Book Review: Dietmar Braun and Martino Maggetti (eds), Comparative Politics: Theoretical and Methodological Challenges
| Published date | 01 November 2017 |
| Author | Yazmin Morlet Corti |
| Date | 01 November 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1478929917716092 |
| Subject Matter | Book ReviewsComparative Politics |
645
Chapters 6 and 7 offer an account of the trade
suggestions that would contribute to the field.
politics and campaign contributions in three
According to Braun and Maggetti, the four
developing democracies: Brazil as a particularis-
main obstacles to overcome when undertaking
tic (candidate-centred) regime and India and
comparative research are as follows: (1) glo-
South Africa as party-centred systems. In addi-
balisation, (2) the methodological dimensions
tion to the well-selected cases in these chapters, a
of the studies, (3) dealing with empirical data
further distinct advantage they have is the back-
and (4) challenges in using discourses as an
ground provided of these countries’ economies
explanatory tool. Four of the substantive chap-
and history of trade politics which help the reader
ters tackle these issues, and there is also an
to understand the author’s arguments better.
Introduction and a Conclusion.
Scholars, practitioners and experts who are
In chapter 2, ‘The problem of interdepend-
interested in plausible explanations of the behav-
ence’, Detlef Jahn and Sebastian Stephan tackle
iour of developing countries in the issue area of
the methodological consequences of diffusion
multilateral trade negotiations will find this
processes – referred to as ‘Galton’s problem’ –
book’s clear and well-developed analysis helpful.
in order to take globalisation into account. They
A further distinct advantage of the book is that the
claim that this creates a gap with high interde-
mathematical proofs of its theoretical chapters
pendency and is a problem which, to them, has
are presented in an appendix, which makes the
been largely ignored. In the next chapter, Daniel
content accessible to a broader category of read-
Kübler addresses globalisation through Marks
ers interested in International Political Economy
and Hooghe’s multilevel policy-making theory
but lacking the necessary mathematical back-
and how...
To continue reading
Request your trial