Comparative Government : A Reader

This textbook provides a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the institutions and patterns of behaviour of the countries of the contemporary world. The various political systems are compared and contrasted both in general terms and according to their characteristic structures. today, the characteristics and the role of groups, and the effect of the communications media. It examines in depth the origins, bases, and structures of political parties, the type of party system and the overall role of parties in contemporary politics. It then goes on to examine the formal institutions, analyzing the role of constitutions, the extent of decentralization, the characteristics of legislatures and the structure and impact of executives and political leaders. A final section is devoted to the part played by bureaucracies, the military and the courts in political life and discusses the extent to which ordinary people participate directly in politics. Front Matter....Pages i-l Front Matter....Pages 1-1 A Survey of the Field of Comparative Government....Pages 3-9 The Political System....Pages 10-14 The Functional Aspects of Political Systems....Pages 15-20 Choices Between Political Systems....Pages 21-26 Front Matter....Pages 27-27 National Political Development: Measurement and Analysis....Pages 29-41 Implications of Social Mobilization for the Politics of Development....Pages 42-51 Social Conflict, Legitimacy, and Democracy....Pages 52-59 Interest Articulation Structures: Interest ‘Groups’....Pages 60-65 Front Matter....Pages 67-67 Toward a Comparative Study of Political Parties....Pages 69-76 The Concept of Membership....Pages 77-85 The Political Party as a Modernizing Instrument....Pages 86-95 Bases of Parties....Pages 96-104 Oligarchy in Leadership....Pages 105-111 Personalization of Power....Pages 112-116 Mass Parties and Industrialised Societies....Pages 117-126 Mass Parties and Types of Modern Societies....Pages 127-137 Electoral Systems and Party Systems: The Duverger Doctrine....Pages 138-141 Front Matter....Pages 143-143 The ‘Living’ Constitution: Shadow and Substance....Pages 145-159 Structures of Government....Pages 160-169 The Decline of Legislatures?....Pages 170-175 Front Matter....Pages 143-143 Chief Executives and Cabinet Systems....Pages 176-183 Front Matter....Pages 185-185 The General Characteristics of Totalitarian Dictatorship....Pages 187-199 Totalitarian Policies to Resist Disintegration....Pages 200-207 The Military in the Politics of Today....Pages 208-216 The Bureaucratic Mind....Pages 217-225 Front Matter....Pages 227-227 Political Opposition in Western Democracies....Pages 229-234 The Future of Democratic Society....Pages 235-242 Back Matter....Pages 243-270