Doing Comparative Politics: An Introduction to Approaches and Issues, 3rd ed. 3rd edition

I've used all three editions of this textbook in university-level teaching. It's an excellent textbook. Comparative politics is about 'applied' theory and research design, not about memorizing characteristics of 'case studies' (case studies of what?). The best part about the book is that Lim boils down political science theories into three basic categories or frameworks (rationality, structural theory, and cultural theory), then applies them to some basic questions of the field: why poverty and 'underdevelopment,' why development, why democratization, why terrorism & genocide, and why social movements. Getting students to ask 'Why?' questions about political events and processes is a huge step! Getting them to explore the answers (hypotheses and theories) that social scientists have offered over the years, boiled down into the three basic categories of theory is the crucial next step -- and that really forms the bulk of the book. From this, students can ask their own questions, then hypothesize around the basic categories and/or understand better those who are hypothesizing and then researching those hypotheses -- well, that's the point, right? The only downside is that institutionalism ends up subsumed into the rationality category (institutional design), but then uncomfortably - for many students - shows up in the structural theory category (historical-institutionalism and opportunity structure arguments); I would argue that it needs its own category. I'm hoping for a 4th edition so I can keep using this text well into the next decade.

Too wordy. Not being written for the internet age.