Analytic Narratives, Case Studies, and Development

Abstract

Analytic narratives (Bates et al 1998, 2000; Levi 2002, 2004) involve selecting a problem or puzzle, then building a model to explicate the logic of an explanation for the puzzle or problem, often in the context of a unique case. The method involves several steps. First, the use of narrative to elucidate the principal players, their preferences, the key decision points and possible choices, and the rules of game, all in a textured and sequenced account. Second, building a model of the sequence of interaction, including predicted outcomes. This criterion generally involves an explicit game and hence an equilibrium. Third, the evaluation of the model through comparative statics and the testable implications the model generates. The analytic narrative approach is most useful to scholars who seek to evaluate the strength of parsimonious causal mechanisms in the context of a specific and often unique case. The requirement of explicit formal theorizing (or at least theory that could be formalized) compels scholars to make causal statements and to identify a small number of variables as central to understanding the case.