Comparative politics is an intrinsically ambiguous and contentious sub-discipline of political science. Although its origins go back many years, its recent practice has been closely linked to academic trends and fashions originating in the US. The central assertion of this paper is that the future of comparative politics is in jeopardy. Politics within and across national borders has become markedly more complex, interdependent, and multi-layered, just as many US political scientists have tried to simplify, isolate, and flatten their models to make them more readily understandable. Fortunately, Europeans have good reasons–“as well as and well-established assets–“for not following this path. If so, it is to be hoped that comparative politics will continue to operate as it has in the past, namely as a major source of critical innovation for the discipline as a whole.