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The DOI matches its Crossref record; 34 of the 35 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Democracy with Adjectives: Conceptual Innovation in Comparative Research

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Collier, David, Levitsky, Steven·1997·World Politics
DOI 10.1353/wp.1997.0009
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Abstract

The recent trend toward democratization in countries across the globe has challenged scholars to pursue two potentially contradictory goals. On the one hand, they seek to increase analytic differentiation in order to capture the diverse forms of democracy that have emerged. On the other hand, they are concerned with conceptual validity. Specifically, they seek to avoid the problem of conceptual stretching that arises when the concept of democracy is applied to cases for which, by relevant scholarly standards, it is not appropriate. This article argues that the pursuit of these two goals has led to a proliferation of conceptual innovations, including numerous subtypes of democracy—that is to say, democracy “with adjectives.” The article explores the strengths and weaknesses of alternative strategies of conceptual innovation that have emerged: descending and climbing Sartori's ladder of generality, generating “diminished” subtypes of democracy, “precising” the definition of democracy by adding defining attributes, and shifting the overarching concept with which democracy is associated. The goal of the analysis is to make more comprehensible the complex structure of these strategies, as well as to explore trade-offs among the strategies. Even when scholars proceed intuitively, rather than self-consciously, they tend to operate within this structure. Yet it is far more desirable for them to do so selfconsciously, with a full awareness of these trade-offs.

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Show all 35 references

Research works printed but not linked: 39

  1. Linz, 1978, The Breakdown of Democratic Regimes: Crisis, Breakdown, and Reequilibration, 5
  2. 1992, Qual democracia?, 89
  3. Gallie, 1956, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 56, 184
  4. Karl, 1986, The Central American Impasse
  5. Huntingdon, 1989, Democracy in the Americas: Stopping the Pendulum
  6. Russett, 1993, Grasping the Democratic Peace: Principles for a Post-Cold War World
  7. Linz, 1964, Cleavages, Ideologies and Party Systems: Contributions to Comparative Political Sociology, 10
  8. Copi, 1994, Introduction to Logic, 173
  9. Sartori, 1984, Social Science Concepts: A Systematic Analysis, 81
  10. Linz, 1975, Handbook of Political Science, 3, 182
  11. Bagley, 1984, Politics, Policies, and Economic Development in Latin America, 125
  12. 1997, “Modernization: Theories and Facts,”, World Politics, 49
  13. Palma, 1990, To Craft Democracies: An Essay on Democratic Transitions, 28
  14. Linz, 1973, Authoritarian Brazil: Origins, Policies, Future
  15. Fauconnier, 1994, Department of Cognitive Science
  16. 1994, “Delegative Democracy,”, Journal of Democracy, 5
  17. 1977, Democracy in Plural Societies: A Comparative Exploration
  18. Brown, 1996, Debating the Democratic Peace: An International Security Reader
  19. Collier, 1996, Working Paper, 20
  20. Moore, 1966, Social Origins ofDictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World
  21. O'Donnell, 1973, Modernization and Bureaucratic-Authoritarianism: Studies in South American Politics
  22. Stallings, 1989, Debt and Democracy in Latin America
  23. Ball, 1994, Modern Politics and Government, 45
  24. Taylor, 1989, Linguistic Categorization: Prototypes in Linguistic Theory
  25. O'Donnell, 1986, Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Tentative Conclusions about Uncertain Democracies
  26. Cruse, 1986, Lexical Semantics
  27. Valenzuela, 1992, Issues in Democratic Consolidation: The Next) South American Democracies in Comparative Perspective, 70
  28. Collier, 1995, Latin America in Comparative Perspective: New Approaches to Method and Analysis
  29. O'Donnell, 1988, “Challenges to Democratization in Brazil,”, World Policy Journal, 5, 297
  30. Schumpeter, 1947, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy
  31. Krauze, 1986, Por una democracia sin adjetivos
  32. Malloy, 1987, Authoritarians and Democrats: Regime Transition in Latin America, 256
  33. Huntington, 1991, The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century, 9
  34. Dahl, 1971, Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition
  35. Diamond, 1989, Democracy in Developing Countries: Latin America, xvi
  36. Sartori, 1994, Comparative Constitutional Engineering: An Inquiry into Structures, Incentives, and Outcomes
  37. Rueschemeyer, 1992, Capitalist Development and Democracy
  38. Wilson, 1993, Low Intensity Democracy: Political Power in the New World Order
  39. Weffort, 1992, Latin American Program, 18

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Metadata

Authors
Collier, D., & Levitsky, S.
Affiliations
  • University of California, Berkeley (US)
  • Harvard University (US)
Venue
World Politics
Publisher
Project MUSE
Published
1997-04
Volume
49
Issue
3
Pages
430-451
ISSN
  • 0043-8871 (ISSN-L)
  • 1086-3338
DOI
10.1353/wp.1997.0009
OpenAlex
W2168830357
Cited by
2,132
References
35
Citations by year
2026: 50 · 2025: 91 · 2024: 77 · 2023: 107 · 2022: 80 · 2021: 123 · 2020: 166 · 2019: 129 · 2018: 111 · 2017: 67 · 2016: 73 · 2015: 76 · 2014: 76 · 2013: 81 · 2012: 87
FWCI
142.48
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.cambridge.org/core/terms (unspecified, 5186 d)
Locations
  • World Politics (publishedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation (9022192)
  • Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University
  • Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Theory and Democracy
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Science Research and Education
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Political Conflict and Governance
Keywords
democracy, conceptual innovation, conceptual validity, conceptual stretching, democratic theory, democratization, comparative research methodology

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