PYQ Vault · Paper 2 · Comparative Politics
Discuss the political economy approach to the comparative analysis of 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! polity and economy shape each other → Marx: interdisciplinary study (economics, law, politics) e2 Oxford Handbook definition — state’s economic policies + processes → Kautilya’s Arthashastra → Smith: modern political economy born
Body flow
Body How twostrands → liberal (— Hayek, Friedman): free markets, minimal state → Marxist (Frank dependency, Wallerstein world-systems): core-periphery exploitation → comparative payoff → regularities & causal mechanisms across systems → corporation-government links & autocracy-vs-democracy policy differences → global integration alters state decisions
Counter-view
| economic determinism → Kenworthy: ignores historical, political, cultural contexts
Conclusion routes
‘onclusion routes re PE compares systems through the economy-polity interface → shows why policy and regime behaviour differ, as institutions alone cannot e2 hold its comparative value but read with cultural and institutional context (Kenworthy), not economic reductionism
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
