MODULE 1:

COMPARATIVE POLITICS:
AN OVERVIEW

Introduction

Comparative politics is a field of political science characterized by an

empirical approach based on the comparative method. The study of
comparative politics depends on conscious comparisons in the field of political
experience, behavior and processes.
The study of governments is a significant part of the study of politics.
The comparative study of government and politics is an essential requirement
for the field of political science. The nature of comparative politics seeks to
analyze and compare different political systems that work under different
societies.
One of the most important challenges in political science was to develop
a broadly applicable theory of the political system. This theory was developed
by David Easton. The outputs of a political system are authoritative decisions
and actions of the political authorities for the distribution and division of
values. This unit will introduce you to comparative politics and its nature and
significance.

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 COMPARATIVE POLITICS

According to M. G. Smith, ‘Comparative politics is the study of the forms of political

organizations, their properties, correlations, variations and modes of change.’
According to Roy C. Macridis and Robert Ward, ‘Government is not the sole concern
of students of comparative politics.’ Comparative politics, no doubt, has to be
concerned with the government structure but at the same time it has to take note
of the following:
o Society, historical heritage and geographic and resource endowed
o Its social and economic organizations
o Its ideologies and value systems
o Its political style
o Its parties, interests, and leadership structure
According to M. Curtis, ‘Comparative politics is concerned with significant
regularities, similarities and differences in the working of political institutions and
political behavior.’
According to E. A. Freeman, ‘Comparative politics is comparative analysis of the
various forms of government and diverse political institutions.’

Nature of Comparative Politics

The nature of comparative politics seeks to analyze and compare different political
systems that work under different societies. Therefore, it takes into account all the
three associations of politics which are as follows:
1. Political activity
2. Political process
3. Political power
Political activity deals with the activities involved in the resolution of conflict or in
the struggle for power. The basis of conflict resolution is the authoritative allocation
of values; hence, it involves an analysis of the process by which the authoritative
values are made and implemented. In this sense, politics stands for political power.
It involves the study of all government as well as non-state agencies, through which
the political process is made operational. The political process depends upon the
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 signals and information which it receives from non-state agencies. It further
transforms these signals and information into authoritative values. Politics, hence,
involves the study of power and power relations in society since it is a struggle for
power and a process of conflict resolution through the use of legitimate power.
The study of contemporary comparative politics is characterized by the following
features:
o Analytical research: Great stress is laid on analytical research when it comes
to the study of contemporary comparative politics, as it is no longer confined
to descriptive studies. Empirical analytic research, thus, works on providing
a clearer view of the actual activities of the governments along with their
structures and functions.
o Objective study of political science: This deals with the empirical study of
the various processes of political study in different environments. Since
political science is a social science, it takes into account only those values
whose validity can be demonstrated scientifically.
o Study of infrastructures: Comparative politics also analyses the actual
nature of individual, groups, structures, systems and subsystems, in relation
to the environment in which the behavior manifests. The study of the
dynamics of politics and its actual operation in the environment is regarded
as an essential component of comparative politics.
o Study of developing and developed societies: Earlier, comparative politics
was only confined to the study of the political systems of developed societies.
However, it has evolved in contemporary times and it stresses on the study of
political systems of developing nations as well. In fact, modern political
scientists like David Easton and Sidney Verba, besides many others, are of
the opinion that emphasis should be given to the study of politics of
developing nations.
These added features of contemporary politics make us see comparative politics
from a different point of view. It has completely rejected all old norms and parochial
nature of traditional comparative politics. Now, it is a more realistic study of politics
which is capable of explaining and comparing the phenomenon of politics all around
the world.

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 Nature, Scope and Approaches to Comparative Politics

❖ Major Approaches

But whatever the approach or the origin of its ideas, we can say that political science as
a discipline is concerned with the problems of ends; the goals of good society; the means
of governing in such a manner as to realize the good society, the activities of the ruled
(the public), especially political actions personified in voting, public opinion and attitude
formation; and the underlying connections between society and government. Its key
concern is with power—how it is shared through participation and representation and
how it is affected by growth and change.
—David E. Apter

Different themes used in the sphere of

contemporary political analysis:
1. Paradigm: It is a framework of ideas that establishes a general context of analysis.
Fundamentally, paradigms combine a mixture of philosophical assumptions and
criteria of valid knowledge. The resulting combinations are sharply distinguished
from each other.
2. Theory: It is a generalized statement summarizing the real or supposed actions of a
set of variables, whether dependent, or independent, or intervening. Parameters
represent the conditions within which independent variables operate. A macro or
micro theory may deal with large or small groups or units. Moreover, it may be
abstract, or formal or notational, or concrete.
3. Method: It is a way of organizing a theory for application to data. Thus, methods are
known by the names of conceptual schemes. They may be of many types like
comparative, configurational, historical, simulative and experimental.
4. Technique: It links method to the relevant data. It represents various modes of
observation and ways of recording empirical information. As such, techniques vary
in appropriateness, sampling, public-opinion testing, interviewing, regression
analysis, factoring, scaling and testing.
5. Model: It is a simplified way of describing relationships. It can be constructed from
a paradigm, a theory, a method or a technique. It may be typological, descriptive,
formal, mechanical, organismic, biological, etc.
6. Strategy: It is a peculiar way of applying one or more combinations of the above type
to a research problem. It is required that quality and integrity should be combined
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 in a strategy. A good strategy fits a problem, theory, methods and techniques
together in a systematic and coherent way.
7. Research design: It converts strategy into an operational plan for field work or an
experiment. It is a prospectus or an outline from which research is carried forward.
It is a final stage in professional research preparation.

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