marx\u2002|\u2002Eugene Meehan\u2002|\u2002Robert Michels\u2002|\u2002Ralph Miliband\u2002|\u2002Barrington Moore\u2002|\u2002Gaetano Mosca\u2002|\u2002Michael Oakeshott\u2002|\u2002Johan P. Olsen\u2002|\u2002Hugo Grotius\u2002|\u2002A. F. K. Organski\u2002|\u2002Mancur Olson\u2002|\u2002Vilfredo Pareto\u2002|\u2002Nicos Poulantzas\u2002|\u2002Lucian Pye\u2002|\u2002David Ricardo\u2002|\u2002Walter Rodney\u2002|\u2002Walt Rostow\u2002|\u2002Jean-Jacques Rousseau\u2002|\u2002Giovanni Sartori\u2002|\u2002Theda Skocpol\u2002|\u2002Issa Shivji\u2002|\u2002Adam Smith\u2002|\u2002Leo Strauss\u2002|\u2002Sidney Verba\u2002|\u2002S. P. Verma\u2002|\u2002Vernon Van Dyke\u2002|\u2002Immanuel Wallerstein\u2002|\u2002Max Weber\u2002|\u2002Eric Wolf<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><u>\u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Practice Questions<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Question 1.<\/strong> <strong>Discuss the interpretive approach to the study of comparative politics. [2024\/10 m]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Question 2. Discuss David Easton&#8217;s model of systems analysis. [2015\/15 m]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Question 3. Discuss the subject matter of comparative politics. Outline the limitations of comparative political analysis. [2020\/20m]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udccc <em>Model answers drop this evening on the Telegram channel:<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/psirbyamitpratap\"><strong>https:\/\/t.me\/psirbyamitpratap<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 keep notifications on.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>See you tomorrow on Day 28. Keep practicing!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u2014<strong>Amit Pratap Singh &amp; Team<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>A quick note on submissions of copies and mentorship<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>2025 Mains writers<\/strong>: <strong>Cohort 1 of O-AWFG<\/strong> started on <strong>12 June<\/strong> and <strong>ATS<\/strong> on <strong>15 June<\/strong>. The above practice set will serve as your <em>revision tool<\/em>, just <strong>do not miss booking your mentorship sessions<\/strong> for personalised feedback especially for starting tests. Come with your evaluated test copies.<\/li>\n<li><strong>2026 Mains writers &#8211; <\/strong>keep uploading through your usual dashboard. Act on the feedback and improve consistently.<\/li>\n<li>Alternate between mini-tests <strong>(O-AWFG)<\/strong> and full mocks <strong>(ATS)<\/strong> has been designed to tackle speed, content depth, and structured revision\u2014line-by-line evaluation pinpoints your weaknesses and errors. Follow your <strong>PSIR O-AWFG &amp; ATS <\/strong>schedule and use the model answers to enrich your content, as rankers recommended based on their own success.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hello aspirants, &nbsp; Today\u2019s revision capsule of PSIR optional preparation covers COMPARATIVE POLITICS. There are one 20-markers, one 15-markers, and nine 10-markers from this topic in the last 12 years. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 COMPARATIVE POLITICS &nbsp; 1 | Why Compare? (Aristotle \u2192 Sartori) Point Scholars \/ Key ideas Self-knowledge through others Aristotle, Tocqueville (\u201cmind cannot&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/psir-power-50-day-27-capsule-comparative-politics-practice-qs\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">PSIR Power 50 \u2013 Day 27 Capsule: COMPARATIVE POLITICS + Practice Qs<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10394,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12128,9],"tags":[12012,12133],"class_list":["post-341960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-psir-optional","category-public","tag-psir-forumias","tag-psir-optional","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10394"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341960\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}