Comparative Inquiry Research Articles

Comparative inquiry in politics and political economy: theories and issues

* Preface * Issues * Terminology * Theoretical Directions * L. The Politics of Comparative Inquiry * The American Legacy * Dissent in Academia * Prevalent Beliefs and Values * Ideology and Politics * Ideology Revisited * Politics and Science * Scholarship and the Establishment * 2. Theoretical Paths * Positivist Thought and Its Role in Shaping the Mainstream * Historicist Thought in the Search for an Alternative Paradigm * Competing Paradigms * Marxist and Non-Marxist Political Economy * Origins and Evolution of Political Economy * 3. Institutional Frameworks: State and System * Systems Theories * State Theories * 4. The Social Dimension: Class and Group * Theoretical Foundations * Perspectives on Group * Perspectives on Class * Issues of Class and Group Analysis * 5. The Cultural Dimension: Individual and Collective Preferences * Mainstream Political Culture and Socialization * Alternative Perspectives on Culture * Prospects for Culture Theory * 6. The Economic Dimension: Capitalist and Socialist Development * Conceptualizing Development * The Historical Evolution of Capitalist and Socialist Development * Theoretical Directions * Policy Approaches Toward Development * Whither Imperialism and Development Theory? * 7. The Political Dimension: Representative and Participatory Democracy * Representative Democracy * Participatory Democracy * Issues of Democracy in Capitalism and Socialism * Models of Empowerment and Transformation * 8. The Unending Search for a Paradigm * Glossary * References * Index

Political Development, Revisited

This article reviews four decades of scholarship on political development. It contends that the theoretical ambitions of the early political development literature to frame the comparative inquiry of politics and political change in less developed countries were undermined by intellectual challenges to the paradigms of modernization and structural functionalism and that the literature’s teleological dimension was contradicted by real-world events. Nonetheless, in subsequent decades, the field made great advances in the study of political institutions, democratic stability and breakdown, state structures, civil society, and the uneven character of political development itself. The article argues that amid manifold evidence of plural forms of political development and decay at the century’s end, the field should avoid relapses into neomodernization theory and instead focus on such issues as state reform, democratic governance, political representation and accountability, and the organization of civil societies. Such an expansive and fluid research agenda will enable the field of political development to generate important theoretical advances in comparative politics.

School Counsellor Preparation in Nigeria and the USA

This paper compares and contrasts school counsellor training programmes in two institutions from different cultures: The University of Ilorin, Nigeria and The Pennsylvania State University. While the USA is an industrialised Western nation, Nigeria is a developing African nation. A comparative inquiry of this nature is likely to provide a comprehensive and contemporary view of the national conditions from which guidance and counselling concerns emerge in the two countries. The areas covered include course content, method of training, programme emphasis, and accreditation. The implication of these issues for the development and improvement of counsellor education programmes are discussed.

DAVID WALDNER, State Building and Late Development (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1999). Pp. 256. $49.95 cloth, $18.95 paper.

David Waldner's book is a rigorously argued and impressively sustained account of the relationship between state-building and economic growth in four late-developing countries: South Korea, Syria, Taiwan, and Turkey. By systematically and crisply using a comparative method to bring a unified story to these different histories, Waldner demonstrates in a masterly way the benefits of genuine comparative inquiry; contributes to our understanding of the painful results of economic development in the Middle East; and uses Middle Eastern cases to advance our understanding of the complicated and mediated linkage between state formation and economic development. This ambitious book deserves a wide audience.

Remarques critques à propos de l'enquête internationale sur la litteratie

There is no doubt of the necessity and importance of an international comparative inquiry concerning literacy. The difficulties involved in such an inquiry are also incontestable. In France the seemingly improbable results of the survey led to the French authorities – who had no doubt been insufficiently vigilant during the earlier stages of the survey – refusing to make the results public. These results highlight a number of methodological flaws that beset this vast undertaking, drawing attention to the need for better procedural precautions and a more adequate notion of literacy. This article presents a synthesis of the counter-investigations demanded by the French authorities, which justify their doubts on the IALS methods, and opens up a debate on the conception of literacy that was applied in the tests.

Dreaming and the impossible art of translation.

This essay identifies translation both as an historically core metaphor in Euro-American dream theory and as a contemporary ally for dream teaching and research. It also traces the mutuality of translators' reliance on Freud, Jung, and other dream theorists in their metaphorical expression of the art and craft of translation. The sustained interaction of oneiric and linguistic metaphor-making stems from the fact that virtually all of our knowledge about dreams has been mediated through language and that all dream reporting is itself an act of intersemiotic translation. In an attempt to stimulate further comparative inquiry, the overlapping concerns and often uncanny affinities between language/translation studies and dream/interpretation studies are presented.

Letters, Notes, and Comments

Letter: Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the World's ReligionsCommenting on “Leaping into the Boundless: A Daoist Reading of Comparative Religious Ethics” by Francisca Cho, “Moral Reason, Risk, and Comparative Inquiry” by Robin W. Lovin, “Heuristic Power as the Test of Theory” by Ronald M. Green, and “The Author Replies” by Francisca Cho

Social and Secure? Politics and Culture of the Welfare State: A Comparative Inquiry.

Journal Article Social and Secure? Politics and Culture of the Welfare State: A Comparative Inquiry. Ed. by Hans Bak, Frits van Holthoon, and Hans Krabbendam. (Amsterdam: VU University Press, 1996. x, 403 pp. Paper, $50.00, ISBN 90-5383-458-3.) Get access Mark H. Leff Mark H. Leff University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 85, Issue 2, September 1998, Pages 763–764, https://doi.org/10.2307/2567903 Published: 01 September 1998

The future in comparative politics

This article is based upon a key speech that Professor Robert Bates gave at the 13th Annual Conference of the Association of Chinese Political Studies (ACPS) held in Bethesda, Maryland between October 17–18, 1998. Professor Bates observes that there is a sense of crisis among comparative political scientists and central to their concerns is an apparent loss of diversity. Professor Bates believes that homogenization presents an opportunity for comparatists to redirect their comparative social inquiries. He argues that comparative politics is a field that is based upon method; that the presumed homogenization of politics, globally, and the existence of large-scale collections of data, highlight the utility of returning to large-N, cross-national research; and that the subfields of political economy and development are best positioned to secure rapid advances from their redirection. He also emphasizes that we need to blend cross-national statistical research with in-depth case studies, arguing that the two are not substitutes but rather complements, and should be pursued in tandem. Professor Bates further argues that there is an “over supply” of theory in comparative politics and debates over theory should be based on assessments of the theory’s capacity to account for outcomes. In this sense, questions of theory cannot and should not be separated from questions of method. A good theory, in practice, provides a powerful engine of empirical discovery.

Review: Ethnic Diversity and Public Policy: A Comparative Inquiry by Crawford Young

Review: Ethnic Diversity and Public Policy: A Comparative Inquiry by Crawford Young

<i>Middle Education in the Middle Kingdom: The Chinese Junior High School in Modern Taiwan</i> (review)

552 China Review International: Vol. 5, No. 2, Fall 1998 The text of Chinese Opera: Stories and Images will no doubt disappoint some China scholars for its few academic weaknesses. In that Siu and Lovrick's stated audience is the non-expert, the text should not be judged according to the same standards that more academic texts are. As an Asian theater educator, I am more than willing to overlook the publication's few negative aspects in light of the tremendous potential long-term value of this work in helping to expose people to and educate them about a great performance tradition. The thought that this book might one day occupy the tops of coffee tables around the world is just too delightful. Susan Pertel Jain Connecticut College Susan Pertel Jain is an associate editor of the Asian Theatre Journal, teaches in the Department ofChinese at Connecticut College, and is Program Director ofHua Kun Opera, a Los Angeles-based Chinese opera organization. Douglas C. Smith. Middle Education in the Middle Kingdom: The Chinese Junior High School in Modern Taiwan. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 1997, xi-xiv, 176 pp. Hardcover, $49.95, isbn 0-275-95641-5. For many years, the study of education in Taiwan has been an important field of inquiry that has been neglected by Western scholars, as they have directed their focus to the People's Republic of China. Given the rapid degree ofpolitical, social , and economic change that has occurred on the Mainland, coupled with its regional ascendance as a major power, it is understandable that educational reform in the People's Republic would command global attention. With expanded access to field sites that has allowed for enhanced data collection and regional study, along with increased collaborative research between Chinese and Western scholars. However, the politics of access have contributed to a heightened focus on Mainland education to die detriment of the Taiwan context. This is unfortunate , for the Taiwan case has a great deal to teach us about the relationships between education and economic development, political socialization, and equality 1998 by University ofopportun^ ^n addition, it is quite likely that policymakers onboth sides of the Taiwan Straits watch each other and adapt and borrow from one another. In order to understand clearly the context in which policy changes have occurred in the People's Republic, it is imperative that Taiwan precedents be considered as ofHawai'i Press Reviews 553 significant factors that have influenced Mainland planning and policy directives. Yet the comparative work that would systematically address these issues is lacking . For this reason alone, the publication ofa volume such as Middle Education in the Middle Kingdom, in spite ofits slim size, would seem to hold inherent promise. Unfortunately, the author fails to capitalize on that promise, and his product is profoundly disappointing. Douglas Smitii spent eight weeks in Taiwan conducting thirty-five interviews with education officials during his stay. Middle Education in theMiddle Kingdom is die result ofthis effort, and as such, die autiior unconsciously tells his readership more about the dangers ofconducting superficial comparative inquiry than he does about his immediate subject. Smith's argument is that middle or junior high school education in Taiwan is a metaphor for Confucian education in all of its variants, throughout East Asia. He devotes die first halfof the book to what he calls "Theoretical Dimensions: The Chinese Junior High School in Modern Taiwan ," which is an extremely broad summary ofConfucian principles that is so general and stereotypical in scope that it adds little to our understanding oftraditional Chinese education. The second section of the book, "Operational Framework : The Chinese Junior High School in Modern Taiwan," is only slighdy more focused. Here the author offers his conclusions concerning pedagogy (it remains traditional and teacher centered), political socialization (group conformity is encouraged , as is respect for family), examinations (examination pressure is intense with regard to both entry into elite middle schools and acceptance into elite high schools), and curriculum (it remains highly academic and examination driven). Although die author expresses some personal reservation with regard to die competitive pressures for advancement witiiin the Taiwan educational system, most of his conclusions are laudatory and uncritical. Relying heavily upon secondary sources...

Acupuncture: Ancient Chinese and Modern Western. A Comparative Inquiry

Acupuncture (and traditional Chinese medicine) is based on philosophico-alchemic theories. The yin/yang theory holds that the universe consists of two opposing forces that complement and supplement each other, resonate harmoniously and are in constant balance. This is the earliest beginning of binary theory. Man is considered a miniature of the universe, and yin and yang in the body are maintained in balance for a healthy state. A disturbance of this balance would result in sickness, comparable to Cannon's concept of homeostasis in Western medicine. Qi is the essence or elixir of life, and circulates regularly along the channels (meridians) in the body. Obstruction of the flow of Qi results in illness and pain. Acupuncture is said to restore this flow as well as the balance of yin and yang. Ancient Chinese astronomers associated the appearance of one of the five orbiting planets with prevalence of certain diseases. They formulated and expanded these astronomical observations into five Xing (element) Theory in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases as well as other aspects of philosophy. At one time they attempted to quantify medical management—a rudimentary effort of computerization of medicine. The ancients also noticed seasonal changes in the prevalence of diseases as well as diurnal variations of bodily functions. They formulated Ziwu Liuzhu (Midnight-Noon Ebb-Flow) theory to account for such phenomena, an early form of chronobiology. The various techniques of needling are thought to generate therapeutic effects according to the frequency and intensity of stimulation, possibly exerting the release of neurochemicals and, thus, causing some effect on neuromodulation.

Freud's ‘Tally’ Argument, Placebo Control Treatments, and the Evaluation of Psychotherapy

In this paper it is suggested that Freud's ‘tally argument’ (Grünbaum 1984) is not best interpreted as a risky claim concerning the efficacy of psychoanalytic therapy, but as a risky claim concerning the implications of theoretical psychoanalytic explanations of the efficacy of psychoanalytic therapy. Despite the fact that Freud never empirically established that these implications hold, the ‘tally argument’ does draw attention to a critical distinction that is too often neglected in contemporary empirical studies of psychoanalysis and other forms of psychotherapy: between empirical evaluations of the efficacy of psychotherapy and empirical evaluations of theoretical explanations of the efficacy of psychotherapy, and the different forms of comparative enquiry relevant to each. It is argued that the contemporary neglect of this critical distinction, in conjunction with the common negative conception of placebo control treatments in psychotherapy research, has led to the epistemic impoverishment of experimental studies of the various professional psychotherapies. In consequence, although there is good empirical evidence for the efficacy of psychoanalysis and other forms of professional psychotherapy, there is no good empirical evidence for theoretical psychoanalytic explanations of the efficacy of psychoanalysis, or for traditional theoretical explanations of the efficacy of other forms of professional psychotherapy.

Effects of human population growth on the Fraser and Okanagan River systems, Canada: a comparative inquiry.

The author compares the impact of human population growth on the Fraser and Okanagan river systems in Canada. The effects "on water, fisheries and other aquatic resources of the two basins are explored along with possibilities and suggestions for their sustainable development. The latter, despite some glimmers of hope, will not be tenable without major changes in public attitude, in government policy at all levels, and in other measures which to many may seem impossible."

The Effect of Interviewer's Gender on the Interviewing Process: A Comparative Enquiry

This paper is drawn from a study of the work and family experiences and aspirations of young adult women who were interviewed by either one or the other of the authors in 1992. A comparison can thus be drawn between interviews conducted by a man and those by a woman. This is attempted in a systematic and empirical way. The initial intention was to learn from the literature on gender and the interview to minimise the impact of the interviewer's gender on the data generated. In the first section this is reviewed and we put a case that this intention was achieved. This was, however, only to an extent, as we indicate with material on the revelation of abortion experience to the two interviewers. Whilst there was a similar pattern of response to our direct questions, there was a marked difference in the voluntary addition of further personal experience. The final evidence we deploy comes from re-interviews done in 1994 in which the interviewees were asked about their perception of the significance of the original interviewer's gender. This indicates the importance of interviewees' concepts of gender as well as the intentions of researchers.

The Uses of Tradition: A Comparative Enquiry into the Nature, Uses, and Functions of Oral Poetry in the Balkans, the Baltic, and Africa. Ed. Michael Branch and Celia Hawkesworth. SSEES Occasional Papers, No. 26. London: School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London; Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society, 1994. xii, 299 pp. Index. Figures. Tables. £11.00, Paper.

The Uses of Tradition: A Comparative Enquiry into the Nature, Uses, and Functions of Oral Poetry in the Balkans, the Baltic, and Africa. Ed. Michael Branch and Celia Hawkesworth. SSEES Occasional Papers, No. 26. London: School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London; Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society, 1994. xii, 299 pp. Index. Figures. Tables. £11.00, Paper. - Volume 55 Issue 3

The Uses of Tradition: A Comparative Enquiry into the Nature, Uses and Functions of Oral Poetry in the Balkans, the Baltic, and Africa

The Uses of Tradition: A Comparative Enquiry into the Nature, Uses and Functions of Oral Poetry in the Balkans, the Baltic, and Africa

Where Can Wisdom be Found? The Sage's Language in the Bible and in Ancient Egyptian Literature

In the comparative study of Egyptian and Biblical literature emphasis has been laid on content and ideas, while the formal and terminological aspects have been neglected. The present work deals with the semantics of terminology in Biblical wisdom literature as compared to that of the Egyptians and centers, therefore, on a somewhat abandoned aspect of the comparative research of the Biblical and Egyptian writings. The work has three primary objectives: (a) to draw up a glossary of Egyptian wisdom terms, a task as yet not undertaken elsewhere; (b) to elucidate the semantics of these terms; (c) to clarify the Biblical wisdom terms in relation to their Egyptian parallels. The fresh comparative inquiry into Hebrew and Egyptian wisdom vocabulary sheds light on some general problems intrinsic to Biblical wisdom, e.g.: Does the Hebrew sage (hākām) signify a function or a quality? Did Hebrew wisdom evolve from a secular to a religious stage? What was the Sitz im Leben of Biblical wisdom?

The immaterial presence of women in contemporary Greek theatre

Since the beginning of the 1970s the women’s/feminist theatre has gained a dominant position on the European and the American stage. Women have stormed the postmodern stage either as solo dramatists and artists or as collaborative teams, forging a new female theatre language and training audiences to new ways of theatre reception. The publication of Lizbeth Goodman’s Contemporary Feminist Theatres: To Each Her Own (Routledge, 1993), one in a long series of recent studies on women’s theatre, already heralded an advanced epoch of a polyvocal feminist theatre embracing a multiplicity of female differences along the paradigms of gender, race, sexuality and ethnicity. Within the dynamic spectrum of development and inter-cultural exchange that ensued in the field of women’s theatre the Greek women’s contribution is faceless and anaemic. The situation is both distressing and calling for systematic research, especially since the scanty sociological studies concerning the position of women in contemporary Greece are inadequate in throwing full light on such a complicated problem. In 1992 Savas Patsalidis made the first serious attempt to analyse the foetal state of women’s theatre in Greece in his article ‘Greek Female (Feminist?) Theatre: A Preliminary Approach’, published in the Greek journal Utopia (4, Nov.-Dec. 1992, 105-38). My own interest in the issue in my capacity as a feminist and drama critic springs from my long-standing research in British women’s theatre and my understandable comparative inquiry, as a Greek national, into the causes that might have led to the striking absence of an analogous phenomenon in my native country. I have deliberately used the word immaterial in the title of this paper in order to suggest, on the one hand, the relative lack of a distinct theatre discourse of women as speaking subjects and moving bodies on stage, inscribing female experience and female desire, and, on the other hand, the unimportance, in terms of power, of women theatre practitioners as still very few of them hold key positions in theatre institutions and the theatre industry.

Passion, Commitment, and Common Sense: A Unique Discussion With Insoo Kim Berg and Michael White

This discussion departs from the traditional “interview” in structure and content. The field, like much of society at large, has become fragmented and isolated. Therefore, this discussion was structured in such a way that encouraged a generative conversation in which we could come together and talk about our work differently. This discussion is not an explicit comparative inquiry into the methods of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy and Narrative Therapy. Those readers interested in differences or similarities between an “exception” and a “unique outcome” may risk disappointment. The purpose of the interview was to engage in a critical reflection that would not be methodology focused, but, instead provide the reader with a glimpse of the people themselves and what it is they are trying to accomplish through their work. The purpose was also to encourage discussion between all of us, instead of a linear question-and-answer process. The structure of the discussion was also influenced by a frutuitous event that occurred the night before it was scheduled to happen, when I (Jim) ran into Michael on the streets of Washington, D.C., along with his colleagues Lisa Berndt and Sharon Gollan. Michael invited me to have dinner with them and during the course of dinner I was intrigued with Lisa and Sharon for many reasons. Lisa expressed sensitivity for race and culture that could only belong to a seasoned veteran, and she had a great sense of humour. Sharon, an aboriginal woman who had presented a workshop that day with Michael, spoke with strong conviction through powerful metaphors that were quite moving. Suddenly, it occurred to me that as a white North American male (albeit, well intended) I was going to be doomed to certain blind spots in the discussion. I was convinced that Lisa and Sharon would enrich and round out the discussion with Insoo and Michael tremendously. They agreed to join as coach/participants. Why is a discussion of this sort with Insoo Kim Berg and Michael White important now? Much of the work presently being practiced in our field is derived from problem-solving theory and, thus, the practitioner operates close to the methodology of the mode. This makes it difficult for practitioners to step back and look at themselves in their work. This is not only an issue of knowledge and technique, but an issue of power. By forcing and framing their work into a particular order through technique and method, they reduce their work to a set of norms and procedures which describe how the work is supposed to be done. This excludes many other possibilities for our work with each other and with the people who come to us for help. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the meta-perspective of critical theory, which allows us to step back and critically evaluate ourselves. There are currently many questions in the field about our work and how we do our work that need to be addressed. We hope this discussion can serve as a beginning lor many conversations that could occur between many people about how we do our work and how we address some of these questions. For example: • Is our field fragmented and are the various schools of thought isolated from each other? • What is the relationship between Postmodemism and the field of family therapy? • Do we need to clarify and make explicit our collective principles and ethics? • Do we need to locus more on change beyond the therapy room? This discussion with Insoo Kim Berg and Michael White attempts to breathe life into the process and revisits their passion and commitment to their craft. It attempts to bring them to the foreground and emphasize their wisdom and sense of purpose.