'Editors Landman and Robinson have compiled an excellent tour d'horizon of comparative politics. Distinguished contributors explore theoretical and methodological issues as well as examine the critical substantive domains that animate today's comparativists. Graduate students and academics will want to keep this volume on their book shelf' - Professor Mark Irving Lichbach, University of Maryland

'The SAGE Handbook of Comparative Politics is a major new resource for scholars of comparative politics, and of political science more generally. The Handbook covers the field with admirable thoroughness, but does not sacrifice depth for breadth. The chapters are written by notable scholars who provide rich discussions of their topics, and help to move the sub-discipline forward' - B. Guy Peters, Professor, University of Pittsburgh

The SAGE Handbook of Comparative Politics presents; in one volume, an authoritative overview of the theoretical, methodological and substantive elements of comparative political science. The 28 specially commissioned chapters, written by renowned comparative scholars, guide the reader through the central issues and debates, presenting a state-of-the-art guide to the past, present and possible futures of the field.

The Handbook is divided into three parts. The first considers comparative methodologies and reviews the interactions between various sub-fields of comparative politics: political economy; political sociology; area studies; international relations; and institutional analysis. The second section examines nine 'classic' issues of concern to comparativists, including government formation, political behaviour and democratization. In the final section, nine new and emerging areas of comparative research are considered, such as terrorism, electoral corruption, human rights and regional integration.

The SAGE Handbook of Comparative Politics is an essential resource for researchers in political science, political sociology, political economy, international relations, area studies and all other fields with a comparative political dimension.

Introduction - Todd Landman and Neil Robinson
PART ONE: METHODS AND FIELDS OF COMPARATIVE POLITICS
The Distinctiveness of Comparative Research - Charles C Ragin and Claude Rubinson
Global Comparative Methods - Paul Pennings, Hans Keman and Jan Kleinnijenhuis
Case Studies - Darren Hawkins
Is there a Quantitative-Qualitative Divide in Comparative Politics? The Case of Process Tracing - James A Caporaso
Establishing Equivalence - Jan W van Deth
Comparative Political Sociology - Willfried Spohn
Comparative Institutional Analysis - Vivien A Schmidt
Comparative Political Economy - Thomas Pl mper
The Contribution of Area Studies - Stephen E Hanson
Comparative Politics and International Relations - John M Hobson
PART TWO: CLASSIC ISSUES IN COMPARATIVE POLITICS
Postindustrial Democracies: Political economy and democratic partisan competition - Herbert Kitschelt
Government Formation - Wolfgang C M ller
Institutional Design - Josep M Colomer
Comparative Political Behaviour: What is being compared? - Shaun Bowler
Changes in the Causes of Democratization through Time - Barbara Geddes
Political Culture - Christian Welzel
Revolution - Jack A Goldstone
Social Movements - Vincent Boudreau and David S Meyer
Corruption - Paul Heywood
PART THREE: NEW AND EMERGING ISSUES IN COMPARATIVE POLITICS
Electoral Authoritarianism - Andreas Schedler
Electoral Corruption - Sarah Birch
Comparative Federalism - David McKay
Human Rights - Todd Landman
Governance - Philip Keefer
Terrorism - Jennifer S Holmes
Comparative Regional Integration and Regionalism - Fredrik Söderbaum
Transitional Justice - Paola Cesarini
The globalization of comparative public opinion research - Pippa Norris