ABSTRACT
The quest to understand the individual, structural, and cultural motivations for domestic violent political dissent and the conditions for successful social revolution was in part stimulated by the process of decolonization in the post-war period. Concern over political violence and political instability is directly related to the establishment and maintenance of democracy. Seeking first to understand the origins of political violence and the conditions for revolution, scholars in this field ultimately hope to promote peace (Lichbach 1989: 470) and democratic stability (Huntington 1968; Sanders 1981:1–12; Cammack 1997). As in the many comparisons reviewed in the last chapter, this chapter compares the research design and substantive findings of studies of many countries, few countries, and single countries in an effort to understand and explain this important research question. The ‘comparison of comparisons’ in this chapter examines the choice and number of cases, the time period of the studies, the types of measures and indicators each study uses to operationalize the theoretical concepts, and the different types of qualitative and quantitative techniques contained in each study.
