R. Lebow & M. Lichbach 
Theory and Evidence in Comparative Politics and International Relations 

This book explores the epistemology and the methodology of political knowledge and social inquiry: what can we know, and how do we know? Contributing authors offer answers, addressing the purpose and methods of research and analyzing concepts, including the relationship of theory and evidence and the importance of medicine to social science.

Table of Content

Introduction What Can We Know? How Do We Know?; R.N.Lebow Foundational Claims Evidence, Inference, and Truth as Problems of Theory Building in the Social Sciences; F.V.Kratochwil The Limits of Interpreting Evidence; T.Hopf The Product of Inquiry Beyond Logical Positivism: Reframing King, Keohane, and Verba; B.Pollins Methodological Pluralism and the Limits of Naturalism in the Study of Politics; F.Chernoff The Purpose and Methods of Research Transforming Inferences into Explanations: Lessons from the Study of Mass Extinctions; D.A.Waldner Theory, Evidence, and Politics in the Evolution of International Relations Research Programs; J.S. Levy Peace of Imperial Method?: Skeptical Inquiries into Ambiguous Evidence for the ‘Democratic Peace’; A.Lawrence New Directions Social Science as Case-Based Diagnostics; S.Bernstein , R.N.Lebow , J.Gross Stein & S.Weber Theory and Evidence; M.I.Lichbach

About the author

RICHARD NED LEBOW is James O. Freedman Presidential Professor of Government, Dartmouth College, USA.

MARK IRVING LICHBACH is Professor and Chair of Government and Politics, University of Maryland, USA.