What is Comparative Politics? A personal reflection

As my experience in Comparative Politics comes to a close, I have been asked to answer the question of what Comparative Politics is.  A person can just look at the two words “Comparative Politics” and think that Comparative Politics is just about comparing the different politics in different countries.  Although part of it is that, it goes much deeper.  Comparative Politics involves an in-depth analysis of the different ideals and types of governments that people value, as shown by the World Values Survey that we frequented multiple times in class and for papers.  Our first paper in Comparative Politics asked us to analyze and compare two states in the failed states index.  This meant that we had to choose on state that is considered failed, and on the other hand choose a state that is still intact.  Analyzing these states involved looking into the capacity of the government, the history of the state, and the way in which the government is running today.  All of these items are an important part of Comparative Politics, showing that Comparative Politics involves deep research to understand a government.  Our second paper asked us to look into how culture and religion influence government.  We looked at three quotes by Huntington that addressed how religion plays a part in different states, governments, and cultures.  Our assignment was to analyze these quotes and agree or disagree with them.  This analysis allowed me to see how big of an impact culture and religion play in determining the type of government that is present in a country.  We were also asked to find states today in which Islam and Confucianism still play a role and have an impact in the government of those states.  I chose Iraq and China, two states that are influenced by Islam and Confucianism respectively.  It was interesting to see how Islam and Confucianism still play a role in their government today.  Therefore, Comparative Politics involves looking back in history at the different aspects of a state, such as religion and culture, to see how the government in the state is what it is today.

German Election

I enjoyed performing a mock version of the German election as it gave me a look inside the German political system. I found it interesting to listen to everyone’s speeches and the different ways in which they wanted to benefit or change the face of the German nation. It was also interesting to see how the party with the most seats can be teamed up against by other parties forming a coalition. This teaming up shows that even the parties with the most power can see their downfall.

I was a part of the SPD and I enjoyed creating and performing my speech in front of the class. Reading about my party and it’s ideals and values allowed me to understand how the SPD in Germany views politics. My party worked well together in class in forming a coalition and getting the cabinet positions we wanted. Achieving these cabinet positions allows us to influence the parts of politics that we care about most.

Overall, the German election was an educational activity that enhanced my understanding of German politics and opened up my eyes to the way in which the rest of the world runs their political system. I am so used to the American elections and it’s politics, so it was odd but interesting to see how the election works in another country.

Democracy and Immigration

The strictness of immigration policy in a state depends on to what degree the democracy is liberal. Immigration laws in a democracy tend to vary based on the culture and how the native culture responds to outsiders, yet in a democracy there is greater inclusion of more people in the decision-making process over what the national policy is. Unlike an autocracy, which lacks rule of law over immigration and where only a few at the top have authority, democracy typically provides legislation that is agreed upon by the government and takes in the views of more people over who should be let into the country. Also, immigration policy cannot be radically changed as it could in an autocracy and thus laws in a democracy are more moderate and are changed slowly and procedurally, wit multiple checks in the legislation process that could veto such change.