Beyond Monologue: For a Comparative Political Theory

Perspectives on Politics / Volume 2 / Issue 02 / June 2004, pp 249-257;

BeforeIproceed,letmebrieflysketchmyunderstandingofcrossculturalorcomparative
politicaltheory,thecontoursofwhichwillemergemorefullyinsubsequentdiscussions.
Bythisterm,Imeanamodeoftheorizingthattakesseriouslytheongoingprocessof
globalization, a mode which entails, among ther things, the growing proximity and
interpretation of cul tures andthe emergence of what Marshall McLuhan called the
globalvillage.Incontrasttohegemonicandimperialistmodesoftheorizing,theterm
impliesthatonesegmentoftheworldspopulationcannotmonopolizethelanguageor
idiomoftheemergingvillage,orglobalcivilsociety.Sharedmeaningsandpractices
totheextentthattheyarepossiblecanonlyarisefromlateralinteraction,negotiation,
andcontestationamongdifferent,historicallygrownculturalframeworks.This,inturn,
meansthatthebasicapproachfavoredbycomparativepoliticaltheoryisdialogical,or
hermeneuticalthatis,itreliesonmutualinterpretation.2Giventhisorientation,com
parative theorists must necessarily be multilingual and well trained in translation,
although the vast terrain covered by crosscultural comparison necessarily limits the
rangeoflinguisticcompetenceofanyoneperson.3 Theoristsneedtosteeramiddle
coursebetweennarrowareaspecialistsandabstractgeneralists:whiletheformerslight
thetheoretical,thelattermissthecomparativecomponentofcomparativepolitical
theory.Amongprominentcontemporaryapproaches,comparativetheoryclearlydeparts
fromwhatiscommonlycalledformaltheory,whichimposesageneral,universal
formondiversephenomena,therebyrevealingitsdebttotheuniversalistclaimsofthe
EuropeanEnlightenment.249
Combined,theinitiativesdescribedabovepavedthewayforproperlycomparative,cross
cultural or intercivilizational philosophy.J. L.Mehta understood and confronted the
challenge of such a mode of philosophizing when he tried to compare Heideggers

thoughtwiththecomplextraditionofIndianVedanta. Insuchanattempt,herealized,
abstractmetaphysicalconcepts andcategories needto beputaside, oratleastsub
lated, to achieve the goal of setting free, bringing into view and articulating in
contemporarywaysofspeaking...thematterofthinkingwhich,inwhathasactually
beenrealizedinthought,stillremainsunsaidandsounthoughtinthetraditionofthe
East.18SpanishIndianscholarRaimundoPanikkarusedparallelarguments.Panikkars
instructive essay titled What is Comparative Philosophy Comparing? attacked the
widespreadtendencytoincludecomparisoninahegemonicand
supposedly universal metaphys ics. Comparative studies, he noted, are thereby
integratedintothethrusttowarduniversalizationcharacteristicofWesternculture,its
desire to exert control by striving toward a global picture of the world. A basic
endeavorof
hisessaywastodebunkthispretense:Comparativephilosophycannotacceptamethod
thatreducesallvisionstotheviewofonesinglephilosophy,ormetaphilosophy.Asan

CanadianIndianpoliticaltheoristAnthonyParelisagoodcaseinpoint.Havinginhis
earlieryearsimmersedhimselfinathoroughstudyofWesternpoliticalthought(witha
focusonAristotle,Aquinas,andMachiavelli),Parelsubsequentlyshiftedhisresearch
towardcomparativeorcrossculturalinquiries,payingspecialattentiontoEastIndian
traditions.Hesoonvalidatedthisshiftandclearedapathforothersbycoeditingthe
firstbookinthisfield,ComparativePoliticalPhilosophy:StudiesUndertheUpasTree
(1992).Ashenotedinthebooksintroduction,scholarshipinpoliticaltheoryhascome
almostexclusivelytomeanthestudyofmodernWesternpoliticalthought;itassumes
that modern Western texts are products of universal reason itself. However, this
assumptionhasbecomedubious.Infact,Parelfoundmountingevidencetosuggest
thatWesternclaimsofuniversalityarequestionedbyothercultures,oratleastby
significantrepresentativesofthesecultures,allofwhichrenderscomparativepolitical

theorizingtodaybothopportuneandintellectuallysatisfying.20ForParel,comparative
political philosophy meant an approach that takes seriously the validity of cultural
pluralismandphilosophicalpluralism,butdoesnotamounttoanendorsementofrela
tivismorradicalincommensurability.21
also possible overlaps or similaritieswhat, following Eric Voegelin, he termed
equivalences.Thus,itwaspossibletodiscoverfruitfulresemblancesbycomparing,for
instance,theAristotelianpolitikosandtheConfucianjunzi,Indiandharmaandthepre
modern Western notion of natural justice, the Islamic prophetlegislator and the
Platonicphilosopherking.22 Payingheedbothtoequivalencesanddifferences was
boundtoenrichscholarship,byenablingonetobothdeepenonesunderstandingof
ones own tradition and engender under standing and respect for the traditions of
others.23
KoreanAmerican political theorist Hwa Yol Jung undertook a parallel foray beyond
mainstreamcanonsatroughlythesametime.RelyingonContinentalphilosophyandon
theworkofhistorianHaydenWhite,Jungintroducedthenotionofadifferential,or
diatactical,modeoftheorizing(wherediatacticsmeansaconcreteexperientialformof
encounter).Ashewrotein1989,modernWesternthinkinghastendedtobemonolog
ical and logocentric (centered on the cogito), thereby allowing detached and
disembodiedreasontogeneratethedangerofethnocentrismandEurocentrism.