Ronald H. Chilcote is professor of political science and economics at the University of California, Riverside. He is founder and managing editor of Latin American Perspectives and author and editor of numerous books and articles, including Theories of Development and Underdevelopment

• Introduction - comparative enquiry. Part 1 Ideology and epistemology: ideology and issues of comparative politics; politics and the science of politics in comparative inquiry; Marx and Weber as precursors. Part 2 Theoretical directions: theories of political culture - individual and movement in the struggle for collectivity and the new person; theories of development and underdevelopment; theories of class - from pluralist elite to ruling class and mass. Part 3 Conclusion: political economy and a reconstitition of comparative politics and political science. Appendices: notes on comparative terminology; the general literature of comparative politics since 1980.