Candidacy Examination
Autumn 2008
Comparative Politics Major Examination
DAY 2
YOU HAVE 4 HOURS TO ANSWER TWO OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.
BE SURE NOT TO FRAME BOTH YOUR ANSWERS AROUND THE SAME
METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES.
1. James Fearon has argued: “Counterfactuals and the counterfactual strategy of
hypothesis testing play an important but often unacknowledged and underdeveloped role
in the efforts of political scientists to assess causal hypotheses.” In fact, “…any
nonexperimental research that makes causal claims, be it of the large-N or small-N
variety, must confront counterfactuals in the form of key assumptions or in the use of
hypothetical comparison cases. Particularly in small-N research, the common condition
of too many variables and too few cases makes counterfactual thought experiments a
necessary means for serious justification of causal claims.” (Fearon 1991: 194) Is he
right? Explore the implications of your response for a comparative problem of your own
choosing.
2. Quite some time ago Giovanni Sartori made the case that conceptualization stands
logically prior to measurement. Choose a body of scholarship in political science you
think has been bedeviled by inattention to conceptualization. With respect to this
scholarship (on, e.g., regimes, democracy, development, the state, political parties, or
whatever), show how problems of conceptualization have been linked to problems of
measurement, or how the measures in use poorly reflect the underlying concepts. Then,
trace the implications of this inattention for the creation and evaluation of theory.
Finally, suggest what you see as the most appropriate means to move the state of
knowledge in the area forward as it relates to conceptual (and hence measurement)
clarification.
3. In most comparative research, whether it is concerned with party systems, interest
groups, or public policy, the unit of analysis is usually the nation state, while the unit of
measurement is often individuals or organizations. Discuss the usefulness of the
comparison of whole countries for the causal analysis of political processes. Examine
three widely known comparative studies to demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of
whole country comparisons.
4. What role, if any, should normative theory have in social science scholarship? Defend
your answer with reference to both positive and pernicious examples.