Comparative Area Studies

In the post-World War II era, the emergence of 'area studies' marked a signal development in the social sciences. As the social sciences evolved methodologically, however, many dismissed area studies as favoring narrow description over general theory. Still, area studies continues to plays a key, if unacknowledged, role in bringing new data, new theories, and valuable policy-re...

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In the post-World War II era, the emergence of 'area studies' marked a signal development in the social sciences. As the social sciences evolved methodologically, however, many dismissed area studies as favoring narrow description over general theory. Still, area studies continues to plays a key, if unacknowledged, role in bringing new data, new theories, and valuable policy-relevant insights to social sciences. In Comparative Area Studies, three leading figures in the field have gathered an international group of scholars in a volume that promises to be a landmark in a resurgent field. The book upholds two basic convictions: that intensive regional research remains indispensable to the social sciences and that this research needs to employ comparative referents from other regions to demonstrate its broader relevance. Comparative Area Studies (CAS) combines the context-specific insights from traditional area studies and the logic of cross- and inter-regional empirical research. This first book devoted to CAS explores methodological rationales and illustrative applications showing how area-based expertise can link into cutting-edge comparative analytical frameworks.

Ariel I. Ahram is associate professor of government and international affairs in Virginia Tech's School of Public and International Affairs. Patrick Köllner is vice president of the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA), director of the GIGA Institute of Asian Studies, and professor of political science at the University of Hamburg, Germany. Rudra Sil is professor ...

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Ariel I. Ahram is associate professor of government and international affairs in Virginia Tech's School of Public and International Affairs. Patrick Köllner is vice president of the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA), director of the GIGA Institute of Asian Studies, and professor of political science at the University of Hamburg, Germany. Rudra Sil is professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania where he is also SAS Director of the Huntsman Program in International Studies & Business.

Introduction
1. Comparative Area Studies: What It Is, What It Can Do
Patrick Köllner, Rudra Sil and Ariel I. Ahram
Part One: What Comparative Area Studies Brings to the Table
2. Comparative Area Studies: The Golden Mean between Area Studies and Universalist Approaches?
Dirk Berg-Schlosser
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Introduction
1. Comparative Area Studies: What It Is, What It Can Do
Patrick Köllner, Rudra Sil and Ariel I. Ahram
Part One: What Comparative Area Studies Brings to the Table
2. Comparative Area Studies: The Golden Mean between Area Studies and Universalist Approaches?
Dirk Berg-Schlosser
3. Depth-Perception: Improving Analytical Focus Through Cross- and Inter-regional Comparisons
Laurence Whitehead
4. Comparing Across World Regions: Assets and Pitfalls
Christian von Soest and Alexander Stroh
5. Context, Concepts, and Comparison in Southeast Asia
Mikko Huotari and Jürgen Rüland
6. American Political Development in the Mirror of Europe: Democracy Expansion and
the Evolution of Electoral Systems in the 19th Century
Amel Ahmed
7. Comparative Area Studies and the Study of Middle East Politics after the Arab Uprisings
André Bank
Part Two: CAS in Action: Leveraging Cross-Regional Comparison
8. Comparing Post-Communist Authoritarianism in Russia and China:
The Case of Anti-Corruption Campaigns
Cheng Chen
9. Comparative Area Studies and the Analytical Challenge of Diffusion: Explaining Outcomes
in the Arab Spring and Beyond
Ariel I. Ahram
10. Comparing Separatism Across Regions: Rebellious Legacies in Aceh, Balochistan and Kurdistan
Benjamin Smith
11. Gaining by Shedding Case Selection Strictures: Natural Resource Booms and
Institution Building in Latin America and Africa
Ryan Saylor
12. Organizing Production Across Regions: The Wenzhou Model in China and Italy
Calvin P. Chen
Conclusion
13. Triangulating Area Studies, Not Just Methods: How Cross-Regional Comparison Aids
Qualitative and Mixed-Method Research
Rudra Sil
Bibliography
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