ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part analyses the shifting orientations in comparative politics, especially relative to the impact of behavioralism. It reviews the major strands of intellectual thought used in analyzing the Third World. The part discusses modernization revisionism—an approach which called into question the zero-sum perspective so often taken toward the “Great Dichotomy.” It explores the concept of political development/modernization and the major paths followed in examining the political development/modernization question. The part focuses on the situation in Africa, the basic principles are applicable to much of the Third World. It shows that the “traditional approach” as being “essentially parochial, monographic, descriptive, bound to the West and particularly to Western Europe, excessively formalistic and legalistic, and insensitive to theory-building and theory-testing.” Simply stated, the study of comparative government was too narrow in its geographical and conceptual range, as well as in the scope of its analysis.
