Both qualitative and quantitative research routinely fall short, producing misleading causal inferences. Because these weaknesses are in part different, we are convinced that multi-method strategies are productive. Each approach can provide additional leverage that helps address shortcomings of...

In An Economic Theory of Democracy, Anthony Downs made two widely discussed predictions about political outcomes in a democracy: first, that where the principle of one person, one vote obtains, redistributive economic policies are likely to ensue; and second, that rational, vote-maximizing...

Process tracing is a fundamental method of qualitative analysis. While it is often invoked by scholars as they examine qualitative data, too frequently this tool is neither adequately understood nor rigorously applied. This deficit motivates the present article, which offers a new framework for...

Cross-national research focused on corporative patterns of state-labor relations can be guided by the questions 'who does what, to whom, and how?' With reference to who, the actors launching corporative arrangements must be carefully identified. Regarding what and to whom, attention must focus...

The concept of bureaucratic authoritarianism arose from the study of major episodes of authoritarianism in South America between the 1960s and the 1980s. Typified by military rule and a bureaucratic, technocratic approach to policy-making, this type of authoritarianism was generally accompanied...

The rise of a new wave of authoritarian regimes in the economically more advanced countries of Latin America has stimulated new debate on the relationship between socioeconomic development and political change. This article builds on the perspective gained since the publication of Guillermo...

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...

The article assesses the use of strategic choice models in the study of Latin American politics. These models explore how given actors pursue goals by shaping the context in which other actors make choices. The discussion centers on Hirschman’s analysis of “reform-mongering,”...

Typologies are a well-established analytic tool in the social sciences. Working with typologies contributes decisively to forming concepts, exploring dimensionality, establishing measurement categories, and grouping cases. Yet some critics – basing their arguments on what they believe to be...

Analysts who developed the set-theoretic comparative method (STCM) have formulated admirable goals for researchers who work in the qualitative and multi-method tradition. This method includes above all Charles Ragin’s innovative approach of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). However, the...