Ideational Approaches in Comparative Politics

Comparative politics

Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Politics

This article provides an overview of recent developments in historical institutionalism. First, it reviews some distinctions that are commonly drawn between the “historical” and the “rational choice” variants of institutionalism and shows that there are more points of tangency than typically assumed. However, differences remain in how scholars in the two traditions approach empirical problems. ...

Comparative Politics Qualifying Examination

Comparative politics scholars disagree about what the ideal research program should entail. Some scholars argue in favor of deductive hypotheses and/or large N research designs relying on sophisticated statistical techniques that do not require much in-depth knowledge of a particular polity. Other scholars favor a more inductive approach and pursue more qualitative work using case study methods...

Comparative Politics Seminar:

The questions we ask include: Why don’t economic institutions spontaneously adjust to the requirements of economic growth? Why did the Industrial Revolution originate in England, and why did it spread only to some countries? Why have transition-to-markets reforms failed in some post-Soviet economies and succeeded elsewhere? In the “New Economy”, what adjustments in property rights are needed to...

Religion and Comparative Politics

■ Abstract Although scholars tend to downplay the role of religion in political life, the vast majority of people in the world profess a strong allegiance to some spiritual faith. Secularization theory has long held that religion would become irrelevant, leading many comparative scholars to ignore this potentially significant variable. A recent resurgence in religious fundamentalism and “new re...