Theory Sí, Data No! A Decade of Cross-National Political Research

Abstract

Macro-Quantitative Analysis, edited by John V. Gillespie and Betty A. Nesvold, should be welcomed by students of cross-national empirical theory and research. It places important reference materials at the fingertips of the analyst, and should stimulate him to take stock of the state of his art. Moreover, it should prove a boon to teaching. I find it hard to conceive of an undergraduate or graduate course on cross-national theory and research which would not benefit from this volume.

JOHN V. GILLESPIE and BETTY A. NESVOLD, eds., Macro-Quantitative Analysis, Beverly Hills: Sage, 1971. PETER HEINTZ, ed., A Macrosociological Theory of Societal Systems, volumes 1 and 2, Bern, Switzerland, Hans Huber Publishers, 1972. SUSAN JONES and J. DAVID SINGER, Beyond Conjecture in International Politics, Abstracts of Data Based Research, Itasca, Ill.: F. E. Peacock, 1972. R. J. RUMMEL, The Dimensions of Nations, Beverly Hills: Sage, 1972. BRUCE M. RUSSETT, ed., Peace, War, and Numbers, Beverly Hills:

“…Gillespie (1971) explicitly discusses the book's interest in cross-national analysis, although there does appear to be some difficulty in his distinction between the cross-national and configurative approaches; see Burrowes (1972: 121-122). It is apparent that the difference between the two approaches is simply an application of Singer's N/V ratio (number of cases/number of variables): cross-national analysis with a high "N" and a low "V" as opposed to the configurative with N = 1, and a very high "V." For a detailed review of Gillespie and Nesvold, see Burrowes (1972). [344] overdoes it, especially, as noted by Burrowes (1972), when one considers the selections omitted from the reader.…”