David Collier and Gerardo L. Munck (editors) - Critical Junctures and Historical Legacies

The notion of a critical juncture has become a key idea in social science to capture the interaction of structure and agency in ways that open up new intellectual horizons and free us from outdated frameworks. This volume brings together the leading scholars on the topic and will become the standard reference work.

Daron Acemoglu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Social scientists have a growing interest in historical explanation and in the dramatic events that shape subsequent history, but that research tradition has often suffered from theoretical imprecision and insufficient methodological self-consciousness. Collier and Muncks volume marks a sharp break, giving historical researchers important new tools to sharpen their arguments. Other equally distinguished scholars have added chapters laying out the full range of methods and controversies in the study of critical junctures. This is a must-have book.

Christopher H. Achen, Princeton University

Critical junctures implicitly or explicitly inform much social science research. Collier, Munck, and a top-notch roster of authors, provide the definitive treatment of this vital conceptual, methodological, and substantive tool. Collectively, the volumes contributors convincingly assess what has endured, which refinements and critiques are most compelling, and new directions for the development and application of the critical junctures approach. The book is a must-read for social scientists from diverse disciplines.

Melani Cammett, Harvard University

In merging the frameworks of critical junctures with that of historical legacy, this volume provides substantive insights into how we have come to be where we are. A heuristic which allows the scholar to combine structural deterministic accounts with the agency of chance and choice. It represents a much-needed alternative to current approaches.

Miguel Centeno, Princeton University

At last, we have the definitive work on critical junctures. Ranging widely across time, continents and methodological issues, this stellar volume considers and advances the many debates about how political systems change, setting new research agendas for the field. With a wide ambit and a distinguished set of contributors, this book will be indispensable reading for all scholars interested in how politics evolves over time.

Peter Hall, Harvard University

This book consists of wide-ranging essays on critical junctures, rapid, discontinuous transformations of societies which leave a historical legacy partially constraining subsequent actions. Most essays are empirical case studies, but there are also theoretical contributions. Several focus on colonialisms legacies. The essays are intelligent and well-balanced, ably discussing both the utility and the limitations of the model. I recommend it as an important contribution to macro-sociology.

Michael Mann, University of California, Los Angeles

This shrewdly designed and wonderfully executed collection will invigorate the work of historically oriented social scientists. The concept of critical junctures has a rich tradition, but the editors and their stellar team of authors bring much-needed clarity to the term. Equally important, they demonstrate how it can be effectively deployed to illuminate matters of the greatest significance.

Paul Pierson, University of California, Berkeley

The essays in this volume do more than explore definitively the implications (and ambiguities) of the concept of critical junctures. They highlight a much neglected generic element in scientific political analysis, namely, the crucial importance of temporalitywhen something happens and, especially, when it happens relative to something else can be much more significant than either the immediate magnitude or direction of what happens.

Philippe C. Schmitter, European University Institute

Kudos to Collier and Munck. They have assembled a wonderful group of scholars and produced the definitive volume on critical junctures and their historical legacies. The chapters bring terrific insight to current conceptual, methodological, and substantive debates (especially about structure and agency, as well as timing and sequence); they specify systematic procedures for identifying critical junctures and their consequences; and they address substantive questions to illustrate the empirical and theoretical power of this approach. This book will become an indispensable reference for social science theorizing about historical ruptures that generate enduring political change.

Deborah J. Yashar, Princeton University

Insights and Methods for Comparative Social Science

Edited by David Collier and Gerardo L. Munck

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Collier, David, 1942 editor. | Munck, Gerardo L. (Gerardo Luis), 1958 editor.

Title: Critical junctures and historical legacies : insights and methods for comparative social science / edited by David Collier and Gerardo L. Munck.

Description: Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, [2022] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021047005 (print) | LCCN 2021047006 (ebook) | ISBN 9781538166147 (cloth ; alk. paper) | ISBN 9781538166154 (paperback ; alk. paper) | ISBN 9781538166161 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Social sciencesComparative method. | Social change. | Social structure. | Critical theory.

Classification: LCC H61 .C75 2022 (print) | LCC H61 (ebook) | DDC 300.72dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021047005

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021047006

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

1. Introduction: Tradition and Innovation in Critical Juncture Research
   David Collier and Gerardo L. Munck
2. 1. Critical Juncture Framework and the Five-Step Template
      David Collier
   2. Critical Junctures and Developmental Paths: Colonialism and Long-Term Economic Prosperity
      James A. Robinson
   3. Postwar Settlements and International Order: A Critical Juncture Perspective
      G. John Ikenberry
   4. Mobilization, Protest, and Conflicts of the 1960s: What Is the Legacy, and How Did It Unfold?
      Sidney Tarrow
3. 1. The Theoretical Foundations of Critical Juncture Research: Critique and Reconstruction
      Gerardo L. Munck
   2. Critical Junctures, Contingency, and Models of Institutional Change
      Rachel Beatty Riedl and Kenneth M. Roberts
   3. Qualitative Causal Inference and Critical Junctures: The Problem of Backdoor Paths
      David Waldner
   4. Quantitative Methods and Critical Junctures: The Strengths and Limits of Quantitative History