Major Approaches of Comparative politics: Traditional approaches and Modern approaches | Political Science notes for BALLB
Topics Covered in this Blog :-
• Traditional approaches- Philosophical approach
- Historical approach
- Institutional approach
• Modern approaches
- System approach
- Structural functional approach
- Behavioural approach
Introduction :-
An approach consists of criteria of selection , in other words - criteria employed in selecting the problems or questions to consider & in selecting the data to bring to bear ; standards governing the inclusion and exclusion of questions & data.In simple terms, may be defined as a way of looking at & the explaining a particular phenomena.
A diversity of approaches is used by political scientist to completely understand the complexity of political systems & behaviour.
Major Approaches :-
1] Traditional approaches :-
• broadly prominent till 2nd world war• traditional approaches are mostly normative & stresses on the values of politics.
• the supporters stress on "what ought to be or should be" not on "what is"
• these approaches consider that since facts & values are closely interlinked , studies in political science can never be scientific.
1.a] Philosophical approach :-
• it is also known as speculative or metaphysical approach.
• this method is deductive in its approach which starts with some abstract view of human nature and then draws conclusion from that view concerning the nature , functions and aims of the state.
• thus , philosophical approach proceeds from general to particular.
• Supporters - Plato , Rousseau , Kant , Hegel etc.
Criticism -
• main danger of Philosophical approach is that it may become purely imaginative and visionary. It may be lost in ideal and lose sight of actual conditions.
• this approach has value only if supplemented by sound observation and historical and comparative study.
1.b] Historical approach :-
• salient feature of historical approach is to throw focus on the past or over a selected period of time , in order to find out an explanation of " what institutions are and are tending to be ; more knowledge of what they have been and how they came to be what they are than in the analysis of them as they stand. "
• it implies that in understanding a political theory , it is equally necessary to understand clearly the time , place and circumstance , in which it was evolved.
• supporters - Montesquieu , Freeman , Laski etc. They all tried to explain the poltical institutions with reference to historical records.
Criticism -
• it's value is limited because history does not repeat itself.
• some examples of the past may not be useful now because of changing conditions.
• one may draw misleading conclusions , because investigations could be made with emotional influences and personal prejudices.
1.c] Institutional approach :-
• it is called Structural approach.
• it lays emphasis on the formal structures of a political organisations like legislature , excutive and judiciary.
• covers both the formal and informal institutions.
• it also does the comparative study of the institutions of the advanced and of developing countries , for example - comparison of judiciary (an institution ) of different countries would benefit those countries who aim at strengthening their institutions.
• supporters - Munro , Bryce , Fiver etc.
Criticism -
• it neglects the role of individuals who operate the formal and informal structures of political system.
• analysis of formal political structure and processes based on the more readily accessible official sources and records.
2] Modern approaches :-
• these approaches draw conclusion from empirical data.• they stress scientific methods of study and attempt to draw scientific conclusions in Political Science.
• approaches go beyond the study of political structures and its historical analysis.
• Many theorists regard these approaches as a reaction against the traditional approaches.
2.a] System approach :-
• this approach is actually derived from a general system theory of biology.
• Ludwig Von Bertallanfy is considered as the earliest advocate of the general systems theory , he utilised in the field of biology.
• in the decade of sixties, the systems theory became an important tool to evaluate and investigate key factors in Political Science. Among political scientists, David Easton has been the first to apply this theory to political analysis.
• David Eaton developed the concept of political systems , according to this approach that there is political system which operates within a social environment.
• environment produces demands from different parts of the society such as demand for reservation , demand for better health facilities etc. Different demands have different levels of support. Easton said that both 'demands' and 'supports' establish 'inputs.'
• After considering various factors, the government decides to take action on some of these demands. Through, the conversion process, the inputs are converted into 'outputs' by the decision makers in the form of policies, decisions, rules, regulations and laws.
• The 'outputs' flow back into the environment and thus it provides a 'feedback' mechanism, giving rise to fresh 'demands.'
• Presently, the term 'political system' has been chosen to the term state or government because it includes both formal informal political instructions and processes those continue to exist in a society.
• Supporters - David Easton, G. A. Almond , Morton A. Kaplan etc.
• Criticism -
• it considers every political system to be same and ideal and hence , it fails to explain various phenomenons such as revolution that could change the political system itself.
• it also cannot explain the authoritarian political system and political systems of countries where input aspect is very limited.
2.b] Structural functional approach :-
- according to this approach, the society is a single inter-related system where each part of the system has a definite & distinct role to play.
- it could be considered as an offshoot (branch) of the system analysis.
- like Easton, Almond also believes, that all political systems perform input & output functions,
- according to him,
Input functions - political socialization, political communication, interest aggression etc.
Output functions - 3-fold governmental output functions - rule making, rule application & rule adjudication
- Almond believes that a stable & efficient political system converts inputs into outputs.
Criticism -
- fails to define an independent society, Almond defines political system as a “set of interactions to be found in all independent societies. “He, however, nowhere explains which society is or can be treated as an independent society.
- No mention of Feedback Process, Almond’s model of political system ignores the importance of feedback functions. He assumes feedback as a part of the communication process.
- Gives no place to Sub-systems, It ignores the study of para-political systems which are at work in each society at large.
2.c] Behavioural Approach :-
- it has been developed from the 1940s & reached climax in the 1960s.
- the central point of the behavioural approach is that the study of facts relating to human behaviour in any capacity or context can give more valid & useful knowledge, which can be used to solve present day problems.
- the motives, feelings, beliefs, actions, objectives and attitudes of the individual are studied in this approach.
- characteristics of this approach, according to David Easton :-
1] Regularities - Though the political behaviour is determined by so many factors and is not always uniform, yet it has been observed that human beings behave in certain respects in a more or less similar manner on different occasions.
Voting behaviour is the most striking example in this respect.
2] Verification - Any-thing which cannot verified or tested can be termed only as dogmatic and not scientific. Behaviouralists believe in empirical or scientific results only which can be achieved after scientific verification.
3] Techniques - Correct techniques of sampling, scaling etc. must be adopted for acquiring and interpreting data.
4] Pure science - This means that whatever research they make, that should be applied in solving the problems of mankind.
5] Integration - Finally, the behaviouralists believe that social and political phenomena cannot be studied in isolation. It is difficult to draw the exact dividing line between man’s social, economic, political, cultural and other activities and they can be understood only in the wider context of the entire social life of the society.
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