Regarding Politics

Regarding Politics: Essays on Political Theory, Stability, and Change gathers together three decades of work by one of the most influential figures in comparative politics. Written across a period of intellectual upheaval in political science—from the postwar dominance of institutional description to the rise of behavioralism, “grand theory,” and later methodological disputes—these essays trace the author’s sustained engagement with questions of political order, instability, and the role of culture in shaping political outcomes. The collection highlights both conceptual debates and empirical studies, situating them in the broader story of how political science sought to redefine itself as a more “scientific” discipline after World War II, often under the shadow of totalitarianism, nuclear conflict, decolonization, and the disappointments of democratic development.

Ranging from methodological reflections on political theory to analyses of authority, civic inclusion, and the conditions of democratic stability, the essays chart the author’s distinctive intellectual path. Rejecting the excesses of all-encompassing “grand theories” while also resisting narrow empiricism, he consistently argued for theories of the middle range that remain attentive to both cultural context and systemic forces. The autobiographical introduction—shaped by experiences of Nazism, exile, and the tumult of the mid-twentieth century—underscores the existential urgency behind his scholarship. The enduring takeaway is that political science, at its best, is not simply the accumulation of data or abstract models, but a disciplined attempt to understand the fragility and possibilities of political order in a world marked by both recurrent instability and the persistent hope for self-government.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1992.