Comparing Nations

This highly original collection of essays, written by some of the worlda s best--known political scientists elucidates state--of--the--art methodological approaches to comparative politics. Giovanni Sartori and Mattei Dogan examine the applicability and validity of statistical techniques in the field. All Chapters within this book are explicitly comparative, the contributors deal with various methodological problems in comparative research; the pitfalls of miscomparing; the use and abuse of statistics; the conceptual homogenization of a heterogeneous perspective; the strategy of comparing similar countries; asynchronic comparisions; and the pendulum between theory and substance. These methodological issues are illustrated by empirical studies of important subjects; the fragility of the presidential regimes; the Japanese exceptionalism; the comparability of Latin America countries; the pertinence of an asynchronic comparison between weak states in post-colonial Africa and Medieval Europe; the deviant case of high stateness in a Muslim country; the empirical testing of the concepts of legitimacy and trust; the limits to quantification; and the specificity of the comparative method. All the contributors are outstanding comparativists, working at the forefront of the comparative field. The team includes Mattei Dogan, Joshua B. Forrest, Seymour Martin Lipset, Ali Kazancigil, John D. Martz, Fred W. Riggs and Giovanni Sartori. This highly original collection of essays, written by some of the world's best-known political scientists elucidates state-of-the-art methodological approaches to comparative politics. Giovanni Sartori and Mattei Dogan examine the applicability and validity of statistical techniques in the field. Seymour Martin Lipset considers the effectiveness of binary comparisons while John D. Martz addresses similar questions in regard of multi-state comparisons in Latin America. John Forrest offers an `asynchronic comparison' of weak contemporary African States and similar in Medieval Europe. Ali Kazancigil looks at Turkey's `high stateness' as deviant, and Mattei Dogan concludes the volume with a consideration of the applicability of Weber's typology of legitimacy.