| Description: |
Political behaviour research focuses on individual behaviour in stable democratic political systems, whereas modernization is concerned with societies undergoing structural changes over time. Its typical output is a journal article analyzing behaviour in one country at a single point in time. The analysis is related to universalistic theories and generic hypotheses; however, the temporal and geographical confines of the data are logical obstacles to generalizing findings. To do this requires taking into account variations across time within a country, and across national boundaries. The point is illustrated with reference to old and new regimes, such as the United States and Russia. The paper also shows why political behaviour should be conceived not only in terms of inputs, such as voting, but also as participation in the outputs of government, which affect people much more directly than does the occasional act of casting a ballot.
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