The Non-Western Political Process

Abstract

T HE PURPOSE OF THIS ARTICLE is to outline some of the dominant and distinctive characteristics of the non-Western political process. In recent years, both the student of comparative politics and the field worker in the newly emergent and economically underdeveloped countries have found it helpful to think in terms of a general category of non-Western politics.1 There are, of course, great differences among the non-Western societies. Indeed, in the past, comparative analysis was impeded by an appreciation of the rich diversity in the cultural traditions and the historical circumstances of the Western impact; students and researchers found it necessary to concentrate on particular cultures, and as a consequence attention was generally directed to the unique features of each society. Recently, however, attempts to set forth some of the characteristics-eommon to the political life of countries experiencing profound social change have stimulated fruitful discussions among specialists on the different non-Western regions as well as among general students of comparative politics. For this discussion to continue, it is necessary for specialists on the different areas to advance, in the form of rather bold and unqualified statements, generalized models of the political process common in non-Western societies.2 Then, by examining the ways in which particular non-Western countries differ from the generalized models, it becomes possible to engage in significant comparative analysis.