Comparative politics

Select parliaments of the world, from top left to right: 1. National People's Congress, People's Republic of China; 2. United States Congress, United States of America; 3. Parliament of Australia, Australia; 4. Jatiya Sangsad, Bangladesh; 5. National Diet, Japan; 6. Parliament of Malaysia, Malaysia; 7. National Assembly, Nigeria; 8. Parliament of South Africa, South Africa; 9. Parliament of Canada, Canada; 10. Bundestag, Germany; 11. National Congress of Argentina, Argentina; 12. National Congress of Brazil, Brazil.

Comparative politics is a field in political science characterized either by the use of the comparative method or other empirical methods to explore politics both within and between countries. Substantively, this can include questions relating to political institutions, political behavior, conflict, and the causes and consequences of economic development. When applied to specific fields of study, comparative politics may be referred to by other names, such as comparative government (the comparative study of forms of government).

Definition

Comparative politics is the systematic study and comparison of diverse political systems worldwide. Comparative politics analyzes differences in political regimes, governance structures, electoral systems, policy outcomes, and public administration across countries, regions, or time periods. It is comparative in seeking to explain why different political systems have similarities or differences and how developmental changes came to be between them. It is systematic in that it seeks trends, patterns, and regularities across these political systems. The research field examines political systems worldwide, focusing on themes such as democratization, globalization, and integration. New theories and approaches have been used in Political Science in the last 40 years, thanks to comparative politics. Some of these focus on political culture, dependency theory, developmentalism, corporatism, indigenous theories of change, comparative political economy, state-society relations, and new institutionalism. ^[1] Some examples of comparative politics are studying the differences between presidential and parliamentary systems, democracies and dictatorships, parliamentary systems in different countries, multi-party systems such as Canada and two-party systems such as the United States. Comparative politics must be conducted at a specific point in time, usually the present. A researcher cannot compare systems across different time periods; they must be static. ^[1]

While historically the discipline explored broad questions in political science through between-country comparisons, contemporary comparative political science primarily uses subnational comparisons. ^[2] More recently, there has been a significant increase in the interest of subnational comparisons and the benefit it has on Comparative Politics. We would know far less about major credible issues within political science if it weren't for subnational research. Subnational research contributes important methodological, theoretical, and substantive ideas to the study of politics. ^[3] Important developments often obscured by a national-level focus are easier to decipher through subnational research. An example could be regions inside countries where the presence of state institutions has been reduced in effect or value. ^[3]

The name comparative politics refers to the discipline's historical association with the comparative method, described in detail below. Arend Lijphart argues that comparative politics does not have a substantive focus in itself, but rather a methodological one: it focuses on "the how but does not specify the what of the analysis." ^[4] Peter Mair and Richard Rose advance a slightly different definition, arguing that comparative politics is defined by a combination of a substantive focus on the study of countries' political systems and a method of identifying and explaining similarities and differences between these countries using common concepts. ^{[5] [6]}

Sometimes, especially in the United States, the term "Comparative Politics" is used to refer to "the politics of foreign countries." This usage of the term is disputed. ^{[7] [8]}

Comparative politics is essential for understanding the nature and functions of Political Systems worldwide. Political structures vary significantly across countries due to historical, social, ethical, and racial differences. Even political organizations that are similar operate differently from one another. For instance, India and the United States are majority-rule nations; nonetheless, the U.S. has a liberal, democratic presidential system, in contrast to India's parliamentary system. Even political decision-making is more diverse in the United States than in India's popular government. The United States has a president as its leader, while India has a prime minister. Related legislative issues prompt us to examine these central contracts and the fundamental differences between the two nations, despite both being democratic. This field of study is critical to international relations and conflict resolution. Comparative politics encourages international relations to clarify global legislative issues and the current winning conditions. Although both are subfields of political science, comparative politics examines the causes of international strategy and the effect of worldwide approaches and frameworks on domestic political conduct and functioning.

History of the field

Harry H. Eckstein traces the history of the field of comparative politics back to Aristotle, and sees a string of thinkers from Machiavelli and Montesquieu, to Gaetano Mosca and Max Weber, Vilfredo Pareto and Robert Michels, on to James Bryce – with his Modern Democracies (1921) – and Carl Joachim Friedrich – with his Constitutional Government and Democracy (1937) – contributing to its history. ^[9]

Two traditions reaching back to Aristotle and Plato

Philippe C. Schmitter argues that the "family tree" of comparative politics has two main traditions: one, invented by Aristotle, that he calls "sociological constitutionalism"; a second, that he traced back to Plato, that he calls "legal constitutionalism"". ^[10]

Schmitter places various scholars under each tradition:

• 1. Sociological constitutionalism: Some classic in this tradition are: "Polybius, Machiavelli, Montesquieu, Benjamin Constant, Alexis de Tocqueville, Lorenz von Stein, Karl Marx, Moisei Ostrogorski, Max Weber, Émile Durkheim, Robert Michels, Gaetano Mosca, Vilfredo Pareto, and Herbert Tingsten." Schmitter argues that, in the twentieth century, this tradition was known by the label of "historical political sociology" and included scholars such as "Stein Rokkan, T. H. Marshall, Reinhard Bendix, Otto Kirchheimer, Seymour Martin Lipset, Juan Linz, Hans Daalder, Mattei Dogan, Shmuel Eisenstadt, Harry H. Eckstein, and Dankwart Rustow." ^[11]
• 2. Legal constitutionalism: Some classic scholars in this tradition are: "Léon Duguit, Georges Burdeau, James Bryce, A. Lawrence Lowell, and Woodrow Wilson." Schmitter argues that in the twentieth century this tradition was continued by: "Maurice Duverger, Herman Finer, Samuel Finer, Giovanni Sartori, Carl Joachim Friedrich, Samuel Beer, Jean Blondel, Ferdinand A. Hermens, and Klaus von Beyme." ^[11]

Periodization as a field of political science

Gerardo L. Munck offers the following periodization for the evolution of modern comparative politics, as a field of political science - understood as an academic discipline - in the United States: ^[12]

• 1. The Constitution of Political Science as a Discipline, 1880–1920
• 2. The Behavioral Revolution, 1921–1966
• 3. The Post-Behavioral Period, 1967–1988
• 4. The Second Scientific Revolution 1989–2005
• 5. Classical and Early foundations (Ancient- 18th Century)
  • Comparative analysis can be traced back to Aristotle, who extensively compared various constitutions to understand political stability and governance.
  • Thinkers like Plato, Polybius, and later Montesquieu used comparison to determine and classify regimes and to study the relationship between social conditions and political organisations.
  • This era emphasises normative evaluation, putting what constitutes a just or stable government, rather than empirical testing, in the limelight.

Contemporary patterns, 2000–present

Since the turn of the century, several trends in the field have emerged. ^[13]

• End of the pretense of rational choice theory to hegemonize the field
• Lack of a unifying metatheory
• Greater attention to causal inference, and increased use of experimental methods.
• Continued use of observation methods, including qualitative methods.
• New concern with a "hegemony of methods" as theorizing is not given as much attention.
• Decline of Rational Choice Theory's Dominance ^[14]
• Absence of a Unifying Metatheory
• Increased Focus on Causal Inference and Experimental Methods
• Continued Use of Observational and Qualitative Methods
• Concerns About Methodological Dominance

Substantive areas of research

United States wealth compared to other regions of the world

By some definitions, comparative politics can be traced back to Greek philosophy, as Plato's Republic and Aristotle's The Politics .

As a modern sub-discipline, comparative politics is constituted by research across a range of substantive areas, including the study

• Politics of democratic states
• Politics of authoritarian states
• Public goods provision and distributive politics
• Political violence
• Political identity, including ethnic and religious politics
• Democratization and regime change
• Elections and electoral and party systems
• Political economy of development

• Collective action
• Voting behavior
• Origins of the state
• Comparative political institutions
• Methodologies for comparative political research
• Quantitative politics with democracy indices

While many researchers, research regimes, and research institutions are identified according to the above categories or foci, it is not uncommon to claim geographic or country specialization as the differentiating category.

The division between comparative politics and international relations is artificial, as processes within nations shape international processes, and international processes shape processes within states. ^{[15] [16] [17]} Some scholars have called for an integration of the fields. ^{[18] [19]} Comparative Politics does not have similar "isms" as international relations scholarship. ^[20]

Super regions, regions of the world

Comparative Politics examines various parts of the world. Political scientists refer to superregions and the key countries within them. ^[21] Understanding which region is being referenced and what key nations the scientists are researching on is an essential part of comparative politics. However, discussing comparative politics is a difficult topic. The American education system has failed to educate its students on geography in recent years. ^[21]

In political studies, identifying continents is crucial, as they encompass superregions within them, vast territories that share many similarities. For example, Latin America shares a common culture and language. Within super regions are smaller regions consisting of groups of individual countries that exhibit more closely related similarities. ^[21]

Methodology

While the name of the subfield suggests one methodological approach ( the comparative method ), political scientists in Comparative Politics use the same diversity of social scientific methods as scientists elsewhere in the field, including experiments, ^[22] comparative historical analysis, ^[23] case studies, ^[24] survey methodology, and ethnography. ^[25] Researchers choose a methodological approach in Comparative Politics driven by two concerns: ontological orientation ^[26] and the type of question or phenomenon of interest. ^[27]

(Mill's) comparative method

• Most Similar Systems Design/Mill's Method of Difference: This method consists of comparing very similar cases which only differ in the dependent variable, on the assumption that this would make it easier to find those independent variables which explain the presence/absence of the dependent variable. ^[28]
• Most Different Systems Design/Mill's Method of Similarity: This method consists in comparing very different cases, all of which however have in common the same dependent variable, so that any other circumstance which is present in all the cases can be regarded as the independent variable. ^[28]

Subnational comparative analysis

Since the turn of the century, many students of comparative politics have compared units within a country. Relatedly, there has been a growing discussion of what Richard O. Snyder calls the "subnational comparative method." ^[29]

More methodologies and approaches

Source: ^[30]

• Qualitative methods: Case studies, interviews, ethnography.
• Quantitative methods: Statistical analysis, large-N comparisons.
• Mixed methods: Combining both for more holistic insights.
• New methodologies: Computational methods (e.g., big data analytics, network analysis).

Contemporary trends

In recent years, the field of comparative politics has evolved to address new challenges and developments in global and domestic political landscapes. Scholars have increasingly focused on the following trends:

Globalization and its political impacts

The interconnectedness of nations has transformed political systems and governance structures. Globalization has led to the diffusion of democratic norms, the rise of international organizations, and the increasing influence of transnational actors. At the same time, it has sparked debates over sovereignty and the backlash against global integration, exemplified by the rise of nationalist movements and populist leaders in various countries.

Digital technology and political change

The rapid proliferation of digital technology has revolutionized political communication, campaigning, and governance. Social media platforms have become crucial tools for political mobilization and grassroots activism. However, they have also been exploited for disinformation campaigns and cyber interference in elections, raising concerns about the impact of technology on democratic processes.

Rise of authoritarianism

While democracy has spread in many regions, there has been a concurrent resurgence of authoritarianism in others. Authoritarian regimes have employed sophisticated techniques, such as surveillance technology and media manipulation, to consolidate power. Comparative politics now examines how such regimes adapt to global pressures while maintaining domestic control.

Environmental politics

Climate change and environmental crises have become central concerns in comparative politics. Governments worldwide are addressing these issues through diverse policy approaches, ranging from international agreements such as the Paris Agreement to local initiatives. Comparative studies analyze how Political Systems and cultures influence the effectiveness of environmental policies.

Identity politics and social movements

Issues of identity, including race, gender, and ethnicity, have gained prominence in political discourse and policy debates. Comparative Politics explores how social movements advocating for equality and justice shape political outcomes and how governments respond to them.

Role of international organizations

Institutions like the United Nations, World Trade Organization, and regional bodies such as the European Union have gained importance in shaping domestic policies. Comparative politics studies how states interact with these organizations and the implications for national sovereignty and governance. ^{[31] [32]}

See also

• Comparative historical research  – Method in the social sciences
• Comparative law  – Study of relationship between legal systems
• Comparative Political Studies  – Academic journal
• Comparison of electoral systems  – Comparative politics for electoral systems
• Critical juncture theory  – Theory of large, discontinuous changes
• Historical institutionalism  – Social science approach
• Historical sociology  – Interdisciplinary field of research
• Institutional economics  – Economics that focuses on institutions
• International relations  – Study of relationships between states
• Modernization theory  – Explanation for the process of modernization within societies
• Political science  – Scientific study of politics and social science
• Political sociology  – Interdisciplinary field of study

References

1. Wiarda, Howard (June 17, 2019). Wiarda, Howard J (ed.). New Directions in Comparative Politics. doi:10.4324/9780429494932. ISBN   978-0-429-49493-2. S2CID   199146538.
2. Clark, William; Golder, Matt; Golder, Sona (2019). Foundations of Comparative Politics. Thousand Oaks, CA: CQ Press. p. 6. ISBN   978-1-5063-6073-7.
3. Giraudy, Agustina (2019). Giraudy, Agustina; Moncada, Eduardo; Snyder, Richard (eds.). Subnational Research in Comparative Politics. doi:10.1017/9781108678384. ISBN   978-1-108-67838-4. S2CID   242754128.
4. Lijphart, Arend (1971). "Comparative politics and the comparative method". American Political Science Review. 65 (3): 682–693. doi:10.2307/1955513. JSTOR   1955513. S2CID   55713809.
5. Mair, Peter (1996). "Comparative politics: An introduction to comparative.overview". In Goodin, Robert E.; Klingemann, Hans-Dieter (eds.). A New Handbook of Political Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 309–335. ISBN   0-19-829471-9. Archived from the original on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
6. Rose, Richard; MacKenzie, W. J. M. (1991). "Comparing forms of comparative analysis" . Political Studies. 39 (3): 446–462. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9248.1991.tb01622.x. S2CID   145410195.
7. Hopkin, J. [2002 (1995)] "Comparative Methods", in Marsh, D. and G. Stoker (ed.) Theory and Methods in Political Science, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 249–250
8. van Biezen, Ingrid; Caramani, Daniele (2006). "(Non)comparative politics in Britain" . Politics. 26 (1): 29–37. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9256.2006.00248.x. S2CID   145654851.
9. Harry Eckstein, "A Perspective on Comparative Politics, Past and Present," pp. 3–32, in David Apter and Harry Eckstein (eds.), Comparative Politics: A Reader (New York: Free Press of Glencoe, 1963).
10. Philippe C. Schmitter, "The Nature and Future of Comparative Politics." European Political Science Review 1,1 (2009): 33–61, pp. 36–38. Schmitter's depiction of the "family tree" of comparative politics can be found here: https://www.eui.eu/Documents/DepartmentsCentres/SPS/Profiles/Schmitter/Thefamilytreeofcomppol.pdf
11. Philippe C. Schmitter, "The Nature and Future of Comparative Politics." European Political Science Review 1,1 (2009): 33–61, p. 38.
12. Gerardo L. Munck, "The Past and Present of Comparative Politics," pp. 32-59, in Munck and Richard Snyder, Passion, Craft, and Method in Comparative Politics (Baltimore, Md.: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007). Munck's periodization has been validated by Matthew Charles Wilson, "Trends in Political Science Research and the Progress of Comparative Politics," PS: Political Science & Politics 50(4)(2017): 979-984.
13. Gerardo L. Munck and Richard Snyder "Comparative Politics at a Crossroad: Problems, Opportunities and Prospects from the North and South." Política y Gobierno (Mexico) 26, 1 (2019): 139-58
14. Wilson, Matthew Charles (October 2017). "Trends in Political Science Research and the Progress of Comparative Politics" (PDF).
15. Kopstein, Jeffrey; Lichbach, Mark (2005). Comparative Politics: Interests, Identities, and Institutions in a Changing Global Order. Cambridge University Press. p. 3. ISBN   978-1-139-44604-4.
16. Hurrell, Andrew; Menon, Anand (1996). "Politics like any other? Comparative politics, international relations and the study of the EU" . West European Politics. 19 (2): 386–402. doi:10.1080/01402389608425139. ISSN   0140-2382.
17. Pollack, Mark A. (2005). "Theorizing the European Union: International Organization, Domestic Polity, or Experiment in New Governance?". Annual Review of Political Science. 8 (1): 357–398. doi: 10.1146/annurev.polisci.8.082103.104858 . ISSN   1094-2939.
18. Milner, Helen V. (1998). "Rationalizing Politics: The Emerging Synthesis of International, American, and Comparative Politics" . International Organization. 52 (4): 759–786. doi:10.1162/002081898550743. ISSN   1531-5088. S2CID   145584969.
19. Nadkarni, Vidya; Williams, J. Michael (2010). "International Relations and Comparative Politics". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Studies. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190846626.013.408. ISBN   978-0-19-084662-6. Archived from the original on 2018-12-05.
20. Finnemore, Martha; Sikkink, Kathryn (2001). "Taking Stock: The Constructivist Research Program in International Relations and Comparative Politics". Annual Review of Political Science. 4 (1): 391–416. doi: 10.1146/annurev.polisci.4.1.391 . S2CID   3640392.
21. Baglione, Lisa A. (2023). Understanding comparative politics: an inclusive approach (First ed.). Thousand Oaks: CQ Press. ISBN   978-1-5443-6410-0.
22. Gerber, Alan; Green, Donald (2012). Field Experiments: Design, Analysis, and Interpretation. New York, NY: W.W. Norton and Company. ISBN   978-0-393-97995-4.
23. Mahoney, James; Thelen, Kathleen, eds. (2015). Advances in Comparative-Historical Analysis. Cambridge University Press.
24. Geddes, Barbara (2010). Paradigms and Sand Castles: Theory Building and Research Design in Comparative Politics. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. ISBN   978-0-472-09835-4.
25. Simmons, Erica; Rush Smith, Nicholas (2017). "Comparison with an Ethnographic Sensibility". PS: Political Science & Politics. 50 (1): 126–130. doi:10.1017/S1049096516002286. S2CID   157955394.
26. Hall, Peter (2003). "Aligning Ontology and Methodology in Comparative Politics" . In Mahoney, James; Rueschemeyer, Dietrich (eds.). Comparative Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. ISBN   0-521-81610-6.
27. King, Gary; Keohane, Robert; Verba, Sidney (1994). Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN   0-691-03470-2.
28. Anckar, Carsten. "On the Applicability of the Most Similar Systems Design and the Most Different Systems Design in Comparative Research." International Journal of Social Research Methodology 11.5 (2008): 389–401. Informaworld. Web. 20 June 2011.
29. Richard Snyder, "Scaling Down: The Subnational Comparative Method," Studies in Comparative International Development, 36:1 (Spring 2001): 93-110; Agustina Giraudy, Eduardo Moncada, and Richard Snyder (eds.), Inside Countries: Subnational Research in Comparative Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019.
30. Lijphart, Arend (1971). "Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method" . The American Political Science Review. 65 (3): 682–693. doi:10.2307/1955513. ISSN   0003-0554. JSTOR   1955513.
31. Schmitter, Philippe C. (2016-09-01). "Comparative Politics: its Past, Present and Future". Chinese Political Science Review. 1 (3): 397–411. doi:10.1007/s41111-016-0038-7. ISSN   2365-4252.
32. Roberts, Geoffrey K. (1972). "Comparative Politics Today". Government and Opposition. 7 (1): 38–55. ISSN   0017-257X.

Further reading

• Alford, Robert R., and Roger Friedland. 1985. Powers of Theory. Capitalism, the State, and Democracy. New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Almond, Gabriel A. 1968. "Politics, Comparative," pp. 331–36, in David L. Sills (ed.), International Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences Vol. 12. New York: Macmillan.
• Baldez, Lisa. 2010. "The Gender Lacuna in Comparative Politics". Perspectives on Politics 8(1): 199–205.
• Boix, Carles, and Susan C. Stokes (eds.). 2007. The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
• Campus, Donatella, and Gianfranco Pasquino (eds.). 2009. Masters of Political Science, Vol. 1. Colchester: ECPR Press.
• Campus, Donatella, Gianfranco Pasquino, and Martin Bull (eds.). 2011. Masters of Political Science, Vol. 2. Colchester: ECPR Press.
• Chilcote, Ronald H., 1994. Theories of Comparative Politics: The Search for a Paradigm Revisited, Second edition. Boulder: Westview Press.
• Daalder, Hans (ed.). 1997. Comparative European Politics: The Story of a Profession. London: Pinter.
• Dosek, Tomas. 2020. "Multilevel Research Designs: Case Selection, Levels of Analysis, and Scope Conditions". Studies in Comparative International Development 55:4" 460–80.
• Eckstein, Harry. 1963. "A Perspective on Comparative Politics, Past and Present," pp. 3–32, in David Apter and Harry Eckstein (eds.), Comparative Politics: A Reader. New York: Free Press of Glencoe.
• Janos, Andrew C. 1986. Politics and Paradigms. Changing Theories of Change in Social Science. Stanford, Cal.: Stanford University Press.
• Landman, Todd, and Neil Robinson (eds.). 2009. The Sage Handbook of Comparative Politics. London: Sage Publications.
• Lichbach, Mark Irving, and Alan S. Zuckerman (eds.). 2009. Comparative Politics: Rationality, Culture, and Structure, 2nd ed. New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Mair, Peter. 1996. "Comparative Politics: An Overview," pp. 309–35, in Robert E. Goodin and Hans-Dieter Klingemann (eds.), A New Handbook of Political Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• McCormick, John, Martin Harrop, and Rod Hague. 2022 (12th edition). Comparative Government and Politics: An Introduction. Bloomsbury Academic.
• Munck, Gerardo L. 2007. "The Past and Present of Comparative Politics," pp. 32–59, in Gerardo Munck and Richard Snyder, Passion, Craft, and Method in Comparative Politics. Baltimore, Md.: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Munck, Gerardo L., and Richard Snyder (eds.). 2007. Passion, Craft, and Method in Comparative Politics. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Pepinsky, Thomas B. 2019. "The Return of the Single-Country Study." Annual Review of Political Science Vol. 22: 187–203.
• Schmitter, Philippe C. 2009. "The Nature and Future of Comparative Politics." European Political Science Review 1,1: 33–61.
• Von Beyme, Klaus. 2008. "The Evolution of Comparative Politics," pp. 27–43, in Daniel Caramani (ed.), Comparative Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Wilson, Matthew Charles. 2017. "Trends in Political Science Research and the Progress of Comparative Politics," PS: Political Science & Politics 50(4): 979–84.

External links

• Comparative Methods in Political & Social Research: useful resources from Prof. David Levi-Faur's course at the University of Haifa.
• Comparative Politics in Argentina & Latin America: Site dedicated to the development of comparative politics in Latin America. Paper Works, Articles, and links to specialized websites.
• Comparative Politics Research Group Archived 2017-10-01 at the Wayback Machine : An initiative by the University of Innsbruck containing useful resources and references to scientific publications.