How to Map Arguments in Political Science

207 Pages·2007·1.02 MB·English

by  Parsons, Craig.

How to Map Arguments in Political Science
This page intentionally left blank
How to Map Arguments
in Political Science
Craig Parsons
1
3
GreatClarendonStreet,Oxfordox26DP
OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford.
ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship,
andeducationbypublishingworldwidein
Oxford NewYork
Auckland CapeTown DaresSalaam HongKong Karachi
KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Nairobi
NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto
Withofficesin
Argentina Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece
Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore
SouthKorea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam
OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress
intheUKandincertainothercountries
PublishedintheUnitedStates
byOxfordUniversityPressInc.,NewYork
©CraigParsons2007
Themoralrightsoftheauthorshavebeenasserted
DatabaserightOxfordUniversityPress(maker)
Firstpublished2007
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,
storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,
withoutthepriorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress,
orasexpresslypermittedbylaw,orundertermsagreedwiththeappropriate
reprographicsrightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproduction
outsidethescopeoftheaboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment,
OxfordUniversityPress,attheaddressabove
Youmustnotcirculatethisbookinanyotherbindingorcover
andyoumustimposethesameconditiononanyacquirer
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
Dataavailable
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Dataavailable
TypesetbySPIPublisherServices,Pondicherry,India
PrintedinGreatBritain
onacid-freepaperby
BiddlesLtd.,King’sLynn,Norfolk
ISBN0-19-928667-1 978-0-19-928667-6
ISBN0-19-928668-X(Pbk) 978-0-19-928668-3(Pbk)
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
To mystudents
Acknowledgements
MydoctoralstudentsatSyracuseUniversityandtheUniversityofOregon
provided the direct inspiration for this project. Their input and encour-
agement led me to see that lecture notes from my field seminar in com-
parativepoliticsmightbecomeabook—andthatunlikemostoftheother
books I am likely to write, this one might address some fairly widely-
perceived needs in our discipline. Later the students in my seminar in
qualitativemethodshelpedmebroadenandsharpentheframework.I’m
extremely grateful to all of them for pushing me to think aloud about
theseissues.
As the book came together I benefited enormously from comments
frommanycolleagues,includingChrisAnsell,MarkBlyth,JimCaporaso,
Peter Hall, Marc Morjé Howard, Nicolas Jabko, Peter Katzenstein, Rogan
Kersh,NedLebow,JonMercer,RonaldMitchell,BrianRathbun,Alexander
Wendt, and Daniel Ziblatt. The most critical comments (in both senses
of ‘critical’) came from the same person who was most important in
improving my first book, A Certain Idea of Europe: Andrew Moravcsik.
Muchlikewiththatearliervolume,Andyprovidedawake-upcallonthis
projectthatmadeitimmeasurablystrongerinthelaterevisions.Hemay
still not find the results persuasive, but I must thank him once again for
forcingmetobemorecareful,comprehensive,andclear.
Icouldnothavefinishedthebookasquicklyoraswellwithoutgener-
ousleavefromSyracuse,theresearchtimeaffordedbythequartersystem
at Oregon, and the early faith of my OUP editor, Dominic Byatt. And I
could do very little at all without the love and support of my wife Kari,
andthejoythatTorandMargauxbringtomylife.
CraigParsons
Eugene,Oregon
January2007
Contents
PartI. Introduction
Introduction 3
1. BoundariesandDivisionsinExplanationofAction 21
PartII. Logics
2. StructuralExplanation 49
3. InstitutionalExplanation 66
4. IdeationalExplanation 94
5. PsychologicalExplanation 133
Conclusion 163
References 174
Index 194
vii
This page intentionally left blank
Part I
Introduction