The ABCs of Political Development: Notes Toward an ABCD Manifesto

Abstract

The study of American political development (APD) is inherently comparative. APD has its roots in a set of observations and questions about a set of comparatively distinctive characteristics of American politics. The subfields of APD and comparative politics share common origins in the late-twentieth century reaction to behavioralism and modernization theory. Although they subsequently diverged, they are increasingly being brought together in works that treat the United States as a case in comparative studies. In particular, comparisons of American, British, and Canadian political development offer a fruitful path toward connecting these fields and deriving new insights from the comparative study of political development.