Chapter 10: Comparative Politics and International Relations

John M. Hobson

Comparative politics and international relations The relationship between the disciplines of International Relations (IR) and Comparative Politics (CP) – as well as Comparative Political Economy (CPE) and Comparative Sociology (CS) – despite a prima facie or intuitive appearance of natural or inherent overlap, turns out to be highly complex, fraught and problematic. For given that CP scholars often assume that they work broadly within IR, it is naturally perplexing to be told by many IR scholars that their disciplines share very little in common: that ‘CP is not IR’. It is indeed perplexing, of course, because so many CP scholars frame their analyses within an international context. One need only think of scholars such as Theda Skocpol (1979) or Michael Mann (1993) who not only factor in the role of the international into their theories but go yet further by seeking to break down what Ian Clark (1999) usefully I ...

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