(8.3) MIll's Methods

Question 1

What are Mill’s 3 comparative methods?

Answer 1

• Method of agreement
• Method of difference
• Method of concomitant variation

Question 2

3

Describe the method of agreement

Answer 2

• most different system design
• Select cases sharing same outcome (DV)
• Factors common to all cases = likely causes (only 2 cases needed)

Question 3

1

What conditions does the method of agreement give?

Answer 3

• Necessary conditions

Question 4

2

Descibe the method of agreement for facism

Answer 4

• Cases: Germany + Japan — very different culturally/geographically, so those factors can’t be cause
• Both share: weak centre + bourgeoisie, strong nobility, commercial agri with coercion

Question 5

Describe necessary conditions for fascism (Moore)

Answer 5

• Strong nobility facing weak centre + bourgeoisie
• Commercial agri with coerced peasantry

Question 6

3

Describe necessary conditions for communism (Moore)

Answer 6

• Strong centre facing weak nobility + bourgeoisie
• Traditional agri with coerced peasantry
• External shock weakens centre → no counter-power against peasant revolts

Question 7

Describe the method of difference

Answer 7

• most similar system design
• Select similar cases with different outcomes; factors NOT common to cases = cause
• Gives sufficient conditions — presence of those factors implies phenomenon occurs

Question 8

Describe method of difference example: democracy

Answer 8

• France, Germany, Russia
• Key difference: France has intermediate centre/nobility/bourgeoisie + fully commercial agri

Question 9

What conditions does the method of difference give?

Answer 9

• Sufficient

Question 10

Describe Moore’s sufficient conditions for democracy

Answer 10

• substantial bourgeoisie
• almost fully commercial agri

Question 11

Describe method of concomitant variation

Answer 11

• Outcome varies when another factor varies in a particular way — akin to predictive analysis
• Looks at magnitude of dependent + independent variable
• if they co-vary, that factor is the main IV

Question 12

1

Describe method of concomitant variation example for democracy (Moore)

Answer 12

• Larger bourgeoisie size = higher VDem score

Question 13

What are the pros of the Mill comparative method?

Answer 13

• Ideal to study rare + complex events (e.g. revolutions)
• Concreteness — you know what you analyse
• Rich understanding of few cases + narrows down possible causes

Question 14

3

What are the cons of the Mill comparative method?

Answer 14

• Selection on dependent variable (method of agreement) → misattributing cause
• Assumes deterministic causation (could just be correlation)
• Sensitive to inclusion of additional cases

Question 15

What are the 2 solutions to comparative method issues?

Answer 15

• Process tracing (depth)
• QCA (breadth)