UNIT 3 INSTITUTIONAL APPROACH

Structure

Objectives
Introductio~i
The Institutional Approach
3.2.1 The Institutional Approach: A Historical Overview
3.2.2 The lnstitutional Approach and the Emergence o f Comparative Government
lnstitutional Approach: A Critical Evaluation
The lnstitutional Approach in Contemporary Comparative Study
Let U s Sum Up
Key Words
Some Useful Books
Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

3.0 OBJECTIVES .

In this unit we shall focus on (a) what constitutes the institutibnal approach (b)
the significance o f this approach in making comparisons (c) the units o f
comparisons (d) tlie specific questions tliis approacli seeks to answer or
alternatively, what are the questions which tliis approacli can possibly answer, and
what are its aspirations and capacities (e) liow does this approacli explain
differences and similarities. After going tlirougli these you will be able to
understand:

what are the bases of comparison in this approach.

where from does it derive its tools of comparison and

what purposes are sought to be served by such comparisons

: what, in other words, i s the vantage point o f this approacli
the limitations, and conversely, the importance o f this approach both at
present and at the time when this approacli constitilted the main field o f
comparative political analysis.

Tliis unit i s divided into different sections wliich take up in some detail the above
concerns. Each section i s followed by questions based on the section. Towards
the end o f the unit is provided a list of readings wliicll should be used to '
supplement this unit. Questions towards tlie end of the unit will help you to assess
your overall understanding o f tlie Institutional approach. All terms which have
specific meanings in comparative political analysis have been explained in the
section on keywords.

3.1 INTRODUCTION
The institutional approach to comparative political analysis, simply put, is a
comparative study of institutions. The natyre (comparative) and subject ntatter
(institutions) o f study are thus quite evident. If, for example, one were to'study
the relative significance o f the upper houses in parliamentary democracies, one
would study the upper houses in several parliamentary democracies (e.g., the
Raiya Sabha in India and the House o f Lords in United Kingdom) and assess
their relative significance in each case. One could then, on tlie basis of this
comparative study o f such institutions, arrive at generalised conclusions and
explanations pertaining to their relevance or even utility in parliamentary
democracies e.g. the constitutio~io f upper houses o f parliament lacks

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 -

Comp.r.tivc Mctbodr .ad representative character or the hereditary character of upper houses erodes the
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democratic dharacter of legislatures. One could also, for example, look at the
upper houses of parliaments to study the historical contexts which shape the
evolution of a particular upper house. One could, for example, examine the
contexts (social and economic) of the evolution of the two houses of Parliament
in United K~ingdomto see why the House of Lords retained a hereditary
charactdr. Olne could alsathen understand the contexts in which the current
initiatives td end its hereditary character emerged.

For a tang tjme, comparative political analysis was associated primarily with a
comparativq study of institutions. Comparative political analysis may in fact be
said-to hav$ begun with a study of institutions. Thus if one were to trace the
evolution of comparative politics as a discipline of study, one can see the study of
institutions ras marking the hint where the comparative method first began to be
used. The study of institutions, however, not only marked the beginning of
comparative study, it remained more or less the predominant approach in
comparativq politics up to the nineteen fifties. Thus one can propose that
traditionall' comparative political analysis was confined to the study of
institutions 'and the various ways in which these institutions manifested themselves
in the distribution of power and the relationships between the various layers and
organs of government.

3.2 THE INSTITUTIONAL APPROACH

The study +f institutions has a long history beginning perhaps with the
philosophidal explorations of the ideal state in Plato's Republic. In the section
which folldws we shall attempt an overview of the manner in which the
institutional approach has evolved historically. We shall also, because we are
primarily mncerned with studying the approach within the field of comparative
political analysis, concern ourselves especially with the historical moment at which
the institutional approach assumed a comparative character. We may, however, as
a matter of introduction, describe here characteristic features of the institutional
differentiate it from other approaches viz., the political systems
economy approach etc.

It is generblly agreed th;t any approach or enquiry into a problem displays certain
characteristics pertaining. to (a) subject matter (i.e. what is being studied) (b)
vocabulmy (the tools or the language) and (c) the choice of political
perspective (which determines the vantage point and indicates the direction from
and to whbt purposes enquiry is directed at). If the features of the institutional
approach were considered against each of these three counts, it may be seen as
marked out by (a) its concern with studying institutions of government and the
nature of distritributio? of power, viz., constitutions, legal-formal institutions of
government (b) its lafgely legalistic and frequently speculative and prescriptive/
normative vocabulary, in so far as it has historically shown a preoccupation with
abstract t ~ r m sand conditions like 'the ideal state' and 'good order' (c) a
philosophical, historical or legalistic perspective.

A charac&ristic feature of this iPproach has also been its ethnocentrism. TJje' .
majot wolks which are s k n as representing the institutional,approach in
comparative politics, have concerned themselves only with governments and
1 ,
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institutiods in western countries. Implicit in this approach is thus a belief in the
primacy bf western liberal democratic institutions. This belief not only sees
western liberal democracy as the best form of government, it gives it also a
'universal' and 'normative' character. The 'universal' character of western liberal
/ demwraqy,assrrmes that this form of government is 'not only the best, it is also
1 universally applicabte. The 'normativity' of western liberal democracies follows
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from this assumption. If it is the best form of governance which is also Institutional Approach
universally applicable, liberal democracies is the form of government which
should be adopted everywhere. This prescribed norm i.e. liberal democracy,
however, also gave scope to an important exception. This exception unfolded in
the practices of rule in the colonies and in the implications (a) that the institutions
of liberal democracy were specifically western in their origin and contexts arld,
(b) that non-western countries were not fit for democratic self-rule until such time
as they could be trained for the same under western imperialist rule.

In the-sectionswhich follow we shall study in some detail, the origins of the

Institutional approach from antiquity to the first quarter of the present century
when it'became a predominant approach facilitating comparative study.

3.2.1 The Institutional Approach: A Historical Overview

Perhaps the oldest comparative study of governments was made by Aristotle

who studied constitutions and practices in Greek city-states. Contrasting them with
politics in the so called 'barbarian' states, Aristotle made a typology of
governments distinguishing between monarchies, oligarchies and democracy and
between these 'ideal' governments and their 'perverted' forms. The study of
comparative politics at this stage was marked by what may be called an
interrelation between facts and values. At this stage of its origins, a study of
institutions did not attempt to 'analyse' the 'theory and practice' of government as
emphasised by James Bryce in the late nineteenth century, to which we will come
later in the course of this section. There was instead an overwhelming desire to
explore 'ideal' states and forms of governments. In other words there was more
emphasis on speculations i.e on questions about what 'ought' to be, rather than
an analysis seeking explanations of what 'is' or what actually existed.

With Machiavelli (The Prince) in the sixteenth century and Montesquieu (The
Spirit of Laws) in the middle of the eighteenth century, the emphasis on empirical
details and facts about existing state of affairs came to be established.
Montesquieu was, however, followed mainly by constitutional lawyers, whose
vocation determined that they concentrate more on the contents i.e., the
theoretical (legal-constitutional) framework of governments rather than the manner
in which these frameworks unfolded in practice. Tocqueville, in many ways, was
the forbearer of the study of 'theory and practice' of governments, which became
the essence of the institutional approach in comparative political analysis in later
years. (Refer to Tocqueville's studies of American and French democracies in
Unit 2: Comparative Method and Strategies of Comparison). Bagehot (The
English Constitution, 1867) made another significant contribution to the -
developnlent of this element of the institutional approach in his study of the British
Cabinet drawing important points of co~nparisonwith the American Executive. It
was, however, Bryce, Lowell and Ostrogorski, who in the last quarter of the
nineteenth century, made important contributions to comparative study of
institutions and by implication to the evolution of comparative governments as a
distinct branch of study.

3.2.2 The Institutional Approach a n d the Emergence of Comparative

Government

The Contributions of Bryce, Lowell and Ostrogorski

Bryce, Lowetl and Ostrogorski's works towards the end of the nineteenth century
and :'.e early twentieth century changed radically the contents of the institutional
approach and thereby the nature and scope of comparative politics. Assessin?
tjieir colltributions Jean Blondel asserts that Bryce and Lowell were in fact the
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 Comparative Methods true founders of comparative governments as it developed as a distinct branch of
Approreher
study in the last quarter of the nineteenth century (see Jean Blondel, The
Discipline of Politics, Chapter 7 : Middle Level Comparisons). The American
Commonwealth (1888) and Modern Democracies (1921) were two significant
works of Bryce. In Modern Democracies Bryce focusses on the theory of
democracy and examined the working of the legislatures and their decline.
Lowell's works Governments and Parties in Continental Europe (1 896) and
Public Opinion and Popular Government (1913) where he undertakes separate
studies of France, Germany, Switzerland etc. and a comparative study of
referendums and its impacts respectively were equally important. Similarly,
Ostrogorski's study Democracy and the Organisation of Political Parties
(1902) which aimed to test the hypothesis, so to speak, of the 'democratic' or
'oligarchical' character of political parties was a pioneering work of the time. It is
important now to see exactly how these works augmented and in fact changed
the manner in which institutions were so far being studied.

i) 'Theory and Practice of governments': We mentioned in the earlier

section that comparative study of governments tended to be pliilosophical-
speculative or largely legal-constitutional i.e., they were either concerned with
abstract notions like the 'ideal state', or with facts regarding the legal-
constitutional frameworks and structures of governments. Based on liberal
constitutional theory they studied the formal institutional structures with
emphasis on their legal powers and functions. The works formed part of
studies on 'Comparative Government' or 'Foreign Constitutions'. These works
were seen to be relevant to the elites' efforts in institutional-building in
various countries. This is why in the newly independent countries
institutionalism acquired some fascination.

Bryce and Lowell, however, emphasised that the existing studies were partial
and incomplete. A more compreliensive study of goveniments should
according to them include also the working of the legal-constitutional
frameworks of governments. Such a study, they stressed, required not only a
study of the theoretical bases or contexts of governments (i.e. the legal-
constitutional framework and governmental institutions) but also an equal
emphasis on the study of 'practices of government'. To focus just on
constitutions, as lawyers do, was insufficient as it would lead to ignoring the
problems of their operation and implementation. On the other hand to focus
exclusively on practice, without grounding it in its tlieoretical (constitutional)
framework, would again be an incomplete study, as one may lose sight of the
contexts within .which the problems of implementation emerge. It was thus,
primarily with Bryce and Lowell that the content of institutional approach in
comparative political analysis came to be defined as a study of the 'theory
and practice of government'.

ii) Focus on 'facts': A significant component of these studies was the concern
to study 'practice' through an analysis of 'facts' about the working of
governments. To study practice one needed to discover, collect and even
'amass' facts. Bryce was emphatic in his advocacy to base one's analysis on
facts, without which, he said, 'data is mere speculation': 'facts, facts, facts,
when facts have been supplied each of us tries to reason from them'. A
major diff~culty,however, which collection of data regarding practices of
governments encountered was the tendency among goverliments to hide facts
than to reveal them. Facts were thus difficult to acquire because
governments and politicians often hid facts or were unwilling to clarify what
the real situation is. Nonetheless, this difficulty did not deter them from
stressing the importance of collecting data about almost every aspect of
political life, parties, executives, referendums, legislatures etc. This effort was
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 sustained by later comparativists like Herman Finer (Theory and Practice Institutional Approact

of Modern Government, 1932) and Carl Friedrich (Constitutional

Government and Democracy, 1932).

iii) Technique: The search for facts also led Bryce and Lowell towards the use
of quantitative indicators, on the basis of the realisation that in the study of
government, qualitative and quantitative types of evidence have to be
balanced. Finally, however, Bryce and Lowell felt that conclusions could be
firm only if they were based on as wide a range of facts as possible.
Therefore, their studies extended geographically to a large number of
countries which, at the time, had institutions of a constitutional or near-
constitutional character. They therefore, attempted to focus their study on
governments of western, central and southern Europe. It was, however, with
Ostrogorski's work that comparative political analysis began to focus on
studying specific institutions on a comparative basis. In 1902, Ostrogorski
published a detailed study of political parties in Britain and America. Later,
significant works on the role of political parties was done by Michels
(Political Parties, 191 5) and M.Duverger (Political Parties, 1950).

Major criticisms of the institutional approach came in the 1950s from 'system
theorists' like Easton and Macridis who emphasised the building of
overarching models having a generallglobal application. They attempted to
I
understand and explain political processes in different countries on the basis
of these models. These criticisms and the defence offered by institutionalists
will be discussed in the next section.

Check Your Progress 1

Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer.
ii) Check your answer with the answer given at the end of the unit.
1) What do you understand by the institutional approach?

.......................................................................................................................
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2) What are its various characteristics?

3) Examine the characteristics of the institutional approach at the turn of the

nineteenth century.

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 Cornprrrtive Methods and
Approaches 3.3 INSTITUTIONAL APPROACH: A CRITICAL

It is interesting that criticisms of the institutional approach in comparative political

analysis have come in successive waves, in the early part of the twentieth
century and then again in the nineteen fifties. There has been after each wave of
criticism a fesurgence of the approach in a replenished form. Before the study of
institutions acquired a comparative character (however limited) at the turn of the
century, the approach was cyiticised, (a) as given to speculation; (b) as largely
prescriptive and normative; (c) concerned only with irregularities and regularities
without looking for re lationships; (d) conJigurative and non-comparative
focussing w it did on individual countries; (e) ethnocentric as it concentrated on
western ~ u i o ~ e a'democracies';
n (f) descriptive as it focussed on formal
(constitutiodal and governmental) structure; (g) historical without being
analyticat (h) contributors within this framework were so absorbed with the
study of institutions that differences in cultural settings and ideological frameworks
were complietely ignored while comparing, say, the upper chambers of the UK,
USA and USSR; (i) methodologically they were accused as being partiall
ineornplete and theoretically, it was said they missed the substance of political
life.

We saw, however, that with Bryce and his contemporaries the nature and content
of the institutional approach underwent a significant change, acquiring in a limited
way a combarative character, and attempting to combine theoretical contexts with
practices o$ governments. In the nineteen fifties the institutional approach as it
developed with Bryce, Lowell and Ostrogorski, came again under increasing
criticism by political scientists like David Easton and Roy Macridis. In his work
The Politiaal System (1953), David Easton made a strong attack against
Bryce's approach calling it 'mere factualism'. This approach, alleged Easton, had
influenced American Political Science, in the direction of what he called
'hyperfactwlism'. While admitting that. Bryce did not neglect 'theories', the
latter's (Bryce's) aversion to making explanatory or theoretical models, had led,
asserted Esston, to a 'surfeit of facts' and consequently to 'a theoretical
malnutrition'. (You will study in another unit about 'system building' as the basis
of Easton's 'systems approach' to studying political phenomena. It will not,
therefore, be difficult to understand why Easton felt that Bryce's approach had
misdirected American Political Science onto a wrong path.) Jean Blondel,
however, defends the institutional approach from criticisms like those of Easton,
directed tobards its so called 'factualism'. Blondel would grgue first that the
charge of 'surfeit of facts' was misplaced because there were in fact very few
facts available to political scientists for a comprehensive political analysis. In
reality very little was known about the structures and activities of major
institutions of most countries, particularly about the communist countries and
countries of the so called Third World. The need for collecting more facts thus
could not be neglected. This became all the more important given the fact that
more often than not governments tended to hide facts rather than transmit them.
Secondly, mhe devaluation of the utility of facts regarding institutions and legal
arrangements, by the supporters of a more global or systemic approach was, to
Blondel, entirely misconstrued. Institutions and the legal framework within which
they functioned formed a significant part of the entire framework in which a
political phenomenon could be studied. Facts about the former thus had to be
compared to facts about other aspects of the political life to avoid a partial study.
Facts werd, in any case needed for any effective analysis. No reasoning could be
done without having 'facts' or 'data'. This coupled with the point that facts were
difficultto acquire made them integral to the study of political analysis.

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 In 1955 Roy Macridis pointed out the need for a 'reorientation' in the . Institutional Approach
comparative study of government. He emphasised that in its existing form ,

comparative study has been 'comparative in name only'. Macridis described the
orientation of institutional approach as 'non-comparative', 'parochial', 'static! and
'monographic'. A good proportion of work was moreover, he asserted, 'essentially
descriptive'. This was because tlie analysis was historical or legalistic and
therefore 'rather narrow'. (See Roy Macridis, The Study of ~otn~arative'
Government, pp.7- 12).

It was however, realised in the 1950s, and continued to be the concern, that there
remained actually a paucity of fact from which valid generalisations could be
made. There was thus, asserts Blondel, a 'surfeit of models' rather than a 'surfeit
of facts'. Blondel emphasised that building models without grounding them in facts
would result in misinformations. This misinformation, given that facts about some
countries were harder to come by, was likely to affect and at times reinforce
preconceptions about thbe countries. Tlius while writing about Latin American
Legislatures in 1971, W. H. Agor remarked that there was a tendency to assert
that legislatures in that part of the world were very weak. Statements such as
these, he said, were based on 'extremely impressionistic evidence' that is, in the
absence of 'facts' consciously collected for the purposes of the study. Thus the
need for collecting and devising ways of collecting facts was stressed
emphatically by followers of the institutional approach. The criticisms were,
however, followed by works which had a more comparative focus and included
non-western countries. Further, there was also an attempt to undertake studies
comparing structures not determined by legal-constitutional frameworks e.g.
G.Sartori's work on Parties and Parry Systems (1976) which included in its
scope in a limited way ~ o m h u n i s countries
t and those of thk Third World, and
F.Castles7 study of Pressure Groups and Political Culture (1967).

Check Your Progress 2

Note: i) Use the space giv6n below for your answer.

ii) Check your answer with the answer given at tlie end of the unit.

I) What are the limitations of the institutional approach as out by

Easton and Macridis?
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2) How does Blondel build up a case in defence of the i~stitutionalapproach?

3.4 THE INSTITUTIONAL APPROACH IN

. CONTEMPORARY COMPARATIVE STUDY ,

Institutionalism remained more or less the exclusive approach in comparative

politics, up to the nineteen fifties. As discussed in a previous section (3.2), the
' approach became distinctive with the works of Bryce, Lowell and Ostrogorski.

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 Comparative Methods and Pioneering Ikork was done in comparative politics by Herman Finer (Theory
Approaches
and ~racticdof Modern Governments, 1932) and Carl Friedrich (Constitutional
Government 'and Democracy, 1932). Grounded in liberal Comtitutional theory,

1
they studied the formal institutional structures with emphasis on their legal
powers and nctions. These works formed part of studies on 'Comparative
Government or 'Foreign Constitutions' and were considered relevant to the qlites'
efforts in inskitutional building in various countries. In newly independent countries,
the institutiohal approach, appearing as it did, to emphasise institution-building,
acquired prominence.

The main facus of the institutional approach (i.e. its subject matter) was (a) law
and the conrjtitution, (b) historical study of government and the state 'n order to
understand the manner in which sovereignty, jurisdiotions, legal and legislative
instruments evolved in their different forms, (c) the manner in which the
structures of government functioned (theory and practice) which incl~dedthe
study of distributions of power and how these manifested themselves in relation
between nation and state, centre and local government, administration and
bureaucracy1 legal and constitutional practices and 'principles.

An underlying assumption of the approach was a belief in the uniquely western

character of democracy. This meant, as stated in the Introduction (section 3.1),
that derhocrklcy was seen as not only western in its origins but its apdication
elsewhere was imagined and prescribed only in that form. This led, qs mentioned
earlier, to a largely westcentric study i.e. a concentration on coun
Europe andNorth America. Blondel feels that the decline in the i
approaah in the 1950s was in part due to its inability to accomm
of inquiry '@onwestern (liberal) governments' particularly the p
Commqnist~countries of Eastern Europe and the newly indepe
Asia aqd Lgtin America. Thus an approach which prided itsel
theory with practice found itself unable to modify its framew
study facts lwhich did not mnform to liberal constitutional de
decline of the institutional approach in the 1950s was due in
earlier,,to the concerns by system theorists to building'theori
generalisatibns, rather than conclusions derived from facts.
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I

Since the late nineteen sixties and seventies, however, the institution I approach
resurfaced in a form which is called 'new institutionalism' and can be seen as
having thege characteristics: (a) As the term suggests, new institutio alism,

1
retained its focus on the study of theory and practice of institutions. The approach
stressed the importance of state and its institutional structures. (P. E ans,
D.Rue$chemeyer and T.Skocpol eds., Bringing the State Back In, 1985), Without
providing an overarching framework within which theLinstitutions m y be said to
function (ap in structural-functional approach). It focussed instead o the manner
in which the institutions interrelate. (b) While refraining from makin overarching
frameworks, the approach did not, however, avoid making generalise conclusions.
The preocaupation with the collection of facts, also did not diminish. In striving
for this combination, i.e., an adherence to fact based study aimed t wards making
generalised conclusions, however, the institutional approach, was carOi3ful (i) to
'draw conqlusions only after careful fact-finding efforts have taken place' and, (ii)
to make a~prudentuse of induction so that one 'kept close to
when gendralising' (see Jead Bhndel, 'Then and Now:
p.160); (iiil) the thrust of the approach, has
'middle-rabge analysis' where facts about specific
cover a brbader area offering greater scope for
however, dnalysed without offering inductive
the paliticbl parties (e.g. G.Sartori9sParties
and H.Kqman. Pqrties and Democracy, 1
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 Institutional Approach
Pressure Groups and Political bulture, 1967), judiciary (G.Schubert, Judicial
Behaviour, 1964), legislatures (M.L.Mezey, Comparative Legislatures, 1979;
A.Korneberg, Legislatures in Comparative Perspedive, 1973; J.Blonde1,
Comparative Legislatures, 1973; W.H.Agor, Latin American Legislatures, 1971)
and the military (S.E.Finer, Man on Horseback, 1962).

Check Your Progress 3

Note: i) Use the space given below foi: your answer.

ii) Check your answer with the answer given at the end of the unit.
1) What is the state of institutional approach in cqmpiritive political analysis
now?

3.5 LET US SUM UP

The institutional approach in its various forms has been an important constituent
of comparative political analysis. The study of institutions of governance was at
the core of political analysis be it tlie explorations of the ideal state of Plato's
Republic or the typology of States proposed. by Aristotle in his Politics. In its
classical and edrly. modern forms the approach $as more philosophical and
, speculative, concerned with ideal typical states and prescribing the norms of ideal
governance. With Montesquieu and his successors the preoccupation of the
approach with legal-constitutional frameworks or structures of democracies
became entrenched. The belief in institutions of liberal constitutional democracies,
however did not translate into a study of the manner in which the structures of
governance functioned. More often than not, at least till the end of the nineteenth
century, the intricacies of the legal-constitutional structures or the theoretical
framework of governance, continued to seize the attention of political scientists
and legal experts. So far, thus the approach could be said to have been
characterised by a preoccupation with ionstitutions and legal-formal institutions of
government and normative values of liberal democracy. This approach was
propagated also by colonial regimes to popularise European liberal values in the
colonies. The works of the institutionalists were also extremely relevant to the
elite's efforts in institution building in various countries. This is why in the newly
independent countries institutionalism acquired some fascination.

It was, however, only by the late nineteenth and early twentieth century that
scholars like Bryce, Lowell and Osttogorski, broke new grounds in the study of
institutions (a) by combining the study of theoretical-legal-constitutional framework
with facts about their functioning and, (b) giving the study a comparative flavour
by including into their works the study of institutions in other countries. Thus, the
approach, by the first quarter of the twentieth century, could be said to have
acquired a limited comparative character and rigour by-combining in its analysis
theory and practice of institutions. In the nineteen fifties, however, the approach
came under attack from 'system builders' like Easton and Macridis. The latter
criticised the approach (a) for overemphasising facts (b) for lacking theoretical
formulations which could be applied generally to institutions in other countries and
(c) for lacking a comparative character. These theorists preferred on their own
part to build 'holisitic' or 'global' 'models' or 'systems' which could explain the
functioning of institutions in countries all over the world. An important criticism
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 Comparative Methods and leveled against the practitioners of the institutional approach was their westcentric
Approaches '
approach i.e. their failure to take up for study institutions in the countries of the
Third World, and communist countries of Eastern Europe. The failure to study
these countries emanated in effect from the normative framework of this
approach which could accommodate only the theoretical paradigms of western
liberal-constitutional democracies. The lack of tools to understand the institutions in
other countries of the developing and the communist worlds resulted in a
temporary waning of the influence of this approach. It resurfaced, however, in the
late sixties and early seventies, in a form which while retaining its emphasis on
facts, did not shy away fro-m making generalised theoretical statements, without,
however, atteinpting to build inclusive models.

Check Your Progress 4

Note: i) Space given below is provided for your answer
ii) Check your answer with the model answer given at the end of the
unit.
1) Give an overview of the hist,orical development of the institutional approach
distinguishing between its significant characteristics at each stage.

2) How far do you think is the institutional approach effective in studying

political processes in a comparative perspective?

3.6 KEY WORDS

Configuradive description: Study of political institutions oriented towards a
detailed description of some countries without the use of any explicit conceptual
framework.

Empiricism: A strand in philosophy that attempts to tie knowledge to experience.

Pure empiricists would argue that the basis of true knowledge are facts which
are derived through sense perceptions.

Ethnocentrism: The application of values and theories drawn from one's own
culture to other groups and people's ethnocentrism implies bias or distortion.

Fact: A fact is what is said to be the case and it is associated Gith observation
and experiment.

Formal-legalism: the constitutional orientation comprising detailed descriptions of

the rules, supposedly governing the operations of cabinets, legislators, courts and .
bureaucracies.

Liberal democracy: a form of democratic rule that balances the principle of

limited government against the ideal of popular consent. Its 'liberal' features are
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 Institutional Approach
reflected in a network of internal and external checks on government that are
designed to guarantee liberty and afford citizens protection against the state. Its
'democratic' character is based on a system of regular and competitive elections,
conducted on the basis of universal suffrage and political equality.

Model: A theoretical representation of empirical data that aims to advance ,

understanding by highlighting significant relationships and interaction.

Non-comparison: Most of the texts in the field of comparative government either

studied one single country or engaged in parallel descriptions of a few countries.

Normative: The prescription of values and standards of conduct; what 'should

be' rather than what 'is'.

Parochialism: Restricted or confined within narrow limits e.g., in comparative

politics there was a typical bias in the selection of relevant countries to be studied
- the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the United States of America - and
in the relevant variables to be employed for description.

Perspective: The term widely used i,n social sciences to talk about different
ways of seeing, interpreting and experiencing social ieaiity.

Value: Values are statelnents which are supposed to be much more tied up with
judgement and subjectivity. Values are suppositions, they are not objective and
they do not apply to all people.

3.7 SOME USEFUL BOOKS

Apter,'David E., 'Comparative PoIitics, Old and New' in Robert E.Goodin and
Hans H.D.Klingeman eds., A New Handbook of Political Science, oxford
University Press, Oxford, 1996.

Blondel, Jean, The Discipline of Politics, Buttermorths, London, 1981. (Chapter

7: Middle Level Comparisons)

Blondel, Jean, 'Then and Now: Comparative Politics', Political Studies, XLVII,
1999, pp. 152- 160.

Wiarda, Howard, J., New Directions in Con~parutivePolitics, Westview Press,

Boulder, 1985.

3.8 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

EXERCISES

Check Your Progress 1

I)" The approach is based on the study of various institutions in comparision with
each other. This compares similarities and differences in the composition and
functions of similar institutio~ise.g. executive, legislature etc. and tries to
draw conclusions.

2) Co~nparisonof similar institutions; context of their origin, development and

working;drawing conclusions;making suggestions for changes or improvements
on the basis of conclusions.

3) See Sub-section 3.2.2

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 Comparative Methods and Check Your Progress 2
Approaches

1) See section 3.3

2) Blonde1 pointed out the limitations of structural Functional approach and as

yet lack of sufficient information about the institutions. Ae also ernphasised
the importance of institutions and legal frameworks. For elaboration see 3.3.

Check Your Progress 3

1) See section 3.4

Check Your Progress 4

1) Write your answer on the overall understanding of the Unit.

2) See section 3.5 and also use overall assessment of the Unit.

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