Examine the significance of the comparative method in political analysis. Discuss its limitations. (UPSC CSE Mains 2019 - Political Science and International Relations, Paper 2).
- Comparative politics involves the systematic study and comparison of the world’s political system. It seeks to explain difference between as well as similarities among countries. In contrast to journalistic reporting on a single country, comparative politics is particularly interested in exploring patterns, processes and regularities among political system.
- The comparative method is one of four main methodological approaches in the sciences (the others being statistical method, experimental method, and case study method). The method involves analyzing the relationship between variables that are different or similar to one another. Comparative politics commonly uses this comparative method on two or more countries and evaluating a specific variable across these countries, such as a political structure, institution, behavior, or policy.
- The comparative method is important to political science because the other main scientific methodologies are more difficult to employ. Experiments are very difficult to conduct in political science—there simply is not the level of recurrence and exactitude in politics as there is in the natural world. The statistical method is used more often in political science but requires mathematical manipulation of quantitative data over a large number of cases. The higher the number of cases (the letter N is used to denote number of cases), the stronger are inferences from the data. For a smaller number of cases, like countries, of which there is a limited number, the comparative method may be superior to statistical methodology. In short, the comparative method is useful to the study of politics in smaller cases that require comparative analysis between variables.
Limitations
- Comparative politics is methodologically and epistemologically dependent on other subjects.
- Scholars of comparative politics used many new terms but there is no consensus among scholars regarding meaning of terminology.
- Serious difficulties are faced by the comparative political analyst while collecting information and data about the political system and other non-state institution.
- The adoption of inter-disciplinary approach in comparative politics has so much widened the scope of this subject that one is often faced the difficulty of knowing what subject of political analysis included and what it excluded.
Universally acceptable results are not possible in comparative politics because political economy and social conditions of every country are diverse. As the problems of developed countries are not similar to developing countries.
- Political behaviour is not concluded on a rational basis or scientific principles therefore, doing systematic study in comparative politics is more difficult.
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