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Comparative Politics is a subfield of Political Science, characterized by an empirical approach based on the comparative method. In fact, 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"^[1]. 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. When applied to specific fields of study, Comparative Politics may be referred to by other names, such as for example Comparative Government (the comparative study of forms of government) or Comparative Foreign Policy (comparing the foreign policies of different States in order to establish general empirical connections between the characteristics of the State and the characteristics of its foreign policy).

Sometimes, especially in the United States, the term "Comparative Politics" is used to refer to "the politics of foreign countries". This usage of the term however should be considered incorrect^[2].

The comparative method

The comparative method is - together with the experimental method, the statistical method and the case study approach - one of the four fundamental scientific methods which can be used to test the validity of general empirical propositions^[3], i.e. to establish empirical relationships among two or more variables while all other variables are held constant^[4]. In particular, the comparative method is generally used when neither the experimental nor the statistical method can be employed: on the one hand, experiments can only rarely be conducted in political science^[5]; on the other hand the statistical method implies the mathematical manipulation of quantitative data about a large number of cases, while sometimes political research must be conducted by analysing the behaviour of qualitative variables in a small number of cases^[6]. The case study approach cannot be considered a scientific method according to the above definition, however it can be useful to gain knowledge about single cases, which can then be put to comparison according to the comparative method^[7].

Comparative strategies

Several different strategies can be used in comparative research[1] .

Most Similar Systems Design/Mill's Method of Difference: it consists in comparing very similar cases which only differ in the dependent variable, on the assumption that this would make it easier to find those independent variables which explain the presence/absence of the dependent variable.
Most Different Systems Design/Mill's Method of Similarity: it consists in comparing very different cases, all of which however have in common the same dependent variable, so that any other circumstance which is present in all the cases can be regarded as the independent variable.

Some major works in Comparative Politics

Aristotle: In his work The Politics, Aristotle compares different "constitutions", by introducing a famous typology based on two criteria: the number of rulers (one, few, many) and the nature of the political regime (good or corrupt). Thus he distinguishes six different kinds of "constitutions": monarchy, aristocracy, and polity (good types), versus tyranny, oligarchy and democracy (corrupt types).
Montesquieu:
Alexis de Tocqueville:
Barrington Moore:
Theda Skocpol: In States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia, and China Theda Skocpol compares the major revolutions of France, Russia and China: three basically similar events which took place in three very different contexts. Skopcol's purpose is to find possible similarities which might help explain the phenomenon of political revolution. From this point of view, this work represents a good example of a research conducted according to the Most Different Systems Design.
Seymour Martin Lipset:

References

^ Lijphart, A. (1971) "Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method", in American Political Science Review, vol. 65, no. 3, p. 682
^ Hopkin, J. [2002 (1995)] "Comparative Methods", in Marsh, D. and G. Stoker (ed.) Theory and Methods in Political Science, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 249-250
^ Lijphart, A. (1971), cit., p. 682
^ Lijphart, A. (1971), cit., p. 683
^ Hopkin, J. [2002 (1995)], cit., p. 250
^ It should be noted however that, as Lijphart points out in the article cited above, the experimental and statistical methods share the same logic as the comparative method: they all imply a comparison between cases which differ on the variable which is being studied, while remaining identical on all the other possible variables.
^ Lijphart, A. (1971), cit., p. 691

External links

Comparative Methods in Political & Social Research: useful resources from Prof. David Levi-Faur's course at the University of Haifa.

[1] Lijphart, A. (1971) "Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method", in American Political Science Review, vol. 65, no. 3, p. 682

[2] Hopkin, J. [2002 (1995)] "Comparative Methods", in Marsh, D. and G. Stoker (ed.) Theory and Methods in Political Science, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 249-250

[3] Lijphart, A. (1971), cit., p. 682

[4] Lijphart, A. (1971), cit., p. 683

[5] Hopkin, J. [2002 (1995)], cit., p. 250

[6] It should be noted however that, as Lijphart points out in the article cited above, the experimental and statistical methods share the same logic as the comparative method: they all imply a comparison between cases which differ on the variable which is being studied, while remaining identical on all the other possible variables.

[7] Lijphart, A. (1971), cit., p. 691

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