Comparative-Historical Methods

Agnes Arber (1879–1960) was a prominent British botanist specialising in plant morphology, who focused her research on the monocotyledon group of flowering plants. She was the first female botanist to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, in 1946. This volume, first published as part of the Cambridge Botanical Handbooks series in 1925, provides an anatomical and comparative study of the monocotyledon group of plants with an analysis of the methods and objects of studying plant morphology. At the time of publication, comparative anatomy and morphology were the centre of botanical investigation; however there were differences between British and continental biologists concerning the aims of morphological study. In the introduction to this volume Arber reconciled these views by describing a distinction between pure and applied morphology, interpreting the differences in monocotyledonous species in light of this. The book contains an extensive bibliography and 160 figures.

First published between 1932 and 1940, this is a three-volume study of the historical development of literature. It explores the oral and written literatures of regions from Iceland and the British Isles, to Russia, the Balkans, Africa, India and the Pacific, placing them in their historical context and examining similarities between them. The authors discuss both ancient and recent texts, illustrating the connections within each group and considering the question of whether all literary growth is influenced by common factors. Praised on publication as '… a work that is not, probably could not be, superseded' (International Journal of Comparative Sociology), the book remains a benchmark for those studying comparative literature or the history of literary criticism. Volume 1 analyses a range of medieval British and Icelandic poetry and sagas, drawing analogies with the literature of early Greece and focusing particularly on the concept of heroic literature.

First published between 1932 and 1940, this is a three-volume study of the historical development of literature. It explores the oral and written literatures of regions from Iceland and the British Isles, to Russia, the Balkans, Africa, India and the Pacific, placing them in their historical context and examining similarities between them. The authors discuss both ancient and recent texts, illustrating the connections within each group and considering the question of whether all literary growth is influenced by common factors. Praised on publication as '… a work that is not, probably could not be, superseded' (International Journal of Comparative Sociology), the book remains a benchmark for those studying comparative literature or the history of literary criticism. Volume 3, which includes a summary of the literary categories used in the book, surveys the oral literature of the Tatar and Polynesian peoples, along with that of a selection of African ethnic groups.

First published between 1932 and 1940, this book was a pioneering study of the historical development of world literature, and remains a benchmark in comparative literary studies. It explores oral and

Where was the chair of Mary Queen of Scots placed for her trial? How was Smithfield set up for public executions? How many paces did the King walk forward to meet a visiting ambassador in the Presence Chamber at Greenwich? How were spectators arranged at tournaments? And why did any of this matter? Janette Dillon adds a new dimension to work on space and theatricality by providing a comparative analysis of a range of spectacular historical events. She investigates in detail the claim that early modern court culture was always inherently performative, demonstrating how every kind of performance was shaped by its own space and place. Using a range of evidence, visual as well as verbal, and illustrated with some unfamiliar as well as better known images, Dillon leads the reader to general principles and conclusions via a range of minutely observed case studies.

The New General Catalogue (NCG), originally created in 1888, is the source for referencing bright nebulae and star clusters, both in professional and amateur astronomy. With 7840 entries, it is the most-used historical catalogue of observational astronomy, and NGC numbers are commonly used today. However, the fascinating history of the discovery, observation, description and cataloguing of nebulae and star clusters in the nineteenth century has largely gone untold, until now. This well-researched book is the first comprehensive historical study of the NGC, and is an important resource to all those with an interest in the history of modern astronomy and visual deep-sky observing. It covers the people, observatories, instruments and methods involved in nineteenth-century visual deep-sky observing, as well as prominent deep-sky objects. The book also compares the NGC to modern object data, demonstrating how important the NGC is in observational astronomy today.

Loewenberg (emeritus, political science, U. Iowa and director of its Comparative Legislative Research Center) takes a global and historical view, summarizing half a century of research into legislativ

This book deals with methods for solving nonstiff ordinary differential equations. The first chapter describes the historical development of the classical theory from Newton, Leibniz, Euler, and Hamil

Major study of the role of European Christian democratic parties in the making of the European Union. It radically re-conceptualises European integration in long-term historical perspective as the outcome of partisan competition of political ideologies and parties and their guiding ideas for the future of Europe. Wolfram Kaiser takes a comparative approach to political Catholicism in the nineteenth century, Catholic parties in interwar Europe and Christian democratic parties in postwar Europe and studies these parties' cross-border contacts and co-ordination of policy-making. He shows how well networked party elites ensured that the origins of European Union were predominately Christian democratic, with considerable repercussions for the present-day EU. The elites succeeded by intensifying their cross-border communication and coordinating their political tactics and policy making in government. This is a major contribution to the new transnational history of Europe and the history of E

Dr Crabb's 1965 study of the Ekoid Bantu languages of Ogoja examines these related languages as a basis of comparative historical research. He chose fourteen of these Ekoid languages as representative of a number of languages in the north-west area of Nigeria bordering on the Bantu language area, whose status as Bantu languages has been open to question. This study is based on extensive field work and presents comparatively the phonologies and selected vocabularies of the languages.

Dobie (French and comparative literature, Columbia U.) combines literary and historical analysis with new research to examine the colonial enterprises in the culture of the French Enlightenment. She n

Why do advocacy campaigns succeed in some cases but fail in others? What conditions motivate states to accept commitments championed by principled advocacy movements? Joshua W. Busby sheds light on these core questions through an investigation of four cases - developing-country debt relief, climate change, AIDS, and the International Criminal Court - in the G-7 advanced industrialized countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States). Drawing on hundreds of interviews with policy practitioners, he employs qualitative, comparative case study methods, including process-tracing and typologies, and develops a framing/gatekeepers argument, emphasizing the ways in which advocacy campaigns use rhetoric to tap into the main cultural currents in the countries where they operate. Busby argues that when values and costs potentially pull in opposing directions, values will win if domestic gatekeepers who are able to block policy change believe that the va

This book examines all forms of human trafficking globally, revealing the operations of the trafficking business and the nature of the traffickers themselves. Using a historical and comparative perspective, it demonstrates that there is more than one business model of human trafficking and that there are enormous variations in human trafficking in different regions of the world. Drawing on a wide body of academic research - actual prosecuted cases, diverse reports and field work and interviews conducted by the author over the last sixteen years in Asia, Latin America, Africa, Europe and the former socialist countries - Louise Shelley concludes that human trafficking will grow in the twenty-first century as a result of economic and demographic inequalities in the world, the rise of conflicts and possibly global climate change. Coordinated efforts of government, civil society, the business community, multilateral organizations and the media are needed to stem its growth.

Like the postcolonial world more generally, Southeast Asia exhibits tremendous variation in state capacity and authoritarian durability. Ordering Power draws on theoretical insights dating back to Thomas Hobbes to develop a unified framework for explaining both of these political outcomes. States are especially strong and dictatorships especially durable when they have their origins in 'protection pacts': broad elite coalitions unified by shared support for heightened state power and tightened authoritarian controls as bulwarks against especially threatening and challenging types of contentious politics. These coalitions provide the elite collective action underpinning strong states, robust ruling parties, cohesive militaries, and durable authoritarian regimes - all at the same time. Comparative-historical analysis of seven Southeast Asian countries (Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Vietnam, and Thailand) reveals that subtly divergent patterns of contentiou

A. J. Boyle assesses the state of English company law on minority shareholders' remedies from historical, theoretical and comparative perspectives in this important addition to Cambridge Studies in Corporate Law. He analyses the reforms of the UK Law Commission, which have been further appraised and amplified by the work in progress of the Company Law Review Steering Group. The book covers the common law actions by exception to the Rule in Foss v. Harbottle, and the statutory remedies by way of petition for unfair prejudice and/or just and equitable winding up. As well as considering the complexities of derivative actions and statutory minority remedies, Boyle discusses directions for minority shareholders' remedies. This book will be of interest to academics and practitioners in company and corporate law, particularly in the UK, US, France and Germany, as well as throughout the Commonwealth.

Originally published in 1973, this is a selection of the educational writings of H. E. Armstrong, edited with a full introduction by W. H. Brock. Henry Armstrong (1848–1937) was a controversial and energetic publicist for reforms in science teaching and curricula. He was concerned to make teaching at all levels less didactic and authoritarian, more practical and experimental; where possible a student should be prompted by his own curiosity, and should learn things first hand. He called his approach 'heuristic' - meaning learning through discovery - and sought to establish it through public platforms like the British Association, schools and through his own training of teachers. In his introduction Dr Brock offers a historical critique of Dr Armstrong's methods and achievements, and considers to what extent he can be seen as a progenitor of subsequent curriculum reforms.

Why do advocacy campaigns succeed in some cases but fail in others? What conditions motivate states to accept commitments championed by principled advocacy movements? Joshua W. Busby sheds light on these core questions through an investigation of four cases - developing-country debt relief, climate change, AIDS, and the International Criminal Court - in the G-7 advanced industrialized countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States). Drawing on hundreds of interviews with policy practitioners, he employs qualitative, comparative case study methods, including process-tracing and typologies, and develops a framing/gatekeepers argument, emphasizing the ways in which advocacy campaigns use rhetoric to tap into the main cultural currents in the countries where they operate. Busby argues that when values and costs potentially pull in opposing directions, values will win if domestic gatekeepers who are able to block policy change believe that the va

In the celebrated words of Sir William Temple, the Dutch Republic of the United Provinces was 'the fear of some, the envy of others, and the wonder of all their neighbours'. This 1996 book looks at the history of the Dutch Republic from a comparative perspective, and provides a comparative study of key issues in Dutch history from the late sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. Contributors examine political, cultural, economic and social developments in the Netherlands in an interrelated way, and in doing so shed light on historical developments in other parts of west and central Europe. In contrast with previous comparative studies in European early modern history, this book concentrates on comparisons within the central belt of Europe running from north Italy through southern Germany, Flanders, the Dutch Republic and England. An editorial introduction and conclusion place the individual chapters within a coherent framework.

The German theologian David Friedrich Strauss (1808–1874) published his highly controversial The Life of Jesus in three volumes between 1835 and 1836. This translation by George Eliot is based on the fourth German edition (1840). Strauss applied strict historical method to the gospel narratives and caused scandal across the Protestant world by concluding that all miraculous elements were mythical and ahistorical. Strauss introduces Volume 1 with a survey of 'de-mythology' in Western thought. He applies modern historical and scientific criticism to the annunciation and birth narratives; the Davidic descent and genealogies of Jesus; Jesus' visit to the temple; Jesus' baptism and temptation and his relationship with John the Baptist. The volume ends with a chapter on chronology and locality in the life of Jesus. This is a key text of nineteenth-century theology that pioneered the application of historical and scientific methods to the study of religious texts.

The German theologian David Friedrich Strauss (1808–1874) first published his highly controversial The Life of Jesus in three volumes between 1835 and 1836. This translation, by George Eliot, is based on the fourth German edition (1840). In this work Strauss applied strict historical methods to the New Testament gospel narratives and caused scandal across the Protestant world by concluding that all miraculous elements in the life of Jesus were mythical and ahistorical. In volume 2 Strauss applies modern historical criticism to 'de-mythologize' the idea of Jesus as Messiah; the narratives about the disciples; the discourses in the Synoptic gospels and the Fourth Gospel; the non-miraculous events; and the miracles' narratives. This is a key text of nineteenth-century theology that pioneered the application of historical and scientific methods to the study of religions and religious texts. It is essential reading for any student of the New Testament.

The German theologian David Friedrich Strauss (1808–1874) published his highly controversial The Life of Jesus in three volumes between 1835 and 1836. This translation, by George Eliot, is based on the fourth German edition (1840). In this work Strauss applied strict historical method to the New Testament gospel narratives and caused scandal across the Protestant world by concluding that all miraculous elements were mythical and ahistorical. Volume 3 applies modern historical criticism to 'de-mythologize' the narratives of the transfiguration, Jesus' final journey into Jerusalem, the passion, the death, and the resurrection; and investigates the historicity of Jesus' enemies. The volume concludes with an essay entitled 'The Dogmatic Import of the Life of Jesus'. This is a key text of nineteenth-century theology that pioneered the application of historical and scientific methods to the study of religious texts. It is essential reading for any student of the New Testament.

The German theologian David Friedrich Strauss (1808–1874) published his highly controversial The Life of Jesus in three volumes between 1835 and 1836. This translation, by George Eliot, is based on the fourth German edition (1840). Strauss applied strict historical method to the gospel narratives and caused scandal across the Protestant world by concluding that all miraculous elements were mythical and ahistorical. Volume 1 introduces the idea of 'de-mythology' and applies modern historical methods to the narratives of Jesus' birth and early life; Volume 2 studies the idea of Jesus as Messiah, the narratives about the disciples, the discourses, and the miracles; and Volume 3 focuses on the passion, death and resurrection narratives with a concluding essay: 'The Dogmatic Import of the Life of Jesus'. This is a key text of nineteenth-century theology that pioneered the application of historical and scientific methods to the study of religious texts.

A central puzzle in jurisprudence has been the role of custom in law. Custom is simply the practices and usages of distinctive communities. But are such customs legally binding? Can custom be law, even before it is recognized by authoritative legislation or precedent? And, assuming that custom is a source of law, what are its constituent elements? Is proof of a consistent and long-standing practice sufficient, or must there be an extra ingredient - that the usage is pursued out of a sense of legal obligation, or, at least, that the custom is reasonable and efficacious? And, most tantalizing of all, is custom a source of law that we should embrace in modern, sophisticated legal systems, or is the notion of law from below outdated, or even dangerous, today? This volume answers these questions through a rigorous multidisciplinary, historical, and comparative approach, offering a fresh perspective on custom's enduring place in both domestic and international law.

A central puzzle in jurisprudence has been the role of custom in law. Custom is simply the practices and usages of distinctive communities. But are such customs legally binding? Can custom be law, even before it is recognized by authoritative legislation or precedent? And, assuming that custom is a source of law, what are its constituent elements? Is proof of a consistent and long-standing practice sufficient, or must there be an extra ingredient - that the usage is pursued out of a sense of legal obligation, or, at least, that the custom is reasonable and efficacious? And, most tantalizing of all, is custom a source of law that we should embrace in modern, sophisticated legal systems, or is the notion of law from below outdated, or even dangerous, today? This volume answers these questions through a rigorous multidisciplinary, historical, and comparative approach, offering a fresh perspective on custom's enduring place in both domestic and international law.

Like the postcolonial world more generally, Southeast Asia exhibits tremendous variation in state capacity and authoritarian durability. Ordering Power draws on theoretical insights dating back to Thomas Hobbes to develop a unified framework for explaining both of these political outcomes. States are especially strong and dictatorships especially durable when they have their origins in 'protection pacts': broad elite coalitions unified by shared support for heightened state power and tightened authoritarian controls as bulwarks against especially threatening and challenging types of contentious politics. These coalitions provide the elite collective action underpinning strong states, robust ruling parties, cohesive militaries, and durable authoritarian regimes - all at the same time. Comparative-historical analysis of seven Southeast Asian countries (Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Vietnam, and Thailand) reveals that subtly divergent patterns of contentiou

This incisive study of James Joyce's work examines Finnegans Wake as a narrative response to acute problems of historical experience, especially issues of modern Irish identity implicit in historical writing about Ireland. Thomas C. Hofheinz shows how Joyce's narrative simulations of such problems enabled him to form startling linkages between public and private, objective and subjective Irish history. Hofheinz investigates Joyce's illumination of a wide range of issues - social, cultural, familial, psychological - by comparing Finnegans Wake with traditions of modern Irish historicism and historiography, including Ireland's place in the Catholic providential history of Vico's New Science; and he trenchantly challenges cultural-material methods of interpreting Joyce's historical 'subject', countering them with a reader-response philosophy owing much to the hermeneutics of Gadamer, Iser, and Ricoeur.

Human Killing Machines offers a comparative analysis of the indoctrination methods used to produce violence in the famous Milgram and Zimbardo psychological experiments, as well as Iran, Nazi Germany,

First published in 1918, and re-issued with forty pages of illustrations in 1919, Social Life in Britain marked a turning point in Coulton's writings. Although a rigorous academic who stressed the importance of using primary sources, Coulton was skilled at making medieval history accessible to a wider audience, by dealing with ordinary lives. He played an important role in encouraging interest in the study of social and economic, rather than political and military, history of the Middle Ages among younger scholars. In the present work, he used his extraordinarily wide reading of historical and literary sources to cover all aspects of ordinary life in medieval Britain. These include birth and childhood, education, town life, food and drink, the Church and medical methods. He also deals with aspects of women's lives, travelling, and bizarre superstitions which were widely held. A fascinating book to dip into, with a wealth of material.

Witte (law and ethics, Emory U.) and Nichols (law, U. of St. Thomas) provide a comparative historical review of the development of First Amendment religious freedom in the United States. They argue fo

Nix (religion, Furman U., South Carolina) investigates two methods of discerning Christian normative truth in history in light of modern historical consciousness and the role of a comparative theology

Exploring the history and religious community of a group of Muslim Sufi mystics in colonial French West Africa, this study shows the relationship between religious, social and economic change in the region. It highlights the role that intellectuals played in shaping social and cultural change and illuminates the specific religious ideas and political contexts that gave their efforts meaning. In contrast to depictions that emphasize the importance of international networks and anti-modern reaction in twentieth-century Islamic reform, this book claims that, in West Africa, such movements were driven by local forces and constituted only the most recent round in a set of centuries-old debates about the best way for pious people to confront social injustice. It argues that traditional historical methods prevent an appreciation of Muslim intellectual history in Africa by misunderstanding the nature of information gathering during colonial rule and misconstruing the relationship between docum

Heinrich Schliemann (1822–1890) was a businessman and self-taught archaeologist who is best known for discovering the site of the ancient city of Troy. First published in 1880, this volume contains an account of Schliemann's second excavation at Troy in 1878–1879 and places his earlier discoveries from the excavations of 1871–1873 in context with his more recent work. Schliemann provides a detailed description and the earliest interpretation of the seven settlement phases on the site, with over 1,000 illustrations showing details of the architecture he uncovered. He also describes his controversial methods of excavation, recounting some of the monumental buildings he destroyed to reach the earlier settlement phases of the city. Schliemann's discovery of Troy was met with great enthusiasm; it also created a furious debate over the validity of viewing classical epics as historical fact. This volume remains an important source for the historiography of archaeology.

Heinrich Schliemann (1822–1890) published Mycenae, an account of his archaeological excavations of the ancient Greek cities of Mycenae and Tiryns, in 1878. Schliemann's astonishing finds revealed that the cities had a historical reality outside Homeric epic. His excavations uncovered many priceless treasures, most famously the 'death mask of Agamemnon' and the shaft graves, filled with pottery, carved stones, skeletons, gold, jewellery and weaponry. He also uncovered much about the layout and architecture of the two lost cities. The volume is generously illustrated with images of artefacts, maps and charts. It is introduced by W. E. Gladstone, who gave Schliemann the political assistance necessary for the excavations to take place. Schliemann's discoveries were met with wild enthusiasm, and while today his methods of excavation are deplored and many of his conclusions thought to be ill-founded, he is rightly credited with the discovery of the lost and ancient Mycenaean civilisation.

A number of new approaches to the subject of international cooperation were developed in the 1980s. As a result, further questions have arisen, particularly with regard to the methods and limits of cooperation and the relationship between cooperation and the debate over multilateralism. International Cooperation considers these questions, identifies further areas for research, and pushes the analysis of this fundamental concept in international relations in new directions. Its two parts address the historic roots and modern development of the notion of cooperation, and the strategies used to achieve it, with a conclusion that reaches beyond international relations into new disciplinary avenues. This edited collection incorporates historical research, social and economic analysis and political and evolutionary game theory.

A number of new approaches to the subject of international cooperation were developed in the 1980s. As a result, further questions have arisen, particularly with regard to the methods and limits of cooperation and the relationship between cooperation and the debate over multilateralism. International Cooperation considers these questions, identifies further areas for research, and pushes the analysis of this fundamental concept in international relations in new directions. Its two parts address the historic roots and modern development of the notion of cooperation, and the strategies used to achieve it, with a conclusion that reaches beyond international relations into new disciplinary avenues. This edited collection incorporates historical research, social and economic analysis and political and evolutionary game theory.

This book examines the causal impact of ideology through a comparative-historical analysis of three cases of 'post-imperial democracy': the early Third Republic in France (1870–86); the Weimar Republic in Germany (1918–34); and post-Soviet Russia (1992–2008). Hanson argues that political ideologies are typically necessary for the mobilization of enduring, independent national party organizations in uncertain democracies. By presenting an explicit and desirable picture of the political future, successful ideologues induce individuals to embrace a long-run strategy of cooperation with other converts. When enough new converts cooperate in this way, it enables sustained collective action to defend and extend party power. Successful party ideologies thus have the character of self-fulfilling prophecies: by portraying the future polity as one organized to serve the interests of those loyal to specific ideological principles, they help to bring political organizations centered on these princ

This book examines the causal impact of ideology through a comparative-historical analysis of three cases of 'post-imperial democracy': the early Third Republic in France (1870–86); the Weimar Republic in Germany (1918–34); and post-Soviet Russia (1992–2008). Hanson argues that political ideologies are typically necessary for the mobilization of enduring, independent national party organizations in uncertain democracies. By presenting an explicit and desirable picture of the political future, successful ideologues induce individuals to embrace a long-run strategy of cooperation with other converts. When enough new converts cooperate in this way, it enables sustained collective action to defend and extend party power. Successful party ideologies thus have the character of self-fulfilling prophecies: by portraying the future polity as one organized to serve the interests of those loyal to specific ideological principles, they help to bring political organizations centered on these princ

The emergence of EU Private Law as an independent legal discipline is one of the most significant developments in European legal scholarship in recent times. In this 2010 Companion, leading scholars provide a critical introduction to the subject's key areas, while offering original and thought-provoking comment on the field. In addition to several chapters on consumer law topics, the collection has individual chapters on commercial contracts, competition law, non-discrimination law, financial services and travel law. It also discusses the wider issues concerning EU Private Law, such as its historical evolution, the role of comparative law, language and terminology, as well as the implications of the Common Frame of Reference project. A useful 'scene-setting' introduction and further reading arranged thematically make this important publication the student's and scholar's first port of call when exploring the field.

The emergence of EU Private Law as an independent legal discipline is one of the most significant developments in European legal scholarship in recent times. In this 2010 Companion, leading scholars provide a critical introduction to the subject's key areas, while offering original and thought-provoking comment on the field. In addition to several chapters on consumer law topics, the collection has individual chapters on commercial contracts, competition law, non-discrimination law, financial services and travel law. It also discusses the wider issues concerning EU Private Law, such as its historical evolution, the role of comparative law, language and terminology, as well as the implications of the Common Frame of Reference project. A useful 'scene-setting' introduction and further reading arranged thematically make this important publication the student's and scholar's first port of call when exploring the field.

The Shaping of Art History examines art history's formation in the German academy in the late nineteenth century. Focusing on the work of Wilhelm Vöge and Adolph Goldschmidt, two influential scholars of medieval art, Kathryn Brush analyses their methods and particularly those scholarly projects that were critical to the development of their approaches. Her work combines intellectual and institutional history with the study of artistic monuments and biography. It considers how the study of the pioneering scholarship in the field of medieval art is critical to an understanding of the formulation of art historical method as a whole.