UNFINISHED BUSINESS - REFLECTIONS ON THE SCOPE OF COMPARATIVE POLITICS

The transformation of comparative politics in the postwar period began with concerns about the scope and method of the field: what it covers and how theory may be constructed in it. This article reconsiders the issue of scope. It argues, first, that comparative politics should be regarded simply as the study of macropolitics, or politics at the sys tem level, and that it thus comprises all political systems, past, pre sent, and future. It discusses, second, the need for greater historica l depth in the field and, third, the need for greater social width, pa rticularly through the study of power, pressure, and authority in all aspects of society.