ABSTRACT
As we have seen so far, comparative studies have undergone significant
paradigmatic changes in recent years, ranging from the ideologically laden
poles of the dependency and modernization approaches of the 1970s to the
somewhat more neutral neo-statist perspective of the 1980s. Concurrent
with this shift in analytical focus has been a re-emphasis on the inter-
connectedness and the mutual influences and interactions between state and
society. A number of other scholars have pointed out the relevance, indeed
at times the inseparability, of culture to political analysis.1 Some of the most prominent of these arguments were presented in previous chapters. Building
upon a synthesis of these arguments and those of chapter 3, the present
chapter will propose a conceptual framework for the study of comparative
politics.
