POSC 3315W12.1

Studying Latin American politics

Context◦Who’s in, who’s out

Should we include the excluded?Why don’t we?Is LA a region?

◦Historically?◦Economically?◦Politically?◦Culturally?

Why does this matter?◦What does it let us do?

Why Latin America is western.◦Who says it isn’t?◦Why say it is?

Latin America and the Third World◦What is the TW?◦What are its common features?◦What are its points of divergence?◦How useful is the concept?

How to study LATwo approaches; not antitheticalComparative Politics

◦Systematic◦Problem-driven or theory-driven◦Tries to transcend borders◦Aims to build theory – midrange or

grand◦Deductive + inductive

Area studies◦Define by geography, cultural

similarity, historical ties ◦Thick description◦Inductive + deductive◦Limited generalization◦Detailed knowledge of culture,

language, history

Why together?Need to think of logic of

comparison and basic comparative politics research approaches.

Some need lots of detail; e.g., case studies, binary studies and small-N studies

Others, large-N studies, do not ◦But let us look at region-wide (20

country) questions.

Most comparative politics =single case, binary ,or small-N studies

Single case◦How can this be comparative? Why

do this?Binary studies: two cases

◦Most Similar Systems (MSS)◦Least Similar/Most Dissimilar

Systems (LSS/MDS)

What’s the difference?◦MSS: similar on most points; diverge

on one May not be able specify cause of

difference’ may be multiple and interacting

Work well with within-case comparisons

◦MDS: similar on one; diverge on most How do different systems same/similar

result? Multiple, interacting causes here too

◦Either can be binary or small-N

In case studies, binary comparisons and small-N studies◦Select cases very carefully

Case study: a case of what? What principle is examined?

Binary and small-n: look for hard cases, ones that look unlikely to prove your point.

Large-N: above are qualitative, these are qualitative

Large N works for some things, e.g., correlates of democracy, but not others, e.g., policies for rapid economic development In Latin American area studies a large-N study might

cover all 20 statesCase studies, binary and small-N studies well

adapted to focusing on a specific areaLarge-N studies let us take in all/most/many

of the countries