Doing Comparative Politics: An Introduction to Approaches and Issues, 2nd Edition
Timothy C. Lim | | ISBN: 978-1-58826-744-3
$27.50 |
| 2010/369 pages
|
DESCRIPTION
This systematic, user friendly, and refreshingly unusual introduction to comparative politics is designed to teach students how to think comparatively and theoretically about the world they live in.
The second edition retains the core features of the first, coherently integrating comparative method, theory, and issues, but provides updated material and additional cases throughout. The text now also includes study questions for each chapter.
The book is organized around a set of critical questions—why are poor countries poor? why is East Asia relatively rich? what makes a democracy? what makes a terrorist? what makes a social movement?—each the topic of a full chapter. These issue chapters are based on the solid methodological and theoretical foundation laid out in the first part of the book. Graphics and definition boxes enhance the text.
Doing Comparative Politics will stimulate your students to critically engage with both the content and the methods of the field.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Timothy C. Lim is professor of political science at California State University, Los Angeles.
CONTENTS
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Introduction: What Is Comparative Politics?
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DOING COMPARATIVE POLITICS.
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Comparing to Learn, Learning to Compare: A Primer on Comparative Methods.
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Thinking Theoretically in Comparative Politics.
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THE QUESTIONS.
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Why Are Poor Countries Poor? Explaining Economic Underdevelopment.
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Why Is East Asia Rich?: Explaining Capitalist Growth and Industrialization in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and China.
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What Makes a Democracy? Explaining the Breakdown of Authoritarian Rule.
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What Makes a Terrorist? Explaining "Violent Substate Activism."
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What Makes a Social Movement? Explaining the Rise and Success of Collective Mobilization.
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THE FUTURE OF COMPARATIVE POLITICS.
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Globalization and the Study of Comparative Politics.
Praise for the 1st edition:
"Superbly demonstrates how comparativists use theory to grapple with important questions…. Undergraduate and graduate students alike will find this engaging and well-structured text useful, not only for understanding some of the core debates within the field, but also for wrapping their arms around the seminal scholarship in comparative politics. Most important, Lim makes abstract concepts accessible in ways that are neither patronizing nor trivial."—Laura Luehrmann, Wright State University
"Unlike most other introductory texts in comparative politics that focus on country cases, Lim’s valuable book gives students the skills to become critical thinkers and to actually DO comparative politics themselves."—Claudio Holzner, University of Utah