Approaches of Comparative Government and Politics

Within the broad spectrum of Political Science, Comparative Politics was always considered as the study of comparative study of government and political institutions. The attempt to approach political institutions in a comparative perspective was started very early, even during the times of Aristotle, the father of Political Science. The traditional approaches in Comparative Politics focused mainly on comparing the formal institutions including state, parliament, executive, judiciary etc. Besides, the predominant methodologies unduly emphasized the British and American systems of governance and considered western democracy as the benchmark for comparing political institutions. Traditional approaches in Comparative Politics were historical and evolutionary rather than empirical and analytical. However, these traditional approaches were not sufficient to compare the political processes and dynamics of the later decades of 20th century which witnessed emergence of post-colonial nation states in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Hence, new approaches like behaviouralism and post-behaviouralism began to influence the theory and practice of Comparative Politics. Later on, scholars started using system theories, structural functional approaches, modernisation theories, dependency theories, and development and under development debate etc. to explain diverse issues of contemporary politics in a comparative framework. Broadly, the approaches to Comparative Politics are still evolving along with the emergence of new issues and challenges across the world. This book attempts to offer a new look into the traditional as well modern approaches of Comparative Politics. Rather than narrating the approaches, the book focuses mainly on how the diverse approaches are applied in different comparative contexts and administration departments in a country. The book will be ideal for political science students, teachers, researchers and anybody interested in the dynamics of politics and government in a comparative perspective.