Note: Examination scheme and mode shall be as prescribed by the Examination
Branch, University of Delhi, from time to time.
DISCIPLINE SPECIFIC CORE COURSE – 5: Methods and Approaches in Comparative
Political Analysis
Credit distribution, Eligibility and Pre-requisites of the Course
Course title & Credits Credit distribution of the course Eligibility Pre-
Code Lecture Tutorial Practical/ criteria requisite of
Practice the course
(if any)
Methods and 4 3 1 0 12th Pass NIL
Approaches in
Comparative
Political Analysis
DSC 5
Learning Objectives
This is a foundational course in comparative politics. The aim of this course is to introduce
students to the foundational concepts, methods, approaches and the historical legacy of the
discipline. The paper offers in-depth discussion on methods, different approaches in terms of
their advantages and disadvantages to help understand politics in a critical-comparative
framework. Students would be made familiar to the diversity of approaches to study politics
such as institutionalism, political culture, political economy and specific debates within each
of the approaches. Discussion on a diversity of approaches will highlight different tools,
perspectives and parameters to understand the behaviour and functioning of institutions in a
political system. This paper would also impart students the ability to use the analytical frame
of gender with reference to specific issues like the women’s political representation in
comparative perspective. The paper will inculcate reflective thinking and research aptitude in
students as they will learn to apply these critical outlooks in understanding politics and
political processes, particularly from the perspective of developing societies.
Learning outcomes
On successful completion of the course, students would demonstrate:
• An understanding of the nature, scope, methodology, and legacy of the sub-discipline.
• Awareness of the evolution of the sub-discipline of comparative politics and the
challenge of Eurocentrism in the discipline.
• An in-depth understating of various approaches to the study of politics in a
comparative framework.
• A basic training in comparative research.
SYLLABUS OF DSC- 5
UNIT – I (09 Hours)
Understanding Comparative Politics
a. Nature and scope
b. Why Compare
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c. Understanding Comparative Method: How to compare countries: large n,
small n, single countries studies
d. Going beyond Eurocentrism
UNIT – II (6 Hours)
Approaches to Studying Comparative Politics: Political System, Structural functional
analysis
UNIT – III (6 Hours)
Approaches to Studying Comparative Politics: Traditional and Neo-Institutionalisms
a. Historical Institutionalism
b. Rational Choice Theory
c. Sociological Institutionalism
UNIT – IV (9 Hours)
Approaches to Studying Comparative Politics: Political Culture
a. Civic Culture (Sydney Verba)
b. Subculture (Dennis Kavanagh)
c. Hegemony (Antonio Gramsci)
d. Post materialism (Ronald Inglehart)
e. Social capital (R. Putnam)
UNIT – V (9 Hours)
Approaches to Studying Comparative Politics: Political Economy
a. Underdevelopment
b. Dependency
c. Modernisation
d. World Systems Theory
UNIT – VI (6 Hours)
Gendering Comparative Politics
a. The Gender Lacuna in Comparative Politics
b. Political Representation: Women in Government and Politics
Essential/recommended readings
Unit 1. Understanding Comparative Politics
Landman, T. (2003). Issues and Methods in Comparative Politics: An Introduction, second
edition. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 3-22.
Gerring, J. (2007) The Case Study: What it Is and What it Does in Carles Boix and Susan C.
Stokes (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics, Oxford University Press, pp 90-
122.
Lijphart, A. (1971). Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method. The American
Political Science Review, 65, No. 3, pp. 682-693.
Mohanty, M (1975) ‘Comparative Political Theory and Third World Sensitivity’, in Teaching
Politics, Nos. 1 and 2, pp. 22-38
Chandhoke N (1996) ‘Limits of Comparative Political Analysis ‘, in Economic and
PoliticalWeekly, Vol. 31 (4), January 27, pp.PE 2-PE2-PE8
5|Page
Kopstein J., and Lichbach, M. (eds) (2005) Comparative Politics: Interests, Identities, and
Institutions in a Changing Global Order. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.1-5;
16-36; 253-290.
Peters, B. Guy (2020) Approaches in comparative politics, in Caramani, D. (ed.)
Comparative Politics (5th Edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Roy, A. (2001) ‘Comparative Method and Strategies of Comparison’, in Punjab Journal of
Politics. Vol. xxv (2), pp. 1-15.
Unit 2. Political System, Structural functional analysis
Almond, Gabriel et al. (2011) Comparing Political Systems, in Comparative Politics Today,
Pearson, pp. 28-38
Almond, Gabriel, Powell G. Bingham, Jr. (1966) An Overview (Ch 2), Comparative Politics,
A Developmental Approach, Stanford University.
Unit 3. Traditional and Neo-Institutionalisms
Blondel, J. (1996) ‘Then and Now: Comparative Politics’, in Political Studies. Vol. 47 (1),
pp. 152-160.
Pennington, M. (2009) ‘Theory, Institutional and Comparative Politics’, in J. Bara and M.
Pennington (eds.) Comparative Politics: Explaining Democratic System. Sage Publications,
New Delhi, pp. 13-40.
Hague, R. and M. Harrop and McCormick, J. (2016) Theoretical Approaches Comparative
Government and Politics: An Introduction. (Tenth Edition). London: Palgrave McMillan.
Hall, P., and Rosemary C.R. Taylor (1996) ‘Political Science and the Three New
Institutionalism’, Political Studies. XLIV, pp. 936-957.
Rakner, L. and R. Vicky (2011) ‘Institutional Perspectives’, in P. Burnell, et. al. (eds.)
Political in the Developing World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 53-70.
Unit 4. Political Culture
Almond, Gabriel A. and Sidney Verba (1963). The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and
Democracy in Five Nations (Chapter 1).
Welzel, Christian and Ronald Inglehart (2020) Political culture, in Caramani, D. (ed.)
Comparative Politics (5th Edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press
Huntington, Samuel P. (1993). The Clash of Civilizations. Foreign Affairs. 72 (3): 22–49.
Howard, M. (2009) ‘Culture in Comparative Political Analysis’, in M. Lichback and A.
Zuckerman, pp. 134- S. (eds.) Comparative Political: Rationality, Culture, and Structure.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rosamond, B. (2008). Political Culture. In Axford, B., Browning, G. K., et. al (eds.), Politics:
An Introduction (2nd ed.). London and New York: Routledge, pp. 82-119.
Putnam, R. (2000) Thinking About Social Change in America (Ch 1), in Bowling Alone: The
Collapse and Revival of American Community, Simon and Schuster
Gransci, A., Hegemony (Civil Society) and Separation of Powers, in Prison Notebooks,
Excerpt from Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci, edited and translated
by Quentin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith (1999) Elec Book, pp. 506-507.
Unit 5. Political Economy
Chilcote, R. H. (2000) Comparative Inquiry in Politics and Political Economy: Theories and
Issues, Oxford: Westview Press, pp. 31-52, pp. 57-81.
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Esteva, G. (2010) Development in Sachs, W. (Eds.), The Development Dictionary: A Guide
to Knowledge as Power (2nd ed.). London: Zed Books, pp. 1-23.
So, A. Y. (1990) Social Change and Development: Modernization, Dependency and World-
System Theories. London: Sage, pp. 91-109.
Wallerstein, I. (1974) The Rise and Future Demise of the World Capitalist System: Concepts
for Comparative Analysis, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 16, pp. 387-415
Unit 6. Gendering Comparative Politics
Baldez, Lisa (2010) Symposium. The Gender Lacuna in Comparative Politics. March 2010 |
Vol. 8/No. 199-205.
Beckwith, Karen (2010) Comparative Politics and the Logics of a Comparative Politics of
Gender. American Political Science Association. Vol. 8, No. 1 (March 2010), pp. 159-168
Hague, Rod, Martin Harrop and McCormick (2019) Political Participation in Comparative
Government and Politics: An Introduction (11th Edition) Red Globe Press. pp.223-225.
Krook Mona Lena (2011) Gendering Comparative Politics: Achievements and Challenges.
Politics & Gender 7(1), pp 99-105.
Note: Examination scheme and mode shall be as prescribed by the Examination
Branch, University of Delhi, from time to time.
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