Introduction: Toward a Comparative Political Theory

Abstract

This Special Issue is meant to inaugurate or help launch a field of inquiry which is either nonexistent or at most fledgling and embryonic in contemporary academia: the field of “comparative political theory” or “comparative political philosophy.” What is meant by these titles is an inquiry which, in a sustained fashion, reflects upon the status and meaning of political life no longer in a restricted geographical setting but in the global arena. The motivation behind this initiative is a transformation which profoundly shapes our waning century: the emergence of the “global village” involving the steadily intensifying interaction among previously (more or less) segregated civilizations or cultural zones. Although human lives everywhere are deeply affected today by the global forces of the market, technology, and the media, the implications of these changes have not yet fully penetrated into Western intellectual discourse. As practiced in most Western universities, the study of political theory or political philosophy revolves basically around the canon of Western political thought from Plato to Marx or Nietzsche—with occasional recent concessions to strands of feminism and multiculturalism as found in Western societies.

Komplementäre Perspektiven? Was politische Kulturforschung und transkulturelle Politische Theorie voneinander lernen können

“…Andererseits diente der Begriff der Kultur als Angelpunkt zur Dezentrierung sowie zur Kosmopolitisierung einer als gefährlich eurozentrisch verstandenen Politischen Theorie (vgl. Pantham 1983;Dallmayr 1997;Jenco 2012;Godrej 2009). Das Ziel des damit verfolgten Ansatzes bestand bislang im weitesten Sinne darin, kulturelle Differenz als produktive Irritationsquelle für die Entwicklung politischer Ideen und Theorien zu nutzen.…”

“…Diese Perspektive auf Kultur als relevanten Kontext Politischer Theorie wurde dabei jedoch kaum mit der Idee einer politischen Kultur in Verbindung gebracht -im Gegenteil wurde, wenn das Konzept explizit reflektiert wurde, eher auf soziologische und ethnologische anstatt politikwissenschaftliche Kulturbegriffe rekurriert und damit auf die Kultur im Allgemeinen Bezug genommen (vgl. exemplarisch Dallmayr 1997).…”

MULTIDIMENSIONAL THINKING ABOUT FORCE ETHICS: A Matter of Method and Content

“…. does not in any way imply the assumption of an ‘essential’ or unbridgeable difference,” nor does it imply a rigid, geographic boundary between just war traditions (1997, 423). Johnson 2008 appears to concur: “the old categories of ‘Eastern’ and ‘Western’ religions no longer fit particularly well in face of the global reach of all the major religious traditions of the world,” yet, he also retains use of the term “Western” in this essay.…”

Sovereignty in Islamist Political Thought: Continuity and Change

“…It envisions "a political inquiry which, in a sustained fashion, reflects upon the status and meaning of political life no longer in a restricted geographical setting but in the global" (Dallmayr, 1997, p. 421). It goes beyond the comparative politics subfield's rigorous empirical-descriptive research methodologies and attempts to break the established hierarchy in the study of political thought where Western thoughts are placed over the "non-western" thoughts (Dallmayr, 1997).…”