Rethinking Comparison

Erica Simmons is an Associate Professor of Political Science and International Studies and holds the Department of Political Science Board of Visitors Professorship at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Nicholas Rush Smith is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the City University of New York – City College and Senior Research Associate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Johannesburg.

• 1. Rethinking comparison: an introduction Erica S. Simmons and Nicholas Rush Smith; Part I. Rethinking the Building Blocks of Comparison: 2. Beyond mill: why cross-case qualitative causal inference is weak, and why we should still compare Jason Seawright; 3. Two ways to compare Frederic Charles Schaffer; 4. Unbound comparison Nick Cheesman; 5. On casing a study versus studying a case Joe Soss; 6. From cases to sites: studying global processes in comparative politics Thea Riofrancos; Part II. Developing New Approaches to Comparison Through Research: 7. Comparing complex cases using archival research Jonathan Obert; 8. Composing comparisons: studying configurations of relations in social network research Sarah E. Parkinson; 9. Against methodological nationalism: seeing comparisons as encompassing through the Arab uprisings Jillian Schwedler; 10. Comparative analysis for theory development Mala Htun and Francesca R. Jensenius; 11. Problems and possibilities of comparison across regime types: examples involving China Benjamin L. Read; 12. Comparisons with an ethnographic sensibility: studies of protest and vigilantism Erica S. Simmons and Nicholas Rush Smith; Epilogue: 13. Theory and imagination in comparative politics: an interview with Lisa Wedeen Erica S. Simmons and Nicholas Rush Smith with Lisa Wedeen.

'What a refreshing read this volume is. At a time when dominant ways of doing things are suddenly in question, this is a sophisticated wake-up call to the field of political science to study the world differently. The many rich contributions and Simmons' and Smith's masterful elucidation of them remind us that our purpose is to understand the world, not perpetuate the ways in which it is understood. Bravo to the editors and contributors for opening our eyes.' Katherine Cramer, University of Wisconsin-Madison