In addition to a well-chosen set of classic readings, Contending Perspectives also offers students access to cutting-edge research. By framing chapters around a central question in the field, the editors are able to show students how scholars approach inquiry with different perspectives, producing controversy and consensus in interesting and instructive ways. With these selections, students see work with data, theory, and analysis at its best and set in proper context—not pieces chosen just for their currency or for pages of colorful detail. Chapter introductions and selection headnotes offer important background and critical thinking questions.

 

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Part I. Methodology and Comparative Analysis

Chapter 1. Does the comparative method contribute to building a body of explanatory theory about political outcomes?
1.1 Lawrence Mayer, “The Epistemology of Social Science and the Comparative Method”
1.2 Peter Hall, “Beyond the Comparative Method"

Chapter 2. What is the utility of formal theory in comparative analysis?
2.1 Donald Green and Ian Shapiro, “Methodological Pathologies”
2.2 George Tsebelis, “In Defense of the Rational Choice Approach”

Part II. The Practice and Context of Democratic Politics

Chapter 3. Why Do Some Democracies Emphasize Representation While Others Emphasize Ruling?
3.1 Arend Lijphart, “The Westminster Model of Democracy”
3.2 Arend Lijphart, “The Consensus Model of Democracy”

Chapter 4. Ideological change or ideological decline?
4.1 Francis Fukuyama, “The End of History?”
4.2 Ronald Inglehart, “Post-Materialism in an Environment of Insecurity”
4.3 Scott Flanagan, “Value Change in Industrial Societies”

Part III. Systems and Institutions

Chapter 5. Realignment or dealignment?
5.1 Russell Dalton, Susan Scarrow, and Bruce Cain, “Democracy Transformed”
5.2 Pierro Ignazi, “The Extreme Right: Defining the Object and Assessing the Causes”

Chapter 6. Do electoral systems matter?
6.1 Rein Taagepera and Matthew Soberg Shugart, “Why Study Election Systems”
6.2 Louis Massicotte, Andrew Blais, and Antoine Yoshinaka, "Establishing the Rules of the Game"

Chapter 7. What is the best type of democratic format?
7.1 Juan Linz, “The Perils of Presidentialism”
7.2 Jose Antonio Cheibub, “What Makes Presidential Democracies Fragile?”
7.3 Scott Mainwaring and Matthew Shugart, “Juan Linz, Presidentialism and Democracy”

Part IV. The State and National Sovereignty

Chapter 8. What is the importance of the state in an age of globalization?
8.1 Peter Evans, “The Eclipse of the State?”
8.2 Dani Rodrik, “Sense and Nonsense in the Globalization Debate”

Chapter 9. Should the nation state be replaced by larger political units?
9.1 Noel Malcolm, “The Case Against Europe”
9.2 Alberta Sbragia, “The EU and its ‘Constitution’”
9.3 Kees Aarts and Henk Van Der Kolk, “Understanding the Dutch ‘No””

Part V. Modernization

Chapter 10. Does modernization lead to stable and effective democracy?
10.1 Mancur Olson, “Rapid Growth as a Destabilizing Force”
10.2 Howard Wiarda, “Toward a Neo-Ethnocentric Theory of Development”

Chapter 11. Is dependency theory an explanation or an ideology?
11.1 Susanne Jonas, “Dependency and Imperialism”
11.2 Charles Doran, “Structuring the Concept of Dependency Reversal”

Part VI. Violence and Revolution

Chapter 12. Which approach, macro or micro, best explains political violence?
12.1 Ted Gurr, “A Causal Model of Civil Strife”
12.2 Theda Skocpol, “Social Revolutions and Mass Military Mobilization”
12.3 Samuel Huntington, “The Clash of Civilizations”

Part VII. Transitions to Democracy

Chapter 13. What causes transitions to democracy?
13.1 Herbert Kitschelt, “Political Regime Change"
13.2 Danwart Rustow, “Transitions to Democracy”

Chapter 14. Can you consolidate democratic transition?
14.1 Guillermo O’Donnell, “Illusions About Consolidation”
14.2 Juan Linz and Alfred Stepan, “Toward Consolidated Democracies”

Chapter 15. Are there cultural requisites for democracy?
15.1 Eric Dowling, “Review of Edward Friedman, ed., The Politics of Democratization: Generalizing East Asian Experiences”
15.2 Ronald Inglehart and Christian Welzel, “A Revised Theory of Modernization”

 

“The readings in this volume do more than provide an overview of essential texts, illustrate concepts and connect them to real politics in a cross-national context. They introduce students to the pluralist world of comparative political analysis by drawing upon the contending worldviews, conceptual debates, and methodological sophistication that define the field of comparative politics today. Contending Perspectives in Comparative Politics is a welcome and timely selection which creates new exciting opportunities to expand students’ understanding of the theoretical foundations, explanatory principles, and key themes in comparative research.”

- Boyka Stefanova, University of Texas at San Antonio

Lawrence Mayer is Professor of Political Science at Texas Tech University. His current research interests include party system change, especially in the weakening of mainstream parties of the moderate left and right, and the emergence of populist parties of identity. His published books include: Comparative Politics: Nations and Theories in a Changing World (With Burnett, Ogden, and Tuman), American Public Policy (with Cochran, Carr, and Cayer), Redefining Comparative Politics, Politics in Industrial Societies (with Burnett), and Comparative Political Inquiry: A Methodological Survey. His articles have appeared in Political Science and Politics, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Comparative Political Studies, The Western Political Quarterly, Teaching Political Science, and West European Politics.

Frank Thames is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Texas Tech University. His current research focuses on legislative behavior in post-communist legislatures and the economic effects of electoral systems. His journal articles have appeared in Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Demokratizatsiya, Europe-Asia Studies, Social Science Quarterly, and Comparative Political Studies.

Dennis Patterson areas of specialization include comparative politics (advanced societies), politics of Japan/Asia, comparative political economy, political institutions/election systems, rational choice models of politics, and security in East Asia. He has published numerous articles and book chapters on such topics as elections and electoral influences on policymaking in Japan in journals such as Comparative Political Studies, British Journal of Political Science, World Politics, Women and Politics, and Pacific Focus. He recently published a co-authored book (with Dick Beason) The Japan That Never Was: Explaining the Rise and Decline of a Misunderstood Country and is currently working on a project that examines the politics of election system change in comparative perspective.