Introduction to Comparative Government

by Martin C. Needler, Roger E. Kanet, Martin C. Needler

With an accessible, descriptive approach and an easy-to-use, three-part structure within each chapter--political development, process and institutions, and policy--this is a flexible text that is about 25% less expensive than similar texts. Instead of focusing on one perspective to the exclusion of others, Introduction to Comparative Government exposes students to multiple approaches. For example, Chapter 1 proposes a number of alternative classifications of political systems and a general context that allows the systems to be compared in different ways. Instructors and students can choose the comparative approach that they think is most helpful for understanding the whole or parts of political systems. In addition to offering a flexible and inclusive theoretical approach, Introduction to Comparative Government offers nine country study chapters and two region study chapters, each written by a specialist in that area. Each country study chapter has been thoroughly updated, and a new chapter on the Middle East (Ch. 9) has been added to help students better understand the tragedy of September 11, 2001 and its aftermath.

640 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

Reviews

[Marc · Rating 2 out of 5]

An overview of the British institutions and politics. Very didactic, but the edition I read (1986) of course is outdated by now (there are more recent ones!)

[Benjamin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has at least one error: Bin Laden, al Qaeda, etc. are not Wahhabists.

Wahhabism is a fundamentalist version of Islam, and is also known as muwahhidun (unitarian) or Salafist (companions of the Prophet). It developed in Saudi Arabia mid 18th Century
and reached the Trucial States (future UAE) around 1800.
Saudi Arabia built Wahhabi mosques around the world in response to the 1979 Iranian (Shi’ite) revolution and increased Arab emigration. Saudi Arabia now supports 90% of the global costs of Islam, yet only contains 1% of Muslims.
Bin Laden, al Qaeda, etc. are actually takfiris. Takfir essentially means excommunication. Muslims who oppose the takfiris are not considered true believers, and can therefore be killed. Takfir emerged from Egypt, not Saudi Arabia, and most victims of takfiri violence are Muslims

Curtis, 2006, 511; Davidson, 2005, 24-5; Sageman, 2008, 39, 105; Wright, 2006, 34, 72, 170