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"Introduction" [2019] ELECD 1885; in Popovic, Dragoljub (ed), "Comparative Government" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) 1

Book Title: Comparative Government

Editor(s): Popović, Dragoljub

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Section Title: Introduction

Number of pages: 6

Extract:

Introduction

1. THE DISCIPLINE
Comparative government as a teaching course in universities, so it seems,
has somehow fallen out of fashion while other topics in constitutional
law have broken through and have attracted more attention. It suffices to
mention the protection of human rights or constitutional review of
legislation by constitutional courts in this regard. To borrow the expres-
sion from Armin von Bogdandy, they bring `more conflict, more cases,
more constitutional law'.1
However, falling out of fashion does not mean at all that the subject
matter of comparative government has lost its importance both for
academic and practical purposes. On the contrary, studying comparative
government offers skills and knowledge to civil servants and practising
lawyers and judges, as well as to diplomats, sociologists, journalists and
other professionals. It would therefore be more appropriate to say that the
approach to comparative government has been altered, rather than to
conclude that a trend of academic fashion has ended. Besides, the name
of the discipline has never been generally accepted worldwide.
`Comparative government' is the name used in the works of English-
speaking authors. Those writing in French or some other languages, like
Italian for instance, use other expressions to denote the same or at least
very similar substance. What is called droit constitutionnel comparé or
diritto costituzionale comparato is a somewhat broader academic field.
Among German authors, there are those who use the expression `political
systems'/Politische Systeme, which is close to that of `comparative
government'.2 In the recent ...