For the second part of this project, I will be designing a process tracing research design for the theory regarding resilient Monarchs as stated by Menaldo (Menaldo, 2012). The theory states that countries in the Middle East and North African region (MENA) that are monarchies will have a higher level of political stability, when compared to the MENA republics. My research question will therefore be ‘How are Mena monarchies able to remain politically relatively stable, when compared to the republics?
Causal Mechanism
The next part of the research design, is to consider the Causal Mechanism implied within the theory. To do this I will need to consider what the independent variable and the dependent variable are for the theory(Bennett and Checkel, …show more content…
Firstly a political culture is developed by the Monarch, Political culture is defined as “The attitudes, beliefs, and values” that define how a certain political system works (Mclean and Mcmillan, 2016). For Monarchies this includes how the Monarchic regime is run and how succession works, this allows elites and the ruler to make credible long term plans (Menaldo, 2012, page 711). However this step can be broken up into three separate steps. The first steps concerns the rules and norms that define who is part of the ruling group, the elites, this include members of the royal family. This also defines what share of the power they have and the role they perform within the regime. The second step concerns the elite’s ability to monitor the actions of a ruler. The monarch will tend to create self-limiting institutions and structures, allowing elites to monitor the monarch and safeguard their interests, such as their share of power and wealth. The third and final step in creating a political culture is when the elites develop a stake in the regime. A monarch will take the largest share of power, but the rules and norms developed by the regime and the monarch will provide the elites with a share of power. Therefore, the elites develop a stake in the sustained survival of the regime, curtailing unrest among the elites (Menaldo, 2012, pages 10 …show more content…
The case selection technique used to choose these cases is the Typical case selection (Gerring, 2007, page 89). All these cases, as previously mentioned present a relatively normal snapshot of MENA countries in terms of culture, religion and geography. Economically they fall into two groups, the two Monarchies tend to have a slightly higher rating in economic terms, whereas the republics are lower. None of their economies are outliers in the MENA region. This would therefore mean that the External validity for the MENA region is relatively good, but when we look outside the MENA region the validity of this research design will likely be less
Causal Mechanism
The next part of the research design, is to consider the Causal Mechanism implied within the theory. To do this I will need to consider what the independent variable and the dependent variable are for the theory(Bennett and Checkel, …show more content…
Firstly a political culture is developed by the Monarch, Political culture is defined as “The attitudes, beliefs, and values” that define how a certain political system works (Mclean and Mcmillan, 2016). For Monarchies this includes how the Monarchic regime is run and how succession works, this allows elites and the ruler to make credible long term plans (Menaldo, 2012, page 711). However this step can be broken up into three separate steps. The first steps concerns the rules and norms that define who is part of the ruling group, the elites, this include members of the royal family. This also defines what share of the power they have and the role they perform within the regime. The second step concerns the elite’s ability to monitor the actions of a ruler. The monarch will tend to create self-limiting institutions and structures, allowing elites to monitor the monarch and safeguard their interests, such as their share of power and wealth. The third and final step in creating a political culture is when the elites develop a stake in the regime. A monarch will take the largest share of power, but the rules and norms developed by the regime and the monarch will provide the elites with a share of power. Therefore, the elites develop a stake in the sustained survival of the regime, curtailing unrest among the elites (Menaldo, 2012, pages 10 …show more content…
The case selection technique used to choose these cases is the Typical case selection (Gerring, 2007, page 89). All these cases, as previously mentioned present a relatively normal snapshot of MENA countries in terms of culture, religion and geography. Economically they fall into two groups, the two Monarchies tend to have a slightly higher rating in economic terms, whereas the republics are lower. None of their economies are outliers in the MENA region. This would therefore mean that the External validity for the MENA region is relatively good, but when we look outside the MENA region the validity of this research design will likely be less