Comparing apples and mangoes : the overpoliticized state in developing countries / S.N. Sangmpam.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sangmpam, S. N.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political science.

Developing countries--Politics and government.

Developing countries.

Developing countries--Economic conditions.

Developed countries--Economic conditions.

Developed countries.

Developed countries--Politics and government.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (347 p.)

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, 2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Two competing approaches currently dominate the debate about the state and institutions in developing countries. The first projects a picture of transnational, vertical uniformity descending from the West to developing countries and views liberal democracy as "the only game in town." In this view, the state and institutions resemble or ought to resemble those in the West. The second, by contrast, explains political outcomes by local idiosyncrasies and regional variations in institutions. In his original approach to third world politics, S. N. Sangmpam challenges both views by uncovering important similarities in the political features of developing countries. He shows that they share political behaviors and features unaccounted for in either local/idiosyncratic or liberal democratic theories. These behaviors converge toward a common property—overpoliticization—that defies political compromise, leading to an overpoliticized state. Sangmpam provides a wealth of empirical, historical, and quantitative evidence from Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the West and demonstrates the overpoliticized state constitutes the cornerstone of an integrated theory of politics in developing countries.

Contents:

Comparing apples and mangoes

The mischaracterization of Third World experiences

Setting the framework: comparing apples and mangoes

Politics and overpoliticization

Sins of universalism and particularism

From the behavioral revolution to modernization theory

Democratization by institutional fiat

Universalism from the left

Particularism and anti-third worldism

Particularism in South America, Asia, and Africa

Conclusion

Overpoliticization: empirical and historical evidence

Overpoliticized behaviors in democratic regimes

Overpoliticized behaviors in authoritarian regimes

Overpoliticized behaviors common to democratic and authoritarian regimes

Overpoliticized behaviors in Western countries

Conclusion: differences and similarities

Overpoliticization : quantitative evidence

Data and procedure

Results and interpretation

Understanding the overpoliticized state

Political institutions and the state as effects of politics

Compromise-resistant politics and the overpoliticized state

The liberal democratic state as the conceptual contrast

Basic hypotheses about the overpoliticized state

What explains liberal compromise?

What explains overpoliticization?

Conclusion.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 295-316) and index.

ISBN:

9780791479995

0791479994

9781429498265

1429498269

OCLC:

172982960