Inside Countries: Subnational Research in Comparative Politics

Cambridge University Press, 5/31/2019
EAN 9781108721707, ISBN10: 1108721702

Paperback, 388 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm
Language: English

Although comparative politics is conventionally seen as the study of politics across countries, the field has a longstanding and increasingly prominent tradition in national contexts; focusing on subnational units, institutions, actors and processes. This book offers the first comprehensive assessment of the substantive, theoretical, and methodological contributions. With empirical chapters from across the contemporary Global South, including India, Mexico, and China, as well as Russia, the contributors show how subnational research provides useful insights about substantive themes in political science, from regimes and representation, to states and security, to social and economic development. In addition to methodological chapters with specific guidance about best practices for doing subnational research, this volume also proposes a set of strategies for subnational research, assesses their strengths and weaknesses, and offers illustrative empirical applications.

Introduction
1. Subnational research in comparative politics
substantive, theoretical and methodological contributions Agustina Giraudy, Eduardo Moncada and Richard Snyder
Part I. Issues of Method and Research Design
2. Politics in space
methodological considerations for taking space seriously in subnational research Imke Harbers and Matthew C. Ingram
3. Units of analysis in subnational research Hillel Soifer
Part II. Regimes and Representation
4. Politics in the provinces
subnational regimes in Russia, 1992–2005 Gavril Bilev
5. Multi-level causation in gender policy
abortion and violence against women laws in the Mexican states Caroline Beer
Part III. States and Security
6. Multi-level Partisan conflict and drug violence in Mexico
when do criminal organizations attack subnational elected officials? Guillermo Trejo and Sandra Ley
7. Subnational units, the locus of choice, and concept formation
conceptualizing civilian behavior in contexts of Civil War Ana Arjona
Part IV. Social and Economic Development
8. Subnationalism and social development
the subnational welfare state in India Prerna Singh
9. Indigenous welfare, tribal homelands, and the impact of civil society organizations
a subnational analysis of federal India Sunila S. Kale and Nimah Mazaheri
10. Local states of play
land and urban politics in reform era China Meg Rithmire
Conclusion
11. Empirical and theoretical frontiers of subnational research in comparative politics Agustina Giraudy, Eduardo Moncada and Richard Snyder.