COMPA RA TIV E POL ITICS Rati on ality, Cul ture, and Structure eds. Mark Irving Lichbach and Alan S. Zuckerman Reflection Paper
Chapters 1, 4-7, 9-10, 14
Mia C api tul o MAPOLSC ID# 10991239
MR. RIZALINO MALABED December 9, 2010
Chap ters 1, 4, 5, and 6 An insight I gleaned from the text is that “social sciences and history always go together” (Katznelson). Social sciences study the different facets of human society and social relationships. Thus, in probing into liberalism, a historical point of view must be utilized. I realized that to look at liberalism from a structuralists’ perspective is to be able to spot the structures or institutions that have shaped the values of not only economies today, but also the values of the social human being. I also learned that in the past decade, that causality more than research paradigms has been the inclination of comparative politics. Pragmatism and causality are research paradigms that thinkers have begun to welcome in studying comparative politics. Here I realized the relationship between the two: pragmatism looks at theories and beliefs according to its practical application; on the other hand, the credo of causality is that everything has a cause. Pragmatism relies on effect while causality, on cause. For me, the author’s assertion is that the comparison done by comparitivists, has inevitably led them to rethink and now regard politics according to their causal mechanism (Lichbach, et.al), or the conjunction of factors leading up to the results being studied. In that manner, politics is to be studied as an unfolding story that gives rise to the answers being sought. Among all the things I learned from these chapters, what I value the most is realizing the magnitude of how culture permeates and controls man’s mind. Ross says, “Culture frames the rules that can guide political action even in
the absence of strong institutions to enforce them” (2009). The strength of policies and regulations pales in comparison when placed alongside the winning influence of long-held mindsets and, thus, beliefs. To convince citizens to do something, the state must reach out and
identify with the culture of the people. When kinship with the state is found, the people will follow.
Chap ters 7, 9, 10, and 14 According to Migdal (2009), “The state is at once dominator and supplicant.” I cannot help but see the connection of this idea to that of Marc Howard Ross. From this I understood and saw how nationalism is used as – and is quite powerful – a machinery to compel the nation to live by its rules. I realized from the text that the presence of voluntary obedience driven by passion for one’s own nation is, for states, the mark of effective sovereignty over the people. Does the state exercise authority in such a way that it commands allegiance? A state is a dominator in that it employs the legitimate use of force in its affairs. It is a supplicant in that it woos successfully its constituents in soliciting votes. Another noteworthy insight I got is how because of globalization, what were once the bases of state power such as gold and guns, are radically being replaced by the flow of economy. Globalization has caused the paradigms of comparative politics to shift in directions that are new and unfamiliar to political scientists. Thus, the resounding theme of this book is that it gives an account of how the past decade has thrown the field into a conundrum, given that the archetypes of comparative politics research can no longer be contained to a genus of models or patterns. I realized that rationalists, structuralists, and culturalists are now allowing leeways for, not all-out synergy, but a joining of parts that allows for the incorporation of varying perspectives to collaborate in the hope of arriving at conclusions at “why countries develop the way they do and why they are
ruled as they are” (Kopstein & Lichbach, 2005).
References Lichbach, Mark Irving and Alan Zuckerman. Comparative Politics: Rationality,
Culture, and Structure. 2nd ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Kopstein,
Jeffrey
and Mark
Lichbach.
Comparative Politics: Interests,
Identities, and Institutions in a Changing Global Order. 2nd ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.