Comparative Perspectives

Abstract

This book is about the politics of a single country. Yet there is much here of interest to the student of comparative government as well. This is true first of all because the British example of government has been widely influential in the modern world. Britain’s experience with parliamentary institutions, with the relationship of government to opposition, with elections as a legitimate means of transferring power, and other aspects of its political life have left a profound impression on other countries, including a number which have gained their independence from Britain in this and prior centuries. We noted at the beginning of this book the tendency of Americans to understand the possibilities of their party system by looking eastward across the Atlantic.