Problems in Study of Comparative Politics PDF

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the study of comparative governments has its own set of challenges....

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Problems in Study of Comparative Politics But the study of comparative governments has its own set of challenges. The following are some of the challenges we encountered while doing our research: The inability to gather data. Researching individual governments can be difficult because some countries simply prohibit the collection of information and data about their own governments. Even in totalitarian countries, there is a dearth of information. This does not,

however,

imply

that

these

countries

are

completely impenetrable to scrutiny. Many facts are revealed

and

others

are

published

by

their

governments to show the progress they have made over a specific time period. When looking at the government members over time, it is possible to learn a lot about how stable or unstable they are as well as what kind of men lead the country, as well as how many different factions there are in the ruling group In democratic countries, obtaining information is a cinch. There is a wealth of information to be found in the media, as well as from those in charge of the government. In a democratic country, full

information may not always be accessible. On the pretext of "public interest," many facts are given by these countries, especially those relating to the country's security, defence, or foreign affairs. Secret decisions made in the party's closed-door meeting, like those made in Cabinet meetings, are also kept under wraps. So even in a democratic country, the investigator

is

not

completely

"open."

Another

problem in the field is that it is difficult to gather data because it is sometimes difficult to measure it. Many political decisions, on the other hand, cannot be accurately measured and thus cannot be used for comparison purposes. Comparative politics students also have trouble gathering data because many events appear to be "unique," making comparisons seem out of place. As an example, one could look at the British Prime Minister, Indian Prime Minister, and US President. However, if no

other

account,

"unique" studying

influences these

were

executives

taken would

into be

pointless. Voters and legislators, as well as many other factors in each country under study, must

therefore be taken into account in these studies in order to get a full picture. Finally, governments' reluctance to provide complete information is a major roadblock to collecting data. Due to the variables in the background, this was a difficult task. The student of comparative government

faces

additional

difficulties

due

to

background variables. In every country, there are a variety of variables that influence both the general populace and those in positions of authority in terms of how they think and act. These factors include everything from the economy to the climate of a country,

its

geography,

and

even

historical

occurrences. A country's politics are affected by a variety of factors. In the past, these variables were explained in terms of a very small scale. Economic factors, for example, divide countries into those with capital (capitalist society) and those without (socialist society). On the basis of seafaring countries versus land-based states, i.e., the influence of climate or geography was an attempt to simplify variables that were considered.

If you try to find a single factor that accounts for all of the differences between governments, you're wasting your time. A better and more mature approach has been

adopted

by

students

of

comparative

government by measuring the relative weights of all variables and describing as accurately and clearly the extent to which a particular variable contributes to the characteristics of a political system. Multivariate analysis is the name given to this method. Inconsistencies in norms, institutions, and government conduct. Almost every country has a government whose leaders are elected by the people. They predetermine the form of government to be used. Values

or

governmental

norms

are

introduced

system when

a

specific

into type

the of

government is chosen. It is also decided what the government should and should not do. To put it another way, we need to see if the behaviour is consistent with the norm. The relationship between norms and behaviour is a difficult one to answer. Constitutions or various practises that "solidify" and become conventions usually contain these standards (as in the British Constitution). Different societies and

political systems have different kinds of norms, and the relationship between norms and behaviour can be compared across these systems. As a result, examining the connections between norms, institutions, and behaviour is critical when studying comparative governments. However, there is a complex interplay between these three components....