Comparative Area Studies: Methodological Rationales and Cross-Regional Applications

321 Pages·2018·2.559 MB·English

by  Ariel I. Ahram, Patrick Köllner, Rudra Sil

Comparative Area Studies

Comparative Area Studies
Methodological Rationales
and Cross- Regional Applications
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1
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This volume is dedicated to the memory of the late Giovanni Sartori, whose writings
on concepts and methods have been informing sophisticated discussions about
strategies of comparative analysis for nearly half a century.

CONTENTS
List of Figures ix
List of Tables xi
Acknowledgments xiii
List of Contributors xv
PART I Introduction
1. Comparative Area Studies: What It Is, What It Can Do 3
Patrick Köllner, Rudra Sil, and Ariel I. Ahram
PART II What Comparative Area Studies Brings to the Table
2. Comparative Area Studies: The Golden Mean between Area Studies
and Universalist Approaches? 29
Dirk Berg- Schlosser
3. Depth Perception: Improving Analytic Focus through
Cross-and Interregional Comparisons 45
Laurence Whitehead
4. Comparisons across World Regions: Managing Conceptual, Methodological,
and Practical Challenges 66
Christian von Soest and Alexander Stroh
5. Context, Concepts, and Comparison in Southeast Asian Studies 85
Mikko Huotari and Jürgen Rüland
viii Contents
6. American Political Development in the Mirror of Europe: Democracy
Expansion and the Evolution of Electoral Systems in the 19th Century 103
Amel Ahmed
7. Comparative Area Studies and the Study of Middle East Politics after
the Arab Uprisings 119
André Bank
PART III CAS in Action: Leveraging Cross- Regional Comparison
8. Comparing Post- communist Authoritarianism in Russia and China:
The Case of Anti- corruption Campaigns 133
Cheng Chen
9. Comparative Area Studies and the Analytical Challenge of Diffusion:
Explaining Outcomes in the Arab Spring and Beyond 152
Ariel I. Ahram
10. Comparing Separatism across Regions: Rebellious Legacies in Africa,
Asia, and the Middle East 168
Benjamin Smith
11. Gaining by Shedding Case Selection Strictures: Natural Resource Booms
and Institution Building in Latin America and Africa 185
Ryan Saylor
12. Organizing Production across Regions: The Wenzhou Model in China
and Italy 204
Calvin P. Chen
PART IV Conclusion
13. Triangulating Area Studies, Not Just Methods: How Cross- Regional
Comparison Aids Qualitative and Mixed- Method Research 225
Rudra Sil
Bibliography 247
Index 289
LIST OF FIGURES
2.1 Levels of Analysis according to Coleman (1990) and Esser (1993) 32
2.2 MDSO and MSDO Designs 34
2.3 Types of Political Participation 42
5.1 Typology of Area Studies Comparisons 94
10.1 Contentious and Quiescent Trajectories in Kurdistan 174
13.1 The Epistemological Range of Different Styles of Small- N Comparative
Analysis 238