Advertising and Election Campaigns in the United States
in Political Science
Published online November 2011.
Article. Subjects: politics; comparative politics; political institutions; political methodology; political theory. 9909 words.
Americans invest a great deal in choosing political leaders. In each election cycle, campaigns for elective office in the United States combine to raise and spend billions of dollars,...
Agent‐Based Modeling
in The Oxford Handbook of Political Methodology
August 2008; published online September 2009.
Article. Subjects: politics; political methodology; comparative politics. 11477 words.
This article provides a discussion on agent-based modeling. Two examples that show the ability of computational methods to extend game-theoretic results are presented. It then discusses modeling...
Bayesian Analysis
in The Oxford Handbook of Political Methodology
August 2008; published online September 2009.
Article. Subjects: politics; political methodology; comparative politics. 6747 words.
This article surveys modern Bayesian methods of estimating statistical models. It first provides an introduction to the Bayesian approach for statistical inference, contrasting it with more...
Bicameralism in Stable Democracies
in Political Science
Published online November 2011.
Article. Subjects: politics; comparative politics; political institutions; political methodology; political theory. 7295 words.
Bicameralism refers to legislative systems that include two chambers. In presidential systems, both chambers are typically elected directly. In parliamentary systems, typically the first...
Case Selection for Case‐Study Analysis: Qualitative and Quantitative Techniques
in The Oxford Handbook of Political Methodology
August 2008; published online September 2009.
Article. Subjects: politics; comparative politics; political methodology. 20050 words.
This article presents some guidance by cataloging nine different techniques for case selection: typical, diverse, extreme, deviant, influential, crucial, pathway, most similar, and most different. It...
Case‐Oriented Configura‐Tional Research: Qualitative Comparative Analysis (Qca), Fuzzy Sets, and Related Techniques
in The Oxford Handbook of Political Methodology
August 2008; published online September 2009.
Article. Subjects: politics; political methodology; comparative politics. 6837 words.
This article investigates the tradition of case-oriented configurational research, focusing specifically on qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) as a tool for causal inference. It first presents...
Causation and Explanation in Social Science
in The Oxford Handbook of Political Methodology
August 2008; published online September 2009.
Article. Subjects: politics; political methodology; comparative politics. 26905 words.
This article provides an overview of causal thinking by characterizing four approaches to causal inference. It also describes the INUS model. It specifically presents a user-friendly synopsis of...
China's One-Child Policy
in Political Science
Published online November 2011.
Article. Subjects: politics; comparative politics; political institutions; political methodology; political theory. 5911 words.
In 1979 China’s “one-child-per-couple” policy, or one-child policy, was launched. The policy was part of a multifaceted reform program pursued by the new regime under Deng Xiaoping, and...
China-Taiwan Relations
in Political Science
Published online November 2011.
Article. Subjects: politics; comparative politics; political institutions; political methodology; political theory. 4540 words.
The complex relationship between the Republic of China (ROC) on the island of Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on the mainland is rooted in the Chinese civil war of...
Civil War in Sub-Saharan Africa
in Political Science
Published online November 2011.
Article. Subjects: politics; comparative politics; political institutions; political methodology; political theory. 7653 words.
The study of African civil wars has boomed since 2000 as scholars have recognized the predominance of internal wars over interstate wars in the post-Cold War context. The collapse of the...