Comparative Government and Politics - Study Guide
What the exam tests
Comparative Government and Politics tests comparison of constitutions, regime types and institutions, and the logic of comparative method. Expect questions that ask you to compare the UK, US, France or India rather than describe one country.
Core rules
- Comparative method requires clear case selection and a defined variable. Most-similar and most-different designs help control for alternative explanations.
- Parliamentary systems fuse executive and legislature: the government depends on parliamentary confidence. Presidential systems separate the executive from the legislature and usually give the president a fixed term.
- Federal systems divide sovereignty constitutionally; unitary systems may devolve power but retain legal supremacy at the centre.
- Lijphart distinguishes majoritarian and consensus democracies by executive concentration, electoral system, party system, federalism and judicial review.
- The UK has parliamentary sovereignty and conventions; the US has a written Constitution, separation of powers and judicial review; France has a semi-presidential system with a directly elected president and a prime minister responsible to the legislature.
Worked example
Question: Compare the UK and US legislatures. Reason: Both are bicameral, but the UK executive sits in Parliament and survives by confidence; the US president is separately elected and cannot be removed by a simple no-confidence vote. The UK House of Lords is unelected; the US Senate is elected and has strong confirmation and treaty powers. A good answer compares functions and accountability, not just names.
Traps
Do not equate presidentialism with complete separation; do not say the UK has no constitution - it has an uncodified one; do not treat federalism as merely having local governments; do not compare institutions without stating the criterion.