W. Zagorski Paul - Comparative Politics: Continuity and Breakdown in the Contemporary World

Comparative Politics: Continuity and breakdown in the contemporary world is an exciting new core text for introduction to comparative politics courses, focusing on the dynamics of politics: modernization, revolution, coups, and democratization.

Unlike other texts, Comparative Politics integrates thematic and extensive country-specific material in each chapter, striking a unique balance between discussing a wide range of countries and civilizations in detail, whilst using shorter focused textboxes to clearly illustrate key thematic points.

Key features and benefits include:

Extensively illustrated throughout with maps, photographs, tables, and explanatory boxes, Comparative Politics is an innovative core text, and essential reading for all students of comparative politics.

Paul W. Zagorski is Professor of Political Science and Coordinator of the International Studies Program at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas, USA.

Continuity and breakdown in the contemporary world

PAUL W. ZAGORSKI

Pittsburg State University

First published 2009
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2009 Paul W. Zagorski

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Zagorski, Paul W.
Comparative politics : continuity and breakdown in the contemporary world / Paul W. Zagorski.

p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.

1. Comparative government. 2. Comparative governmentCase studies.
I. Title.

JF51.Z33 2009
320.6dc22 2008034148

ISBN10: 0-415-77728-3 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0-415-77729-1 (pbk)
ISBN10: 0-203-88247-4 (ebk)

ISBN13: 978-0-415-77728-5 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-77729-2 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-88247-4 (ebk)

Plates

Figure

Maps

Boxes

Tables

Thanks are due to the anonymous reviews and my students whose comments on the earlier versions of the manuscript helped improve this text. The background information for many of the case studies can be found in the Area Study series published online by the Library of Congress (www.loc.gov). I have tried as much as possible to rely on the judgments of specialists in the appropriate areas in preparing the tables and maps in this text. Most are noted in the citations. Polity IV time-series data were particularly useful in rating regimes as democratic or authoritarian. Also, I would like to thank my friend and chair, Dr. Mike Kelley, whose patience in serving as a sounding board I deeply appreciate. Finally, special recognition and thanks are do to my colleague, Dr. Kyun Joong Kim, and his student assistant, Matt Butterworth. It is Dr. Kims tireless assistance and mastery of the Geographic Information System that produced the maps in this text. As always, the ultimate responsibility for the judgments (and misjudgments) herein is solely my own.

The train of regulated thoughts is of two kinds. One, when of an effect, we seek the cause or means that produced it The other is, when imagining anything whatsoever, we seek all the possible effects that can by it be produced.

(Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, 1651)

What is Comparative Politics?

Despite the old adage, ignorance is not really bliss. Quite the contrary, what we are ignorant of can hurt us, and what we are unaware of we may be unable to enjoy or profit from. More than ever before, the world is a source of trade, travel, and employment for all of us. The world and its peoples can add to our prosperity and personal growth, but the world beyond our national borders is also a source of danger. What other countries do and how they are organized politically affect us both positively and negatively. Similar democratic values and institutions in Europe and Japan dispose these countries to cooperation and friendly relations with Americans personally and the United States government. Rising Asian stock markets offer the prospects of a prosperous retirement for our parents and grandparents, but falling Asian stock markets threaten these same prospects. A terrorist attack in Nigeria drives up world oil prices. Controlling illegal immigration and drugs requires that the countries from and through which these immigrants and drugs come e.g., Mexico, South and Central America for the United States, or North Africa and the Balkans for Western Europe adopt policies that promote economic growth and equity for their own citizens. Islamist radicals, primarily from Saudi Arabia, strike at their own government by destroying New Yorks World Trade Center and attacking the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. The resulting struggle against terrorist organizations requires creating a stable and effective government in Afghanistan and involves the United States and its allies more deeply than previously with the Islamic world. In short, other countries domestic politics do affect us. Ignorance is not a viable option.