The Place and Purpose of Grand Theory
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6356541 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Dwight Wilson (University of North Georgia, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 590-600 |
| Publication date | 2018-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Polity (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0032-3497 • E-ISSN: 1744-1684 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1086/699629 |
| OpenAlex | W2891309408 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 14 |
Howard J. Wiarda placed the clash of grand theories at the center of comparative politics. In his view, they drive politics forward, guide policy, and, not least, make political science interesting. Although his contributions were largely to cultural theory, Wiarda resisted claiming exclusivity for cultural explanations, and he explicitly allowed for the possibility that alternative grand theories could hold a piece of the truth; cultural, rational choice, institutional, and geographic explanations need not rule out one another. Given that these grand theories are usually meant to be mutually exclusive, his view is apparently self-contradictory. Nonetheless, it provides a valuable service in preventing theoretical tunnel vision that leaves us unprepared for unexpected events
Epistemology · Grand strategy · Law and economics · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Law · Philosophy · Political Science Research and Education · Political Theory and Influence
Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance
Democracy and Redistribution
Is comparative politics dead? Rethinking the field in the post-Cold War era
Howard J. Wiarda’s Other Life
Corporatism and Development in the Iberic-Latin World
Corporatism Reconsidered
Development in Theory and Practice
How Wiarda Got Human Rights Wrong
Of Paradigms Won and Lost
The Democratic Disconnect
Macrotheories and Microapplications in Comparative Politics
Modernization
Toward a Framework for the Study of Political Change in the Iberic-Latin Tradition
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,75 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2018 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |