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Javeed Ahmad Bhat, Lovely Professional University Unit 1: Nature and Scope of Comparative Politics

Unit 1: Nature and Scope of Comparative Politics Notes

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
1.1 Definition, Meaning, Nature and Scope of Comparative Politics
1.2 Development of Comparative Politics
1.3 Comparative Politics and Comparative Government
1.4 Summary
1.5 Key-Words
1.6 Review Questions
1.7 Further Readings

Objectives

After studying this unit students will be able to:
• Explain the definition of Comparative Politics.
• Understand the development of Comparative Politics.
• Discuss the Comparative Politics and Comparative Government.

Introduction

The subject of comparative politics virtually constitutes a study in the direction of the ‘expanding
horizon of political science’ wherein we seem to have emerged from the ‘plains of doubts and
darkness’ to a ‘higher plateau’ to see what our passionate endeavours, particularly of the skeptical
decade of the 1950’s and the ‘determined decade’ of the 1960’s, “have produced, in which the
earlier high points of the discipline have lost some of their erstwhile importance or at least are
now seen in a new light, and those whose significance suffered by neglect, have emerged in our
perspective and awareness in the vale of political knowledge, which contains both rushing torrents
(i.e., political process as a whole) as well as limped pools (i.e., speculative political thought)”.
What has played the role of a motivating force in this important direction is the quest to study
‘political reality’ by means of new techniques and approaches in a way so that the entire area of
‘politics’ may be covered. As a result, not a study of the ‘government’ but of the ‘governments’
has become the central concern that implies the taking of ‘decision’ whether “in the United
Nations, or in a parish council, in a trade union or in a papal conclave, in a board room or in a
tribe.” Comparative politics has appeared as a subject of momentous significance on account of
this vital reason that a great deal of experimentation “is now going on with new approaches, new
definitions, new research tools. Perhaps the main reason for the present intellectual ferment is a
widespread feeling of disappointment and dissatisfaction with the traditional descriptive approach
to the subject.”

1.1 Definition, Meaning, Nature and Scope of Comparative Politics

The term ’comparative politics’ is of recent origin and came into vogue in the fifties of the present
century and is indicative of the expanding horizon of political science. The political scientists
made a bid to study the political reality through a new techniques and approaches. The old
concepts were also seen in new light. One of the main reason which encouraged the development
of new approach for the study of politics was dissatisfaction with the traditional descriptive
approach to the subject. The scholars laid greater emphasis on informal political process rather

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