Comparative Politics: Rationality, Culture, and Structure

by Mark Irving Lichbach , Alan S. Zuckerman

• ISBN13: 9780521586689
• ISBN10: 0521586682
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-08-28
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book reassesses the research schools in comparative politics, assessing knowledge, advancing theory, and in the end seeking to direct research in the coming years. It begins by examining the three research schools that guide comparative politics; rational choice theory, culturalist analysis, and structuralist approaches. The first set of contributors offer briefs for each of the schools, presenting core principles, variations within each approach, and fresh combinations. A second set of authors applies the research schools to established fields of scholarship. The concluding section contains essays by the editors, returning the focus to the theme of advanced theory in comparative politics.

Author Biography

Mark Irving Lichbach is Professor of Political Science and Chair of the department at the University of Colorado. Alan S. Zuckerman is Professor of Political Science at Brown University.

Table of Contents

Part I. Introduction: 1. Research traditions and theory in comparative politics: an introduction Mark Irving Lichbach, Alan S. Zuckerman

Part II. Research Traditions in Comparative Politics: 2. A model, a method, and a map: rational choice in comparative and historical analysis Margaret Levi

3. Culture and identity in comparative political analysis Marc Howard Ross

4. Structure and configuration in comparative politics Ira Katznelson

Part III. Theory Development in Comparative Politics: 5. Electoral behaviour and comparative politics Samuel H. Barnes

6. Towards an integrated persepctive on social movements Doug McAdams, Sidney Tarrow, Charles Tilly

7. The role of interests, institutions and ideals in the comparative political economy of the industrialized nations Peter A. Hall

8. Studying the state Joel S. Migdal

Part IV. Conclusions: 9. Social theory and comparative politics Mark Irving Lichbach

10. Reformulating explanation and advancing theory in comparative politics Alan S. Zuckerman.