Key Questions/Topics
- “How do states become powerful?”
- “Does ethnic diversity cause violent conflict?”
- “Why are women more politically powerful in some countries than others?”
- “Does greater civic participation lead to better democracy?”
- “Why are some countries rich and others poor?”
Overview
- Theoretical perspectives
- Elements of an explanation
- Correlation versus causation
Theoretical Perspectives
- Rational choice
- Cultural perspectives
- Structural perspectives
Variables
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Dependent variable–Effect or outcome that we want to explain
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Independent variable–The factors that explain/cause the outcome; also referred to as an “explanatory variable”
Silly tree example
Political Science Examples
How would you “operationalize” the study of these questions with independent and dependent variables?
- “How do states become powerful?”
- “Does ethnic diversity cause violent conflict?”
- “Why are women more politically powerful in some countries than others?”
- “Does greater civic participation lead to better democracy?”
- “Why are some countries rich and others poor?”
Causal Mechanisms
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Set of intervening factors or variables (or ‘causal sequence’) that links an independent variable to a dependent variable
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The story of the relationship between variables
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The “because” of the relationship
Spurious Correlation
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Does correlation = causation?
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Spurious correlation occurs when two variables appear to be directly linked in a cause-effect relationship but in fact (a) there is no causal link whatsoever; or (b) they are linked indirectly by some other causal variable or variables
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Occurs when we cannot specify or demonstrate the mechanism
Silly ice cream example
Political Science Examples
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Foreign aid and political stability (natural disasters)
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Civil society and democracy (wealth)
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Electoral institutions and economic performance (colonialism)