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_______________________

A Primer on the Rat ionalCho ice App roach in

Comparat ive Po l it ics

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Rational Choice Approach

What does it mean to act in a rational manner?

Answer: Those who actrationally are assumedto be acting in their ownself-interest

This is the basic

assumption fromwhich rationalchoice analysis begins

The rational choice approach begins with the presumption that

Saddam was a rational actor

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Defining Self-Interest

To act consistently in relation to ones preferences

Preference can be for wealth, political power, survival,status/prestige, and so on

Also known as UtilityMaximization

Different people have different preferences, different ways to

maximize utility; this explains the rationality behind

different choices, such as the choice to purchase a Hummer

vs. the choice to purchase a Toyota Prius

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Real-worldexamples ofutilitymaximization:Self-interest isnot alwaysobvious

Those individuals who

give higher utility tohelping others or to

defending the nation

are also acting rationally;

they are maximizing their

personal utility

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Complicating Factors of Rationality

Rational action is complicated by a number of otherfactors, including:

1. Strategic Calculation

2. Strategic Interaction

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Strategic calculation is a fancy way of sayingthat any decision is based on a calculation of

costs and benefits

A Simple Example: Deciding toattend or skip class; decidingto prepare for todays quiz

Your decision is based on aweighing of the costs andbenefits; most decisions, fromthe biggest to the smallest,involve this type of strategiccalculation

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Strategic in teract io n

Most decisions are not made in isolation; that is, many decisions

involve two or more players

In these cases, we can say that individual decisions are generallypart of an interactive process, in which one players decision isinfluenced by the existence of another player

In chess and football, strategic

interaction is integral to the dynamics

and outcome of the game;

players/coaches on both sides are

engaged in a process of strategic

interaction

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What is the sign i f icance of strategicin teract ion?

When more than one player is involved, the payoffs (or thebenefits) of any decision will depend on what the other player doesor does not do.

To determine what is rational, therefore, each player needs toguess how another player might act.

The right strategic moves in football will lead to a

touchdown; the right moves in chess will lead to checkmate.

The wrong move, however, may result in defeat

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Summing UpThus Far

Utility maximization,

strategic calculation andstrategic interaction canmake rational decision-making much morecomplex than it appearson the surface

In this scenario, the final outcome (e.g, mutually assured destruction is

the product of a process of rational decision-making shaped by strategic

calculation and interaction. NOTE: The final result is not necessarily

optimal

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Key Assumptions of Rational Choice

Rational choice scholars tell us that we should always assumethat the large majority of decisions are rational

One of the major tasks of rationalchoice, therefore, is to uncover theunder ly ing dynamicsof the decision making process,even when or especially when

decisions seem irrational

In rational choice, insane decision-makers, such as the fictitious Hannibal Lecter, are the rare exception,

rather than the rule. It is assumed that most decision-makers, especially those occupying positions of

responsibility, are generally rational.

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Key Assumptions ofRational Choice

Consider the following questions:

Why did North Koreas Kim Jong Ildecide to conduct a nuclear test?

Why d id Saddam launch aninvasion o f Kuwait?

Why did George W. Bush launch apre-emptive invasion of Iraq in2003?

Are they all just crazy, evil,

or obsessed?

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Close examination of foregoing questions will likely lead to the

identification of an und er ly ing rational i ty

Paying attention to utility maximization, strategic calculation

and strategic interaction is critical

Almost assuredly, as each of these pictures suggest, Kim, Saddam, and

Bush all have/had justifiable reasons and clear objectives for theirdecisions

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Perfect Information

Rational actors dont have access to perfectinformation

People, unlikeGod, are notomniscient,all-knowingbeings

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A Simple, but Critical Lesson

The complexity of strategic interaction,imperfect information and other factors meansthat notall rational decisions are gooddecisions

Consider the Iraq War: Aclassic example of a

rational decision leadingto a sub-optimaloutcome

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The Strategic Environment

Rationality is also affected by the larger strategicenvironment in which decisions are made

We cannot make any choicewe please because ofenvironmental constraints:

we are sometimes pushedto make certain choices

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The Strategic Environment

There are two major types of constraints

Scarcity(or material constraints)

Institutionalconstraints

Having no money severely limits the choices you can

make Arnold Schwarzenegger learned first hand about

the power of institutional constraints in California state

politics.

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Some Key Questions to Ask in Rational ChoiceAnalysis:

Who are the main actors?

How are their interests defined?

What information is available to them?

What type of constraints do they face?

How do the constraints influence their actions?

What are other important elements of the strategic

environment?

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Repeating, Restating, Reiterating a KeyPoint:

To use rational choice to explain social,

political or economic phenomena, you needto go well beyond simply asserting that actorsare rational

You must take account of utility maximization, strategiccalculation, strategic interaction, actors knowledge, andthe impact of the strategic environment

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_____________________

A Pr imer on theStructural App roach in

Comparat ive Po l it ics

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The Structural Approach

Structures: The Shaper of Our Lives

Structural approaches are based on

the idea that human actions arepartly and even largely determinedby underlying, sometimes invisibleforces, over which individuals havelittle or no control

An analogy: Consider thestructure of DNA and its affecton our individual lives

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The Impact ofStructure: AnExample

Feudalism was apowerful socialstructure; it shaped,in profound ways, the

lives of millions ofpeople and of wholesocieties for centuries

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Key Assumption in Structural Approach

The Centrality of Relationships

Structuralists assume that central to any structure arerelationships, which themselves exist within a broaderframework of action

Examples:Consider the relationship between women and men in apatriarchal structure, the relationship of workers to capitalists (or the rich

and poor) in a capitalist structure, the relationship of slaves to mastersin a structure of slavery, the relationship of peasant to lordin a feudalstructure, and so on

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Key Assumptions in (Historical) StructuralApproach

Structures are enduring, but not necessarily

permanent

Structures contain their own logic and dynamic

Structures create particular relationships

The fate of individuals, groups, and societies arelargely determined by their position within a structure

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Structures as Deeply Embedded Games

Consider the game of chess

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Some Key Questions to Ask in a StructuralAnalysis

What is the overarching structure and what are the key

relationships within that structure?

How does the structure work or operate? What is theinternal logic and basic dynamic of the structure?

What are the (structural) rules of the games, who are

the key players and what are their roles within thestructure?

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_______________________

A Pr imer on the Struc turalApp roach in Comparat ive

Pol i t ics

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Cultural Approach

A Caveat, A Warning!

Using culture to explain social, politicalor economic phenomena

may seem easy and intuitive,but its not

Cultural arguments are

often very bad arguments

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Cultural Approach

Bad Cultural Arguments: An Example

Heres an example of bad cultural argument purporting to

explain the lack of democracy in the Middle East:

There is a reason political pluralism, individual liberty and

self-rule do not exist in any of the 16 Arab nations in the

Middle East. Cultural traditions there tend toward anti-

intellectualism, religious zealotry and patriarchy,

values which provide little fertile ground for

progressive thinking.

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Cultural Approach

Erroneous Assumptions in Bad CulturalArguments

Typically, bad cultural argumentsassume that

culture is essentially fixed, monolithic, and one-directional

Fixed:Cultures dont ever change, ever

Monolithic: Within a culture, there is but a single,

unchallenged and unquestioned voice

One-directional:Culture is either an obstacle to change, or itsnot; it is either progressive or regressive, but not both

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Cultural Approach

The First Lesson for Good CulturalArguments

Begin with the assumption that culture is highly

malleable, multivocal, and multidirectional Malleable: Cultures can and do change, both quickly and slowly.

Multivocal: People of a single culture can and do disagree,sometimes in a fundamental manner.

Multidirectional: Culture can have contradictory and complexeffects; in different contexts, at different times, culture may blockchange or it may be a source of change.

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Cultural Approach

What is cu l ture?

A very general definition:

Culture marks a distinctive way of lifethat members of the culture share andupon which they forge a common andunique identity

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Cultural Approach

What is cul ture? What are the major elements of culture?

That is, what things constitute theworldview or distinctive way of life thatdefine culture?

Consider some general categories:

Religious beliefs and values

Political beliefs and values

Philosophical belief and values

Ideological beliefs and values

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Cultural Approach

What is cu l ture?

A Key Point: As a worldview, as a set of cognitive beliefs andvalues, as a shared identity, culture is inherently and unavoidablysubjective, or more accurately, intersubjective

The subjective nature of culture means, in part, that culture isintangible; it exists only inside our (collective) heads

The intersubjective nature of culture means that it is subject tocontinual negotiation and (re)interpretation, since it must be

reproducedover and over again*

* This tells us, in large part, why culture is never fixed or monolithic

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Cultural Approach

A Key Assumption in Cultural Approach

Culturalists believe culture has power

Culture has power at both the individual and collectivelevels

Culture can compel individuals and whole peoples toact and behave in certain ways, to make profoundsacrifices and even give up their very lives for the sake

of a larger good

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Cultural Approach

The Power of Culture: Individual Examples

Values, beliefs, and ideals--that

is, culture--compels some

individuals to make profound

personal sacrifices: a lone

protestor trying to stop a column

of tanks

a suicide bomber and a

Buddhist monk Can rational

choice truly explain the power of

culture?

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Cultural Approach

Culture as a political resource or asset

The power of culture gives it huge potential asa political resource or asset

Significantly, the power of an ostensibly single culturecan be harnessed or co-opted by opportunistic leadersand others to achieve self-serving goals: consider,Bosnia, Rwanda, and al Qaida

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Cultural Approach

Culture as a pol i t ical resou rce

or asset

In these three cases, political leaders co-opted culture to serve their own political ends. Culture and culturaldifferences were used to motivate collective action for horrendous political goals.

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Cultural Approach

Culture as a po l i t ical resourceor asset

On the other hand, culture can serve as a rallying cry, a force of broad based mobilization, for progressive

change. This was the case in the Philippines (the People Power movement, in Poland, in the former Soviet

Union, and in the US with the Civil Rights Movement

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Cultural Approach

Intersecting Forces

As variable,culture shouldnever be

treated asseparate fromother variables

Instead, think ofculture as

intersecting withother social,political, economicand historicalforces

Culturalforces

Economic

forces

Political

forces

Institutional factors

Transnational

factors

Historical

forces

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Cultural Approach

In sum

culture is complex

It is malleable

Its effects are sometimes obvious, but frequently subtle andeven hidden and contradictory

Culture has power, but it is not always or necessarily acausal power; the power of culture, moreover, does not

always flow in the same direction

Culture does not act alone toproduce outcomes

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Cultural Approach

Culture as an Independent Variable

Many social scientists dismiss culture because its causal power isdifficult, even impossible, to evaluate

Some argue that culture is simply a reflection of more basic forces

Some argue that culture, at most, affects the framework ofaction and is, therefore, only indirectly important (e.g., a rationalchoice analyst may argue that culture affects the strategicenvironment, but is not a fundamental element of behavior)

Some argue that culture is simply irrelevant because it cannot bequantified or measured--in part because culture is inherentlysubjective

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Cultural Approach


The debate about cultures causal powers cannot be resolvedeasily; however, one way to think about culture is to see it as bothcause and effect

In this view, culture is understood as a product of underlying social,economic or political forces, but once established, certain culturalpractices and beliefs tend to perpetuate themselves from generationto generation

Culture, in short, becomes independent over time: it takes on alife of its own and begins to operate as an autonomous or semi-autonomous force

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Cultural Approach


An example

In the Terminator, a computer networkbased on artificial intelligence isproduced by scientists (i.e., it is theproduct of outside forces). Once created,however, it becomes sentient: it not onlythinks, but acts to defend itself. It takeson a life of its own

Although the analogy is not perfect, thisis a useful way of understanding how aculture, once created by outside forces,can also take on a life of its own

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Cultural Approach


Key Point

Once culture takes on a life of its own, it can be analyzed asan independent variable

Remember, though, that culture is not static, nor is it tangible.Thus, as an independent variable, it must be treated with

extreme care

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Cultural Approach

Concluding Points: Doing Good CulturalAnalysis

Using culture in an analysis is not easy; indeed, it can bequite confusing

The key is to avoid treating culture as an unambiguous setof unchanging values, norms and beliefs that define andunproblematically shape, and even determine, the social,political, and economic fates of individuals, societies andcountries

Instead recognize that culture is contested, profoundlypolitical, and inherently fluid

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