The study of institutions has a long history beginning perhaps with the philosophical explorations of the ideal state in Plato’s Republic. Institutional approach is based on the study of various institutions in comparison with each other. This compares similarities and differences in the composition and functions of similar institutions e.g. executive, legislature etc. and tries to draw conclusions.
Characteristics of the institutional approach:
It is generally agreed that any approach or enquiry into a problem displays certain characteristics pertaining to (a) subject matter (i.e. what is being studied) (b) vocabulary ( the tools or the language) and (c) the choice of political perspective (which determines the vantage point and indicates the direction from and to what purposes enquiry is directed at).
f the features of the institutional approach were considered against each of these three counts, it may be seen as marked out by (a) its concern with studying institutions of government and the nature of distribution of power, viz., constitutions, legal- formal institutions of government (b) its largely legalistic and frequently speculative and prescriptive/normative vocabulary, in so far as it has historically shown a pre-occupation with abstract terms and conditions like ‘the ideal state’ and ‘good order’ (c) a philosophical, historical or legalistic perspective.
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A characteristic feature of this approach has also been its ethnocentrism. The major works which are seen as representing the institutional approach in comparative politics have concerned themselves only with government and institutions in western countries. Implicit in this approach is thus a belief in the primacy of western liberal democratic institutions.
The ‘universal’ character of western liberal democracy assumes that this form of government is not only the best, it is also universally applicable. The ‘normatively’ of western liberal democracies follows from this assumption. If it is the best form of governance which is also universally applicable, liberal democracies is the form of government which should be adopted everywhere.
This prescribed norm i.e. liberal democracy, however, also gave scope to an important exception. This exception unfolded in the practices of rule in the colonies and in the implications (a) that the institutions of liberal democracy were specifically western in their origin and contexts and, (b) that non-western countries were not fit for democratic self-rule until such time as they could be trained for the same under western imperialist rule.
In the sections which follow we shall study in some detail, the origins of the Institutional approach from antiquity to the first quarter of the present century when it became a predominant approach facilitating comparative study.