国外一些重要的政治学家倾向于认为,比较政治学是一个用方法来界定其边界的学科。譬如,萨托利指出:“比较政治作为一个研究领域的独特性应该主要体现在其方法上。”~①阿伦·利帕特也指出:“在政治学的几个次级领域中,比较政治学是唯一一个具有方法意义而非实质内容意义的学科。‘比较政治’一词主要表明其如何进行比较,而非具体针对什么内容进行比较。”~②既然研究方法对于比较政治学如此重要,那 Some important foreign political scientists tend to think that comparative politics is a discipline to define its boundaries by means of methods. For example, Sartori pointed out: “The distinctiveness of comparative politics as a research field should mainly be reflected in its methodology.” “Ahl Lipat also pointed out:” In several sub-areas of political science , Comparative Politics is the only disciplinary with methodological rather than substantive content, and the term ’comparative politics’ mainly shows how it is compared rather than what is specifically compared.’ "~ ~ Since the research methods for comparison Politics is so important, that