This textbook offers a comprehensive introduction to the field of comparative politics or comparative government. The authors discuss the main theories of the state, focusing upon state stability and state performance. The ideas of such scholars as Weber, Bryce, Finer, Lipset, Dahl, Lijphart, Wildavsky, Schmitter, Horowitz, Linz, Blondel and Sartori are addressed and their analyses of the impact of a variety of factors upon the state - including social structure, economic factors and institutional conditions - are examined. The theories are then formulated into a set of theoretical models that are tested by means of data from 130 countries (all those countries with populations larger than one million). The authors present new findings concerning the sources of state stability and state performance. They argue that both phenomena are related to specific but different economic factors. In addition, the book examines the impact of many other factors: social heterogeneity, religion, political institutions, experience of military government, state structure, ideology and political leadership. This is a major new work in the field of comparative politics which will provide students with a guide to the literature as well as a new approach to the subject.