Comparative Politics: Theory and Methods

Peters argues that comparison is essential for developing generalizations about politics and government because social scientists cannot conduct controlled experiments on political systems. The book examines the fundamental issues involved in comparing political systems and discusses how the methods and results of comparative politics can be improved. A review essay notes that one of Peters's main concerns is clarifying, for the serious researcher, that there are no easy solutions—most comparative research entails a succession of trade-offs and difficult choices.

According to a review essay on the book, Peters's ideal research design is to maximize experimental variance, minimize error variance, and control extraneous variance. This formulation draws on established principles of research design and applies them to the specific challenges of comparative politics, where researchers must work with naturally occurring variation rather than controlled manipulation. The goal is to make valid causal inferences despite the inability to randomize cases or isolate variables as one would in a laboratory experiment.

Peters devotes a chapter to the number-of-cases problem, examining how the count of cases affects the kinds of inferences researchers can draw. The book's contents include chapters on 'The Number of Cases,' 'Measurement and Bias,' and 'The Case Study,' reflecting Peters's concern with the logically prior questions of research design. A review essay observes that Peters is successful in describing the beginnings of comparative politics and emphasizes that the choice of cases involves trade-offs rather than a single correct answer.

The book's table of contents includes: Preface; The Importance of Comparison; The Logic of Comparison; The Number of Cases; Measurement and Bias; The Role of Theory; The Case Study; Building on Case Analysis; Events Data and Change Over Time; Statistical Analysis; and The Future of Comparative Politics. This structure moves from foundational questions of why and how to compare, through specific methodological challenges, to an assessment of where the field is heading.

The book was published in 1998 by Macmillan in the UK (Palgrave) and New York University Press in the US. A review in the journal Choice described it as 'instructive and useful.' A review essay in a scholarly journal noted that the book can be used either as a textbook or as an opinion piece in discussions of the content of comparative politics. It has remained a standard methodological reference in the field.

A common misconception is that comparative research requires a single, unified approach or that the choice of method is merely technical. Peters emphasizes that most comparative research entails a succession of trade-offs and difficult choices, not easy solutions. The book examines a wide range of approaches to comparative research, presenting an array of case examples to illustrate arguments, and treats methodological pluralism as appropriate for a diverse discipline. Peters does not prescribe one method but equips researchers to make informed choices among competing options.