Now almost entirely forgotten, perhaps because replaced or superseded by democratization, the wealth of studies on political development contained quite a number of theoretical threads. This paper will, first of all, try to disentangle what was theoretical from what was simply, though often importantly, analytical. Second, it will then identify and analyze the most important processes of political development and their changes through time. Third, it will focus on the lasting positive and negative contributions made and left by the scholars who participated in the collective enterprise devoted to political development. Therefore it will provide a reliable guide to the literature. The leading concepts of political development, most of them still significantly alive and considerably useful, are nation-building, state-building, and political culture. They all contain both theoretical threads and empirical challenges. The paper will argue that there is a lot to be learned from the way these concepts were formulated and how the historical experiences were analyzed in order both to understand the processes of democratization and democratic consolidation and to evaluate the sociopolitical dynamics of failed states. Moreover, most scholars who contributed to the studies on political development have relied more or less successfully on a historical-comparative method that has shown to be highly appropriate for the understanding of contemporary political transformations. In the end, the paper will provide the necessary examples of what remains important, treating the most revealing cases in depth.

The Theory of Political Development

PASQUINO, GIANFRANCO
2009

Abstract

Now almost entirely forgotten, perhaps because replaced or superseded by democratization, the wealth of studies on political development contained quite a number of theoretical threads. This paper will, first of all, try to disentangle what was theoretical from what was simply, though often importantly, analytical. Second, it will then identify and analyze the most important processes of political development and their changes through time. Third, it will focus on the lasting positive and negative contributions made and left by the scholars who participated in the collective enterprise devoted to political development. Therefore it will provide a reliable guide to the literature. The leading concepts of political development, most of them still significantly alive and considerably useful, are nation-building, state-building, and political culture. They all contain both theoretical threads and empirical challenges. The paper will argue that there is a lot to be learned from the way these concepts were formulated and how the historical experiences were analyzed in order both to understand the processes of democratization and democratic consolidation and to evaluate the sociopolitical dynamics of failed states. Moreover, most scholars who contributed to the studies on political development have relied more or less successfully on a historical-comparative method that has shown to be highly appropriate for the understanding of contemporary political transformations. In the end, the paper will provide the necessary examples of what remains important, treating the most revealing cases in depth.
2009
Santiago 2009 World Congress of Political Science
1
20
G. Pasquino
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/78437
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