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Unit 1: Nature and Scope of Comparative Politics

Problems in Study of Comparative Politics Notes
The study of comparative governments, however, involves many difficulties. Some of the
difficulties faced in the study can be described under the following heads:
1. Difficulty in collecting information. The major difficulty in collecting information and getting
data about individual governments is that sometimes the facts and figures are simply forbidden
by the country or countries under study. Specially, information in the totalitarian countries is
very meagre. But it does not mean that these countries are totally closed to investigation.
Many facts come out and some others are published by their governments to show the
achievements that they make during a particular period. Moreover, a careful study of the
members of the government over a time is revealing in many ways, for example, it can be
known whether the government is stable or unstable, what kinds of men lead the country and
also what are the various factions, if any, that exist in the ruling group. Information-gathering
in the democratic countries is easy. Information can be gathered readily both from the
news-papers, reports etc. and from those who are running the government. But even in a
democratic country full information may not be available. Many facts are got given by these
countries on the pretext of “public interest” specially those dealing with the security of the
country or the defence, or the foreign affairs. Similarly the decisions of the Cabinet are not
‘leaked’ out; the decisions reached at the closed door meeting of the party are also kept a
secret. So even a democratic country is not absolutely “open” to the investigator.
Another difficulty faced in the field is that data are difficult to gather because they are sometimes
difficult to measure. In fact, many political decisions defy accurate measurement and hence
can hardly be put to comparative use.
Still another difficulty that faces a student of comparative politics in collecting information is
that many events seem to be ‘unique’ and a comparative analysis appears consequently
inappropriate. One may study the chief executives of different countries, say, the British
Prime Minister, the Indian Prime Minister, the American President. But the studies of these
executives without other “unique” influences would prove futile. For these studies in true
perspective it is, therefore, essential that the forces of decision-making must be taken into
account and these forces consist of voters, legislators and many other factors in each country
under study.
Finally, the unwillingness of the governments to give complete details is another hurdle in
collecting information.
2. Difficulty faced due to the background variables. In addition to the above difficulties, the
background variables create some problems for the student of comparative governments. In
every country, the pattern of thinking and acting of the masses as well as of those who are in
power depends on different factors known as variables. These variables range from economic
conditions to the climate of a country or its geographical conditions or certain historical
happenings. These variables have a complex influence on the politics of an individual country.
Earlier attempts were made to explain the influence of these variables on a very small scale.
For example, explanation on the basis of economic factors divides the countries on the variables
of those who possess capital (capitalistic system of society) and socialists. A similar attempt
was made to simplify the influence of variables on the basis of seafaring countries vs. land-
based states, i.e., the influence of climate or geography.
It is, however, futile to look for a factor accounting for all the variations between governments.
Students of comparative governments have now turned their attention to a better and maturer
approach i.e. they now measure the relative weights of all variables and describe as precisely
as possible the extent to which a particular variable accounts for the characteristics of a
political system. This approach is called the multi-variate analysis.
3. Problems as a result of the role of norms, institutions and governmental behaviour. Nearly
all the countries have the government of their own choice. They decide in advance what type
or form of government they should have. This decision to have a particular type of government
introduces the element of value or norm in the governmental system. It is also decided as to

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