New Directions in Comparative Politics

by Howard J. Wiarda (Editor), Paul S. Adams (Contributor)

As "must" reading for anyone interested in comparative politics, this text is designed to address the theoretical developments and approaches important to the comparative study of political systems today. With few individual scholars presently able to define the field's parameters, a single integrating set of theories no longer exists on which scholars may agree. This text sees the new diversity of approaches as healthy and invigorating. The diversity in comparative politics over the past two decades has been reflected in prior editions of this book. Whereas these separate approaches once may have been regarded as fragmentary, now scholars have come to regard the diverse lines of inquiry as lending complimentary tools of analysis to our complex modern world. The emerging methods of comparative study often provide "causeways" between previous "islands of theory."

In this new edition, all the main approaches to comparative politics are represented in chapter length treatment. Several contributors revisit the topics they addressed in the prior editions, e.g. Tony Smith on dependency analysis, Lawrence Graham on public policy, and Joel Migdal on state-society relations. Most significantly, the third edition introduces readers to new, provocative analyses such as Paul Adams on corporatism, Anthony Gill on political economy; Ronald Inglehart on political culture; Gerardo Munck on rational choice, A. H. Somjee on indigenous theory, and Frank L. Wilson on the new institutionalism. Introductory and concluding essays by editor Howard J. Wiarda integrate the book, placing the different approaches in perspective.

270 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1985