Government and politics in the twentieth century / by Gwendolen M. Carter and John H. Herz

The systematic study of comparative government and politics has commonly been concerned only with the institutions and activities of European countries and the United States. Moreover, in the still relatively rare works in which the institutions of the newer countries have been examined analytically, the consideration has nearly always been either of a particular state or of several of these states compared with each other. This book seeks to broaden the focus of comparative analysis by dealing with both developed and developing countries and by testing generalizations obtained from the study of mature states in the light
of the experience of the newer states of Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. Accepting the dichotomy of democracy and totalitarianism, we recognize that even highly developed states do not conform exactly to the characteristic features of either
system. Particularly among the newer states there are political systems which lie between democracy and totalitarianism, not only partaking of the characteristics of both, but also adding something distinctive of their own.