Understanding Comparative Politics: A Framework for Analysis

Comparative politics has undergone significant theoretical changes in recent decades. Particularly since the 1980s, a new generation of scholars have revamped and rejuvinated the study of the subject.
Mehran Kamrava examines current and past approaches to the study of comparative politics and proposes a new framework for analysis. This is achieved through a comparative examination of state and social institutions, the interactions that occur between them, and the poltical cultures within which they operate. The book also offers a concise and detailed synthesis of existing comparative frameworks that, up to now at least, have encountered analytical shortcomings on their own.
Although analytically different in its arguments and emphasis from the current "Mainstream" genre of literature on comparative politics, the present study is a logical outgrowth of the scholarly works of the last decade or so. It will be essential reading for all students of comparative politics.

Dr. Mehran Kamrava is Director of the Centre for International and Regional Studies, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar. He is the author of a number of books on political development and Middle East politics, including The Modern Middle East: A Political History since the First World War, Politics and Society in the Developing World, Democracy in the Balance: Culture and Society in the Middle East, and Revolutionary Politics.

1. Introduction Part 1: Approaches to Comparative Analysis 2. Theories of Comparative Politics: A Brief Overview Part 2: The Comparative Study of Politics 3. A Synthesis 4. States and Social Institutions 5. A Framework for Analysis Part 3: State in Comparative Perspective 6. Democratic States 7. Non-Democratic States Part 4: State-Society Interactions: Revolution & Democratization 8. Revolutions 9. Democratization Conclusion Bibliography