Introduction

What are theories? What are models? And how do models and theories relate to each other? These are the core questions of this book. Since the beginning of the 20th century, an impressive body of literature has emerged that is concerned with these issues. This book aims to offer guidance in this unwieldy territory in three ways: it provides an introduction to the problems; it presents a guide to the literature; and it takes stock and assesses where the different debates stand. The introduction explains the book’s structure and provides a summary of each chapter.