Outline some of the key difficulties we encounter in comparative politics and discuss some of the means we might use to overcome them

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Comparative politics is essential as it helps political scientist to avoid ethnocentrism in analysis and it leads to the developments and creations of theories and subsequently their related concepts and hypotheses about the relationships between political phenomena. However as all the different analysis in political science it encounters some difficulties. As in Social Science, it is impossible to produce a flawless research design; the only trick is to acknowledge, and cope with, as many of the problems as possible.

Extraits

[...] But a comparative design is often the best alternative. As we have seen, there are problems associated with almost all social research. For example, any social researcher has to acknowledge and face up to basic methodological and epistemological problems. Some means exist to overcome the difficulties but some are “insuperable” such as the problem of neutrality. Indeed political scientists will remain human beings with a special background. Comparative specialists, like other social scientist need to appreciate that reality is, in an important sense, socially constructed. [...]

[...] Outline some of the key difficulties we encounter in comparative politics and discuss some of the means we might use to overcome them The definition of Politics is problematical as this word is used in various senses. The discipline of political science is defined by political scientists. Those specialists “describe the same phenomenon but offer different analysis of it. They may even observe the world in different ways”[1]. So political science is characterized by a diversity of approaches. Comparative politics is one of the approaches to politics that had been introduced since Aristotle. [...]

[...] This theory was developed by several scientists such as David Easton[6]. However I would like to focus on Dahl's[7] analysis as I think it is more accurate. Dahl suggests first to focus on the quest of political influence. Some members of the political system try to gain influence over the politics, and the rules and decisions enforced by the government because control over government help them to achieve their goals. Second, he proposes to concentrate on the distribution of political influence and more specifically is it distributed evenly. [...]

[...] Zuckerman, Doing political science, oulder, collection Westview, 1991) R. Rose, “Comparing forms of Comparative analysis”, Political Studies p A. Heywood, Politics, 2d ed. Palgrave foundations (Hampshire : Palgrave, 2OO2) Hague et al, comparative government and politics, (London : Macmillan, 1992) A. Heywood, The regimes of modern World in Politics 2d ed. Palgrave foundations (Hampshire : Palgrave, 2OO2), 30- 38 D. Easton analysis of political systems” in An approach to The analysis of Political systems, vol.9 (New York : world politics No April, 1957), 383-400 R. A. [...]

[...] The indicators of comparative politics seem not to be very accurate. Indeed, the things we try to calculate appeared to be very hardly measurable. How can we measure the effectiveness or the stability of a regime? Iraq can be described as more stable than the USA as Saddam Hussein has been governing for twenty years. Besides data are not clear, in many countries their qualities are inadequate to enable any useful comparative analysis, it is impossible to study data of a dictatorship; Moreover all countries have a “black economy” which is not measured in official statistics and which is obviously impossible to measure accurately. [...]