Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Comparative Historical Analysis, A Methodological Perspective

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance

  • 295 Accesses

Synonyms

Approximate; Comparable; Equivalent; Provisional

Definitions

Comparative historical analysis is concerned with causal analysis, an emphasis on processes over time, and the use of systematic and contextualized comparison (Mahoney and Rueschemeyer 2003a).

Comparative historical analysis is a field of research characterized by the use of systematic comparison and the analysis of processes over time to explain large-scale outcomes such as revolutions, political regimes, and welfare states. It can be distinguished from other approaches within historical sociology, such as rational choice analysis and interpretive analysis (Mahoney and Rueschemeyer 2003a).

Introduction

Among ways of understanding social issues, one that has best stood the test of time is comparative historical analysis (CHA) (Lange 2013; Mahoney and Rueschemeyer 2003a; Mahoney and Terrie 2008). Although it has been around as long as anyone can remember, it is, as a number of scholars have noted, only in the past 30...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Acemoglu D, Johnson S, Robinson J (2001) Colonial origins of comparative development: an empirical investigation. Am Econ Rev 91(5):1369–1401

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amenta E (2003) What we know about the development of social policy: comparative and historical research in comparative and historical perspective. In: Mahoney J, Rueschemeyer D (eds) Comparative historical analysis in the social sciences. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Barzelay M, Gallego R (2010) The comparative historical analysis of public management policy cycles in France, Italy, and Spain: symposium introduction. Governance 23(2):209–223

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bennett A (2008) Process tracing: a Bayesian perspective. In: Box-Steffensmeier JM, Brady HE, Collier D (eds) The Oxford handbook of political methodology. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Boas TC (2017) Potential mistakes, plausible options: establishing the legacy of hypothesized critical junctures. Qual Multi-Method Res 15(1):18–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Castles FG (ed) (1989) The comparative history of public policy. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Collier D (1998) Comparative historical analysis: where do we stand? APSA-CP Newsl APSA Organ Section Comp Polit 9(2):1–2, 4–5

    Google Scholar 

  • Collier D (2011) Understanding process tracing. PS: Polit Sci Pol 44(4):823–830

    Google Scholar 

  • Collier RB, Collier D (1991) Shaping the political arena: critical junctures, the labor movement, and regime dynamics in latin america. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • George AL, Bennett A (2005) Case studies and theory development in social sciences. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldstone JA (2003) Comparative historical analysis and knowledge accumulation in the study of revolutions. In: Mahoney J, Rueschemeyer D (eds) Comparative historical analysis in the social sciences. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodgson GM (2007) Meanings of methodological individualism. J Econ Methodol 14(2):211–226

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jaramillo G (2020) Comparing historical cases: advances in comparative historical research. In: Guy Peters B, Fontaine G (eds) Handbook of research methods and applications in comparative policy analysis. Cheltenham, Edward Elgar, pp 113–133

    Google Scholar 

  • Lange M (2013) Comparative-historical methods. Los Angeles, California, Sage

    Google Scholar 

  • Lijphart A (1971) Comparative politics and the comparative method. Am Polit Sci Rev 65(3):682–693

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mahoney J (2003) Knowledge accumulation in comparative historical research: the case of democracy and authoritarianism. In Mahoney J, Rueschemeyer D (eds) Comparative historical analysis in the social sciences. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 131–174

    Google Scholar 

  • Mahoney J (2004) Comparative-historical methodology. Annu Rev Sociol 30:81–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mahoney J (2015) Comparative-historical analysis and development studies: methods, findings, future. Sociol Dev 1(1):77–90

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mahoney J, Rueschemeyer D (eds) (2003a) Comparative historical analysis in the social sciences. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Mahoney J, Rueschemeyer D (2003b) Comparative historical analysis: achievements and agendas. In: Mahoney J, Rueschemeyer D (eds) Comparative historical analysis in the social sciences. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Mahoney J, Terrie PL (2008) Comparative-historical analysis in contemporary political science. In: Box-Steffensmeier JM, Brady H, Collier D (eds) Oxford handbook of political methodology. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Offen K (1988) Defining feminism: a comparative historical approach. Signs 14(1):119–157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paterson BL (2010) Within case analysis. In: Mills AJ, Durepos G, Wiebe E (eds) Encyclopedia of case study research. SAGE, Thousand Oaks

    Google Scholar 

  • Paul C, Clarke CP, Grill B, Savitsky T (2013) Between large-N and small-N analyses: historical comparison of thirty insurgency case studies. Hist Methods 46(4): 220–239

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pepinsky TB (2019) The return of the single-country study. Annu Rev Polit Sci 22:187–203

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Risks J, Liu AH (2018) Process-tracing research designs: a practical guide. Polit Sci Polit 51(4):1–5

    Google Scholar 

  • Ritter DP (2014) Comparative historical analysis. In: Porta Dd (ed) Methodological practices in social movement research. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Rueschemeyer D (2003) Can one or a few cases yield theoretical gains? In: Mahoney J, Rueschemeyer D (eds) Comparative Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 203–336

    Google Scholar 

  • Skocpol T (2003) Doubly engage social science: the promise of comparative historical analysis. In: Mahoney J, Rueschemeyer D (eds) Comparative historical analysis in the social sciences. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith PL, Little DR (2018) Small is beautiful: in defense of the small-N design. Psychon Bull Rev 25:2083–2101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thelen K, Mahoney J (2015) Comparative-historical analysis in contemporary political science. In: Mahoney J, Thelen K (eds) Advances in comparative-historical analysis. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Zaks S (2016) The logic of process tracing: contributions, pitfalls and future directions. In: Keman H, Woldendorp JJ (eds) Handbook of research methods and applications in political science. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Frank L. K. Ohemeng

Authors
  1. Frank L. K. Ohemeng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Frank L. K. Ohemeng .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA

    Ali Farazmand

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Ohemeng, F.L.K. (2020). Comparative Historical Analysis, A Methodological Perspective. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_1205-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_1205-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation