Comparative politics is a field in political science that involves the systematic study and comparison of political systems within and between countries/01%3A_Why_Study_Comparative_Politics/1.01%3A_What_is_Comparative_Politics). It seeks to explain why different political systems have similarities or differences and how developmental changes came to be between them. Comparative politics can include questions relating to political institutions, political behavior, conflict, and the causes and consequences of economic development.
Comparative politics is a method of study and a field of study of macrosocial and political phenomena. It involves classifying, comparing, and sometimes even choosing, except that the “things” that are of interest to comparative politics specialists are the really big ones: states, societies, ideologies, political systems, countries, regions, time periods, worlds, and so on.
Comparative politics can be traced back to Greek philosophy, as Platos Republic and Aristotles The Politics. As a modern sub-discipline, comparative politics is constituted by research across a range of substantive areas, including the study of political institutions and regimes, electoral behavior and procedures, identity, ideology, and culture, public policy, political economy, political violence, social movements and organizations, and protest and revolution.
Comparative politics is not limited to the study of foreign countries, but it also entails the political study of non-US political thought. Scholars of comparative politics investigate similarities and differences in patterns of politics across the world. They engage in within-country, cross-national, and cross-regional research with a geographic focus outside the United States.
In summary, comparative politics is a field of study that involves the systematic comparison of political systems within and between countries. It seeks to explain similarities and differences between political systems and how developmental changes came to be between them. Comparative politics is not limited to the study of foreign countries, but it also entails the political study of non-US political thought.
