Suchergebnisse

A review essay on the following books: Uit de ketens van de vrijheid. Het debat over de sociale politiek in Belgie 1886-1914 (The Chains of Freedom. The Debate on Social Policy in Belgium 1886-1914) Jo Deferme (2007), Leuven: U Pers Leuven, and In naam van de sociale vooruitgang, de rol van de overheid in het sociaal overleg in Belgie (1944-1981) (In the Name of Social Progress, The Role of Government in Social Dialogue in Belgium [1944-1981]) Gregory Vercauteren (2007), Leuven/Voorburg: Acco.

In Flanders, every political party has its own political foundation or study centre. Although their importance for the party organisation is widely recognised, a systematic and comparative analysis of these study centres is still lacking. This article is the first attempt to address this empirical void. Based on document analysis, interviews and survey material, we analyse the basic characteristics of the study centres of seven Flemish parties, covering all major political families. We compare their size, internal structure and autonomy vis-a-vis the party, explore the advisors' profile and background and discuss the generation and products of advice. We conclude that despite their heterogeneity Flemish study centres share a common but limited functionality, being more of an extension of political parties than classical think tanks. Adapted from the source document.

Systematic Qualitative Comparative Analysis
Systematic Qualitative Comparative Analysis
Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) was introduced in the social sciences by Charles Ragin in 1987. Literature on and applications of QCA show the method as a way to systematically organize, summarize and compare qualitative data to discover and analyze patterns occurring over cases. Although the literature stresses the importance of iterating between theory and data in its procedures, its grounded nature remains relatively underexposed. In this article we illustrate the principles of QCA by means of a qualitative comparative analysis of fourteen Dutch spatial planning projects, thereby also articulating the method's grounded nature.

As a starting point comparative pol'al sci is circumscribed as the field within the discipline of pol'al sci which, in the methodological sphere, focuses on problems of comparison &, as to the substantial side, concentrates on problems of pol'al change, pol'al development, & pol'al modernization. The elaboration is accomplished by posing 3 questions: (1) Does comparative pol'al sci have a method of its own (the comparative method)? (2) Does comparative pol'al sci have a subject matter of its own? (3) If the previous questions are answered in the negative, does comparative pol'al sci refer to a particular perspective as regards pol'al life? It is concluded that comparative pol'al sci, although lacking a method & a subject matter of its own, may be considered a subdiscipline of pol'al sci: standing for a relativistic outlook on pol'al life, it seems to have an important task in the context of pol'al sci. Its main characteristic will remain the search for universal generalizations. B. J. S. Hoetjes (U of Amsterdam, the Netherlands) in a COMMENT, states that a definition of a field of (pol'al) sci should give the characteristics of the substantial problems & concerns within such a field. For a definition of comparative pol as a subfield of pol'al sci this implies the rejection of a purely methodological definition, the more because the comparative method does not seem to offer any distinct approach to the study of pol; one should look for a category of empirical pol'al phenomena to characterize the subfield. On this point Rosenthal is not seen to be very clear: he mentions the pol'al problems of developing areas as 'the' typical object of comparative pol, but the basic concern, according to him, is the widening of the empirical base to the theories, hyp's & generalizations. Since the study of any topic could very well contribute to this purpose, there remains no typical topic to characterize the subfield of comparative pol. At the same time, the widening of the empirical range of pol'al theories by itself can be considered the typical & legitimate concern of the 'empirical pol'al theorist' as a specialist within the field of pol'al sci. It seems useless as well as confusing to double-label this specialist as 'comparative pol'al sci'st.' Modified HA.

This paper focuses on the European Security and Defense Policy and tries to answer the question why the member states have deviating deepening preferences in this field. After discovering the supranational-intergovernmental divide, we will determine its possible causes. The Qualitative Comparative Analysis helps us to distillate the most valuable independent variables and reveals 'institutional culture' and 'balancing' as most important. Finally, we match our findings with the initial theories, used to derive the causal variables, and verify their explanatory power. Adapted from the source document.

An examination of G. A. Almond's approach in the field of comparative res on pol'al systems, contained in his Introduction to THE POLITICS OF DEVELOPING AREAS, Princeton, NJ: 1960. His functional approach compares Western & nonWestern systems in terms of a common conceptual framework. However, there are theoretical & practical objections to Almond's work. There is, for instance, no clear theoretical reason why he selects particular functions rather than others; & when applied to existing systems, it becomes very difficult to distinguish pol'al soc'ization from recruitment. The functions presented in the Introduction are not made operational, & this difficulty must be solved before Almond's scheme may become a useful tool in comparative res. IPSA.

Op 16 en 17 september 2003 werd respectievelijk in Louvain-la-Neuve en Leuven de oprichtingsconferentie gehouden van het samenwerkingsverband COMPASSS, het genootschap voor Comparative methods for the advancement of systematic cross-case analysis and small-n studies (www.compasss.org). Hierin participeren voornamelijk Belgische universitaire afdelingen met enkele buitenlandse connecties: Daishiro Nomiya uit Tokyo, Paul Pennings van de VU (politicologie) en bovenal de founding father van de Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) Charles Ragin (University of Arizona). Inhoudelijk zijn voornamelijk politicologen vertegenwoordigd, hetgeen begrijpelijk is omdat voor vergelijkende politicologische studies het aantal te bestuderen eenheden meestal op de vingers van een of twee handen te tellen is en correlatieanalyses dan niet zo zinvol zijn. De relevantie is veel breder.

The most different similar outcome/most similar different outcome (MDSO/MSDO) technique. A tool for the selection of causally relevant conditions in a database with a limited number of cases
The most different similar outcome/most similar different outcome (MDSO/MSDO) technique. A tool for the selection of causally relevant conditions in a database with a limited number of cases
In this contribution we discuss the potential of the most different similar outcome/most similar different outcome technique. The technique enables a researcher to cope with the degrees of freedom problem (large number of conditions/small number of cases). Through a systematic comparison of pairs of cases, the method identifies the conditions of likely most explanatory relevance to understand differences and similarities in outcome. The actual causal power of the conditions and the underlying causal mechanisms can be subsequently explored with other qualitative methods. The technique relies on the same causal assumptions as other configurational comparative methods, such as qualitative comparative analysis.

The concept "level of SE development" plays an important role in the study of comparative politics, but little attention has been paid to its operationalization & measurement accuracy. The use of the concept in the cross-national literature is reviewed, & an attempt is made to provide a meaningful definition through the construction of an index via confirmative factor analysis of select indicators. An evaluation of the index's validity & utility in cross-national research is provided. 2 Tables, 1 Figure, 2 Appendixes, 26 References. Modified HA

In contrast to comparative economic studies concentrating on gross national & per capita income, a new approach is presented stressing per capita consumption. Personal expenditures are classified as primary (food, clothing, & shelter), secondary (education, transportation), & luxury. Data from Brazil, El Salvador, the Ivory Coast, Italy, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Portugal, Sierra Leone, South Korea, Tanzania, & the US are used to derive an index of consumption inequality, the validity of which is established by a cross-sectional design. 3 Tables, 3 Figures, 2 Appendixes, 22 References. M. Meeks