Language and culture in comparative political theory

Abstract The essay explores an oblique perspective on language via the field of comparative political theory* (*hereafter CPT). The essay sketches briefly some of the conceptual architecture and genealogy of the comparative political theory enterprise and investigates more specifically the uses of the concepts of culture and language within the core arguments. The discussion distinguishes three rough categories of CPT and correlates these with understandings of language. The discussion then turns to certain problematic aspects of CPT concerned with the concepts of political theory, comparison within political studies and the concept of culture itself. The essay concludes on a critical and circumspect note on the status of CPT within contemporary understandings of political theory.