Hur växer demokratin fram? Dynamisk (evolutionär) komparation och några metodtest på europeiska regimdata

Abstract

How does democracy evolve? Dynamic (evolutionary) comparison and some tests of method on european regim data. This article presents a way of dealing scientifically with the problem of comparison among dynamically evolving units of analysis in social science, namely by using methods from theoretical, computational and mathematical biology and phylogeny (evolutionary tree) analysis. First, the standard political science and static method of comparative analysis is criticized. Second, some important aspectsof the dynamic comparison are presented from its multidisciplinary and historic context, commenting on the compatibility with evolutionary institutional as well as universal Darwinian theoretical perspectives. Third, dynamic comparison is approached using first techniques from standard social science statistical software (SPSS) and then from molecular genetics (MEGA, Molecular Evolutionary Analysis). Examples of evolutionary tree analyses of the European nations are presented and discussed. Similarities and dissimilarities between social science and biological applications of the dynamic comparison techniques are discussed, emphasizing the importance of openness to new techniques and application of panel data for elaboration of new methods of dynamic comparative analyses in social sciences.