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This book considers the emerging subdiscipline of Comparative Political Theory (CPT) and its place within Political Theory. CPT is nascent but rapidly expanding field of academic inquiry and presents methodological and theoretical challenges to the wider discipline. Sakurai argues that CPT accentuates the very problems in Political Theory it was created to resolve because it operates with the same center-periphery dichotomy that it was meant to eradicate. Specifically, Sakurai questions the hegemony of Western political thought in non-Western societies and universities, as well as the skewing of the discipline toward political philosophy. Ultimately, the volume presents a novel definition of CPT and demonstrates how it can contribute to the cross-cultural investigation of political phenomena, helping us respond to political developments in a global context.
List of contents
Chapter 1: Introduction: Towards self-reflection on comparative political theory.- Chapter 2: A genealogy of CPT: What has it done?.- Chapter 3: The meaning of the comparative of CPT: Comparative or cosmopolitan political theory?.- Chapter 4: Methods and approaches (1): The concepts of politics and democracy in the West.- Chapter 5: A case study (1): Political theory in Germany/German political theory (politische Theorie).- Chapter 6: Methods and approaches (2): The concepts of politics and democracy in the non-West.- Chapter 7: A case study (2): Political theory in Japan/Japanese political theory (seiji riron).- Chapter 8: CPT: How to conduct research on CPT.- Chapter 9: Conclusion: What ought CPT to be beyond the Western/non-Western dichotomy?.
About the author
Takamichi Sakurai is Senior Researcher at the Keio Research Institute, Keio University SFC, Japan. He is the founding Co-Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed journal Comparative Political Theory.
Summary
This book considers the emerging subdiscipline of Comparative Political Theory (CPT) and its place within Political Theory. CPT is nascent but rapidly expanding field of academic inquiry and presents methodological and theoretical challenges to the wider discipline. Sakurai argues that CPT accentuates the very problems in Political Theory it was created to resolve because it operates with the same center-periphery dichotomy that it was meant to eradicate. Specifically, Sakurai questions the hegemony of Western political thought in non-Western societies and universities, as well as the skewing of the discipline toward political philosophy. Ultimately, the volume presents a novel definition of CPT and demonstrates how it can contribute to the cross-cultural investigation of political phenomena, helping us respond to political developments in a global context.
