PYQ Vault · Paper 2 · Comparative Politics
Discuss the psychological approach to the study of comparative politics.
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Flow snapshot — how the answer moves
Intro routes
re inner human dimension (motivation, belief, perception, personality) over institutions → challenges rational-actor model ez politics as human behaviour → emotion + cognition drive voting, participation, leadership across systems
Body flow
| Wallas /Lasswell pioneer emotion-cognition-personality → Barber: personality typology of leadership → Simon: bounded rationality, cognitive bias in processing → collective turn: Almond & Verba (socialization → attitudes to authority/participation) → Tajfel (social identity → political identities/conflict) → cross-cultural comparison explains why similar institutions function
Counter-view
differently
Conclusion routes
ounter-view reductionism vs multi-causal politics → difficulty measuring psychological variables → weak cross-cultural generalization ision routes re) notastandalone key → strongest when fused with structural /institutional approaches ez inner dimension completes, does not replace, institutional analysis
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
