Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method

@article{Lijphart1971ComparativePA,
  title={Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method},
  author={Arend Lijphart},
  journal={American Political Science Review},
  year={1971},
  volume={65},
  pages={682-693}
}
  • Arend Lijphart
  • Published 1 September 1971
  • Sociology
  • American Political Science Review
This paper is a systematic analysis of the comparative method. Its emphasis is on both the limitations of the method and the ways in which, despite these limitations, it can be used to maximum advantage. The comparative method is defined and analyzed in terms of its similarities and differences vis-A -vis the experimental and statistical methods. The principal difficulty facing the comparative method is that it must generalize on the basis of relatively few empirical cases. Four specific ways… 
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References

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The Place of Latin America in the Study of Comparative Politics
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    The Journal of Politics
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T1HE CONTEMPORARY STUDY of comparative politics has been among the more vital and significant developments in the continuing effort to sharpen research and systematize methodological analysis. The…
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My title suggests paradox. How can you make comparisons when you are dealing with only one system? The question has poini and I am going to hinge these brief introductory remarks on methodology on a…
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During the last ten years the study of comparative politics has undergone a methodological revolution. Reacting against the static, formalistic, “country-by-country” approach of earlier students of…
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