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Conceptual 'Stretching' Revisited: Adapting Categories in Comparative Analysis
David Collier,James E. Mahon +1 more
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In this paper, the authors examine the challenge posed by two types of non-classical categories: family resemblances and radial categories, and discuss solutions to these problems, using examples of how scholars have adapted their categories in comparative research on democracy and authoritarianism.Abstract:
When scholars extend their models and hypotheses to encompass additional cases, they commonly need to adapt their analytic categories to fit the new contexts. Giovanni Sartori's work on conceptual "traveling" and conceptual "stretching" provides helpful guidance in addressing this fundamental task of comparative analysis. Yet Sartori's framework draws upon what may be called classical categorization, which views the relation among categories in terms of a taxonomic hierarchy, with each category having clear boundaries and defining properties shared by all members. We examine the challenge to this framework presented by two types of nonclassical categories: family resemblances and radial categories. With such categories, the overly strict application of a classical framework can lead to abandoning to category prematurely or to modifying it inappropriately. We discuss solutions to these problems, using examples of how scholars have adapted their categories in comparative research on democracy and authoritarianism.read more
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Ethnic and Cultural Diversity by Country
TL;DR: The authors presented a list of 822 ethnic groups in 160 countries that made up at least 1 percent of the country population in the early 1990s, and compared a measure of ethnic fractionalization based on this list with the most commonly used measure.
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The Political Economy of the Resource Curse
TL;DR: This paper reviewed a wide range of recent attempts in both economics and political science to explain the "resource curse" and found that much has been learned about the economic problems of resource exporters but less is known about their political problems.
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Democracy with Adjectives: Conceptual Innovation in Comparative Research
David Collier,Steven Levitsky +1 more
TL;DR: The authors explored the strengths and weaknesses of alternative strategies of conceptual innovation that have emerged: descending and climbing Sartori's ladder of generality, generating diminished" subtypes of democracy, precising the definition of democracy by adding defining attributes, and shifting the overarching concept with which democracy is associated.
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Measurement Validity: A Shared Standard for Qualitative and Quantitative Research
Robert Adcock,David Collier +1 more
TL;DR: The authors discuss the contextual specificity of measurement claims, explore a variety of measurement strategies that seek to combine generality and validity by devoting greater attention to context, and address the proliferation of terms for alternative measurement validation procedures and offer an account of the three main types of validation most relevant to political scientists.
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Interpretation and Method : Empirical Research Methods and the Interpretive Turn
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors demonstrate the relevance, rigor, and creativity of interpretive research methodologies for the social and human sciences, and discuss how research topics, evidence, and methods intertwine to produce knowledge.
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Book
The Interpretation of Cultures
Richard Fenn,Clifford Geertz +1 more
TL;DR: The INTERPRETATION OF CULTURES CLIFFORD GEERTZ Books files are available at the online library of the University of Southern California as mentioned in this paper, where they can be used to find any kind of Books for reading.
Book
The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century
TL;DR: The third wave of democratization in the late 1970s and early 1990s as mentioned in this paper is the most important political trend in the last half of the 20th century, according to the authors.
Journal ArticleDOI
Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal about the Mind
Journal ArticleDOI
Capitalism, socialism and democracy
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the conflict between capitalism and socialism is not necessarily in competition or conflict with each other, at least not conceptually (whether they could in practice coexist with one another is a different and empirical question).