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Modern Approaches To Comparative Politics, Nature of Comparative Politics
Modern Approaches To Comparative Politics, Nature of Comparative Politics
Politics
Traditional approaches:
The traditional approaches to Political Science was broadly
predominant till the occurrence of the Second World War. These
approaches were mainly associated with the traditional outlook of
politics which underlined the study of the state and government.
Consequently, traditional approaches are principally concerned with
the study of the organization and activities of the state and principles
and the ideas which motivate political organizations and activities.
These approaches were normative and principled. The political
philosophers supporting these approaches and raised questions such
'what should be an ideal state?' According to them, the study of
Political Science should be limited to the formal structures of the
government, laws, rules and regulations. Therefore, the supporters of
the traditional approaches stress various norms such as what 'ought
to be' or 'should be' rather than 'what is'.
1. Philosophical approach:
Philosophical approach is conventional approach to study politics.
Customarily, the study of politics was subjugated by philosophical
reflections on universal political values that were regarded as
essential to the just state and the good state. The oldest approach to
the study of politics is philosophical. Philosophy "is the study or
science of truths or principles underlying all knowledge and being." It
entails that philosophy or philosophical approach tries to explore the
truth of political incidents or events. It discovers the objective of
political writings or the purpose of political writer.
Alan Ball has also criticized the historical approach. He debated that
"past evidence does leave-alarming gaps, and political history is often
simply a record of great men and great events, rather than a
comprehensive account of total political activity." Very few historians
interpret historical events and evidences broadly and freely.
3. Institutional approach:
There is a strong belief that philosophy, history and law have
bestowed to the study of politics and it is in the field of institutional
approaches. Institutional approaches are ancient and important
approach to the study of Political Science. These approaches mainly
deals with the formal aspects of government and politics.
Institutional approach is concerned with the study of the formal
political structures like legislature, executive, and judiciary. It focused
on the rules of the political system, the powers of the various
institutions, the legislative bodies, and how the constitution worked.
Main drawback of this approach was its narrow focus on formal
structures and arrangements. In far-reaching terms, an institution can
be described as 'any persistent system of activities in any pattern of
group behaviour. More concretely, an institution has been regarded
as 'offices and agencies arranged in a hierarchy, each agency having
certain functions and powers.
The study of institutions has been dominant not only to the arena of
comparative politics, but to the political science field as a whole.
Many writers have argued that institutions have shaped political
behaviour and social change. These authors have taken an
"institutionalist" approach which treat institutions as independent
variables. In the last twenty-five years, the field of comparative
politics has experienced the advent of the "new institutionalism,"
which developed in reaction to the behavioural perspectives that
exercise a significant influence on the field during the 1960s and
1970s.
i. Historical institutionalism
ii. Rational choice institutionalism
iii. Sociological institutionalism
4. Legal approach:
In the realm of traditional approaches, there is a legal or juridical
approach. This approach considers the state as the central
organization for the creation and enforcement of laws. Therefore,
this approach is associated with the legal process, legal bodies or
institutions, and judiciary. In this approach, the study of politics is
mixed with legal processes and institutions. Theme of law and justice
are treated as not mere affairs of jurisprudence rather politics
scientists look at state as the maintainer of an effective and equitable
system of law and order. Matters relating to the organizations,
jurisdiction and independence of judicial institutions become and
essential concern of political scientists. This approach treats the state
primarily as an organization for creation and enforcement of law (J. C.
Johari, 1982).
Modern approaches:
The political philosophers later on realized the need to study politics
from a new viewpoint. Thus, to overcome the paucities of the
traditional approaches, various new approaches have been promoted
by the new political intellectuals. These new approaches are
considered as the "modern approaches" to the study of Political
Science. Many theorists regard these approaches as a reaction
against the traditional approaches. These approaches are mainly
concerned with scientific study of politics. The first innovation in this
regard comes with the advent of the behavioural revolution in
Political Science.
Figure: System approach
The political system operates within an environment. The
environment produces demands from different parts of the society
such as demand for reservation in the matter of employment for
certain groups, demand for soothing working conditions or minimum
wages, demand for better transportation facilities, demand for better
health facilities. Different demands have different levels of support.
Easton said that both 'demands' and 'supports' establish 'inputs.' The
political system receives theses inputs from the environment. After
considering various factors, the government decides to take action on
some of these demands while others are not acted upon. Through,
the conversion process, the inputs are converted into 'outputs' by the
decision makers in the form of policies, decisions, rules, regulations
and laws. The 'outputs' flow back into the environment through a
'feedback' mechanism, giving rise to fresh 'demands.' Accordingly, it
is a recurring process.
Presently, the term 'political system' has been chosen to the term
state or government because it includes both formal informal
political instructions and processes those continue to exist in a
society. Systems approach to political institutions by the behavioural
school has evolved new concept. David Easton, G. A. Almond and
Morton A. Kaplan are credited for applying this approach in Political
Science. According to this theory, political behaviour is conceived as a
system and the political system is well-defined as "Authoritative
allocation of values with threat or actual use of deprivations to make
them binding on all". It is the system of interactions to be found in
independent societies which performs the functions of integration
and adaptation both internally and externally by means of
employment of legitimate physical compulsion. A political system has
three important characteristics, specifically, comprehensiveness,
interdependence and existence of boundaries. However, the features
of a political system are openness, adaptiveness, comprehensiveness,
self-regulating, ongoing. It is composed of a number of structures
which have specific functions. These functions are pigeonholed as
input and output functions. A political system performs these in
order to maintain itself.
2. Behavioural approach:
Behaviouralism is considered as contemporary approach to the study
of political science. But this approach was emerged during 20th
century. An important consideration of Behaviouralism has been the
study of political behaviour, as an area of study within Political
Science. It concentrates is on the individual as voter, leader,
revolutionary, party member and the influences of the group or the
political system on the individual's political behaviour.
8. Marxian approach:
Marxian approach to politics is not limited to the writings of Marx,
Engels and Lenin but all those of a congregation of later writers such
as Luxemburg, Trotsky, Gramsci and many others. Further, an
explicitly 'political' treatise cannot be found in the whole range of
classical Marxist texts. Miliband indicated that "a Marxist politics had
to be constructed or reconstructed from the mass of variegated and
fragmented material which forms the corpus of Marxism."
Marx on Politics:
"In the social production of their existence, men enter into definite,
necessary relations, which are independent of their will, namely,
relations of production corresponding to a determinate stage of
development of their material forces of production. The totality of
these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of
society, the real foundation on which arises a legal and political
superstructure and to which there correspond definite forms of social
consciousness. The mode of production of social consciousness. The
mode of production of material life conditions the social, political and
intellectual life-process in general."
According to Marx, Politics, economics, culture and ideology are all
inseparably interweaved. The 'forces of production' at a particular
stage of historical development, are harmonized by definite 'relations
of production' that characterize the society. The relations of
production taken together constitute the economic foundation of the
society. The legal and political institutions stand on this "real
foundation" of economic structure.
System approach:
This approach falls in the category of modern approach. The notion of Systems Theory was
emerged from ancient time, dates back to 1920s. Ludwig Von Bertallanfy is considered as the
earliest advocate of the general systems theory. He utilized this theory for the study of Biology.
It is only after the Second World War, the social scientists claimed for the amalgamation of
sciences for which they took the help of the systems theory. However, when the general
systems theory in its abstract form traced back to natural sciences like Biology, in its
operational form, they are found in Anthropology. Then it was embraced in Sociology and
Psychology. In the decade of sixties, the systems theory became an important tool to evaluate
and investigate key factors in Political Science. Among political scientists, David Easton has been
the first to apply this theory to political analysis.
This approach describes the relationship of political life with other aspects of social life. The
idea of a system was initially borrowed from biology by Talcott Parsons who first promoted the
concept of social system. Later on David Easton further developed the concept of a political
system. This approach signified that a political system operates within the social environment.
Consequently, it is not possible to analyse political events in isolation from other aspects of the
society. To put in other way, influences from the society, be it economic, religious or otherwise,
do shape the political process.
Figure: System approach
The political system operates within an environment. The environment produces demands
from different parts of the society such as demand for reservation in the matter of employment
for certain groups, demand for soothing working conditions or minimum wages, demand for
better transportation facilities, demand for better health facilities. Different demands have
different levels of support. Easton said that both 'demands' and 'supports' establish 'inputs.'
The political system receives theses inputs from the environment. After considering various
factors, the government decides to take action on some of these demands while others are not
acted upon. Through, the conversion process, the inputs are converted into 'outputs' by the
decision makers in the form of policies, decisions, rules, regulations and laws. The 'outputs' flow
back into the environment through a 'feedback' mechanism, giving rise to fresh 'demands.'
Accordingly, it is a recurring process.
Presently, the term 'political system' has been chosen to the term state or government because
it includes both formal informal political instructions and processes those continue to exist in a
society. Systems approach to political institutions by the behavioural school has evolved new
concept. David Easton, G. A. Almond and Morton A. Kaplan are credited for applying this
approach in Political Science. According to this theory, political behaviour is conceived as a
system and the political system is well-defined as "Authoritative allocation of values with threat
or actual use of deprivations to make them binding on all". It is the system of interactions to be
found in independent societies which performs the functions of integration and adaptation
both internally and externally by means of employment of legitimate physical compulsion. A
political system has three important characteristics, specifically, comprehensiveness,
interdependence and existence of boundaries. However, the features of a political system are
openness, adaptiveness, comprehensiveness, self-regulating, ongoing. It is composed of a
number of structures which have specific functions. These functions are pigeonholed as input
and output functions. A political system performs these in order to maintain itself.