New Comparative Government : A Concise Study of Domestic Politics Around the World

Contents: Preface. 1. Comparative government. 2. State. 3. Globalisation. 4. Civil society. 5. New social movements. 6. Totalitarian and authoritarian systems. 7. Political parties, pressure groups, and elites. 8. Democracy. 9. Bureaucracy. 10. Development debate. 11. Constitution and constitutionalism. 12. Government of the U.K. 13. Government of the USA. 14. Government of Switzerland. 15. Government of the Russian Federation. 16. Government of China. 17. Government of South Africa.

"The study of comparative government is as old as Aristotle-the celebrated \'father of politics\'. But in recent times it has assumed its own significance due to remarkable developments in the spheres of national and international politics. The decline of the authoritarian systems and in stead spread of democracy around the world, battle between freedom and equality imparting new meaning and dimensions to the concepts of \'power\', transformation of the Westphalian model of the nation-state noticeable in the emergence of \'civil society\' and in the model of a \'transnational state\' may be referred to in particular. Global comparisons have become the fashion of the day which reveal astonishing facts about the role of political and para-political institutions. Comparing institutions as such, as done by the old writers, is not so important now. What is needed is that the scope of such a venture should be widened so as to investigate and analyse the states in the context of their actual working in the present age of liberalisation and globalisation. Human action in guided fundamentally by the institutions that the people construct and change them in response to the needs of the time. A student of this subject is, therefore, expected to comprehend and analyse political reality in the light of new developments." (jacket)