📘 INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS 📘

📘 Introduction

Origin: Emerged in the late 19th century in the USA.

Evolution Driven by Two Revolutions:

• Behavioral Revolution
• Post-Scientific Revolution (Cold War era)

Phases of Development (G.K. Roberts):

• Unsophisticated (Traditional)
• Sophisticated
• Increasingly Sophisticated (Modern)

📜 PHASE-WISE EVOLUTION

📌 Phase 1: Traditional / Normative Phase

Thinkers: Aristotle, Machiavelli, Tocqueville, Bryce, Ostrogorsky, Weber

Nature:

• Philosophical, normative, descriptive
• Eurocentric & liberal-democratic bias
• Focused on formal institutions and constitutional analysis

📌 Phase 2: Empirical / Mid-Century Phase

Thinkers: Samuel Beer, M. Haas, Bernard Ulam, Roy Macridis

Nature:

• Emphasis on area studies and functional-institutional comparison
• Methodological clarity and realism
• Movement towards problem-oriented analysis

📌 Phase 3: Behavioral / Post-Behavioral Phase

Thinkers: Almond, Verba, Easton, Deutsch, Apter, Pye, Coleman, Weiner

Features:

• Scientific and empirical methods
• Rise of developmentalism and modernization
• Introduction of concepts like political culture, socialization, corporatism, dependency theory, etc.
• Influence of Cold War and U.S. foreign policy

Post-1990s Shift:

• Globalization and historical sociology
• Focus on micro-level comparisons, civil society, democratization

🏛️ INSTITUTIONAL APPROACH

Focus: Formal institutions (legislature, executive, judiciary)

Key Traits (Guy Peters):

• Legalism, Structuralism, Holism, Historicism, Normativity

Criticism (Roy Macridis): Non-comparative, static, parochial

Key Thinkers & Works:

• James Bryce: The American Commonwealth, Modern Democracies
• Moisey Ostrogorski: Democracy and the Organization of Political Parties
• A. L. Lowell, Carl Friedrich, Harman Finer

🌍 POLITICAL CULTURE APPROACH

Definition: Study of attitudes, beliefs, and values shaping political behavior

Nature: Empirical, behaviorist

Key Concepts (Almond & Verba, 1963):

• Parochial – Unaware and indifferent to politics (e.g., tribal societies)
• Subject – Obedient but passive (e.g., Germany, China)
• Participant – Active and engaged (e.g., US, UK)

Additional Classifications:

• Samuel Finer: Mature, Developed, Low, Minimal
• Daniel Elazar: Individualist, Traditionalist, Moralistic

Key Thinkers & Works:

• Almond & Verba: The Civic Culture, Comparative Politics Today
• Lucian Pye: Political Culture and Political Development
• Huntington: Clash of Civilizations

⚙️ POLITICAL ECONOMY APPROACH

Definition: Intersection of politics and economics; state-market-society dynamics

Origins: Reaction to mercantilism; developed by Adam Smith

Classical Thinkers:

• Adam Smith: Wealth of Nations
• David Ricardo: Comparative Advantage
• Karl Marx: Das Kapital

Modern Contributors:

• Developmentalists: Parsons, Rostow (Modernization)
• Dependency Theorists: Samir Amin, A.G. Frank

🏛️ NEW INSTITUTIONALISM

Nature: Blend of institutionalism with behavioralism (Post-Behavioralist)

Pioneers: James G. March & Johan P. Olsen

Key Works:

• Rediscovering Institutions (1989)
• Democratic Governance (1995)

Types:

• Rational Choice Institutionalism: Rules + incentives; roots in economics
• Sociological Institutionalism: Norms and culture shape meaning
• Historical Institutionalism: Path dependency; blends rational + cultural

🧠 BEHAVIOURALISM VS POST-BEHAVIOURALISM

Aspect	Behaviouralism	Post-Behaviouralism
Focus	Facts, empirical study, value-neutral	Facts + values, relevance, and societal impact
Inspiration	Charles Merriam, David Easton	David Easton (again), response to Vietnam war crisis
Approach	Scientific, analytical	Action-oriented, normative + empirical
Criticism of	Normative theories	Behavioural irrelevance and detachment
Motto	“What is”	“What ought to be”