Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences - Alexander L. George [2]
—Marc Trachtenberg, Professor of Political Science, University of California at Los Angeles
“Andy Bennett and Alex George have written an immensely helpful practical guide to the case method. It offers sharp insight on scientific inference and very useful how-to guidance on doing case studies. Graduate students in social science: don’t leave home without it!”
—Stephen Van Evera, Professor of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
“The history of social science shows that well-designed case studies can be both a fertile source of new theories and a powerful tool for testing them. Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences raises our understanding of case study methodology to a new level of rigor and sophistication. George and Bennett provide a careful analysis of the virtues and pitfalls of comparative case study research and offer valuable advice for any scholar engaged in qualitative research. The more widely this book is read, the better future social science will be.”
—Stephen M. Walt, Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
The BCSIA Studies in International Security book series is edited at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and published by The MIT Press. The series publishes books on contemporary issues in international security policy, as well as their conceptual and historical foundations. Topics of particular interest to the series include the spread of weapons of mass destruction, internal conflict, the international effects of democracy and democratization, and U.S. defense policy.
A complete list of BCSIA Studies appears at the back of this volume.
Copyright © 2005 by the Belfer Center for Science and
International Affairs
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Harvard University
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
George, Alexander L.
Case studies and theory development in the social sciences / Alexander L. George and
Andrew Bennett.
p. cm.—(BCSIA studies in international security)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-262-07257-2 (alk. paper)—ISBN 0-262-57222-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
I. Social sciences—Methodology. 2. Social sciences—Case studies. I. Bennett, Andrew. II. Title. III. Series.
H61.G46 2005 300.72.2—dc22 2004064985
Printed in the United States of America
For Gabriel Almond,
A dear friend and esteemed colleague whose support and
encouragement made a vast difference.
—ALG
and
For Sophie Ruina Bennett,
In hopes of an equally long and well-lived life.
—AB
Preface
An extended methodological dialogue is bringing the comparative advantages of case study methods for theory development into sharper focus. Our own personal dialogue began with intermittent conversations in the 1990s on our independent work on case study methods. We both felt that the time was ripe to draw on the lessons learned from the widespread use of sophisticated case study methods developed in recent decades. These include Alexander George’s method of “structured, focused comparison of cases,” which outlines process-tracing and other within-case modes of analysis as key complements or alternatives to controlled comparison of cases, Arend Lijphart and Harry Eckstein’s extremely useful elaborations of different theory-building kinds of case studies, and Charles Ragin’s analysis of interactions