PARADIGMS REVISITED - PRODUCTIONISM, GLOBALITY, AND POSTMODERNITY IN COMPARATIVE POLITICS

Inspired by a seminal essay of Albert O. Hirschman, as well as by the ongoing debate on the empirical foundations of social science, this ar ticle ''revisits'' (1) the paradigm concept popularized by T. S. Kuhn in the 1960s and (2) the relationship between probabilistic and ''poss ibilistic'' modes of theorizing that has acquired renewed relevance in comparative politics mainly with respect to recent theories of democr atization and development. It does so by reviewing three major paradig m crises in modern political science: the shift from the Aristotelian polis to the social ''system,'' the refocusing of political explanatio ns from the social to the global environment, and the contemporary att empts to reevaluate the role of technology in political change. The re view takes stock of the record of the discipline of comparative politi cs, of opportunities provided by paradigm shifts, seized upon or misse d by the discipline. It also allows one to seek a more even balance be tween the potential utility and limitations of the paradigm concept, w hile at the same time pointing to the perils of divorcing the art of t he possible from the laws of probability.