Comparative Politics and Political Institutions

Contents: Preface. 1. Introduction to Comparative Politics. 2. Parliamentary and Presidential System. 3. Semi-presidential System. 4. Bureaucracy and Politics. 5. Dictatorship. 6. Adhocracy. 7. Judiciary and Political Behaviour. 8. Federal Form of Government. 9. Marxian Approach of Bureaucracy. 10. Political Socialisation. 11. Legislature and Judiciary. Index.

“Comparative politics is a subfield of political science, characterized by an empirical approach based on the comparative method. 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.” In other words, comparative politics is not defined by the object of its study, but rather by the method it applies to study political phenomena. 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.”