Comparative Area Studies

"This book offers a bold, original, and necessary statement about the dual promise of comparative area studies research: new theoretical insights of broad utility and novel understandings of particular cases from multiple world regions."-James Mahoney, Northwestern University "This volume stakes out a new and provocative position in the old debate between social science and area studies. The contributions are clear-eyed about the challenges of this style of work, but make a compelling case that it belongs in the comparativist's toolkit." - Thomas Pepinsky, Cornell University "Comparative Area Studies poses challenges that future generations of comparative research will need to confront. Researchers in the field may take issue with the balance that various authors strike between contextualization and theory, or even with whether it is possible for an integrated methodological framework to reconcile these often contradictory concerns. But anyone who grapples with the fundamental issues that the contributors address, and everyone who seeks a guide for how to design comparative research, will benefit from a close reading of this instructive collection." - Jefferey M. Sellers, University of Southern California