Jeffrey T.

Checkel PhD Seminar

IR Chair, European University Institute 29-30 April, 2-3 May 2019
Global Fellow, PRIO Peace Research Institute Oslo
jtcheckel@sfu.ca Peace Room

Qualitative Methods and the Study of Civil War

A Doctoral Seminar within the Research School on Peace & Conflict

Overview: This course is about the application of qualitative methods to the study of civil
war. It begins with an overview of the cutting edge in qualitative methods, intentionally
casting its epistemological net broadly. We thus assess methods inspired by positivism (case
studies, process tracing) and those more interpretative in nature (discourse analysis,
ethnography) - the goal being to provide students with a robust set of tools for explaining and
understanding the dynamics of civil war. The course also reviews the promise (and pitfalls)
of methodological pluralism or so-called mixed methods, and introduces students to current
debates over openness and transparency.

The stage set, we then explore applications of qualitative and mixed methods to the study of
civil war. Our focus is not so much what these studies say about civil conflict; rather, we
assess their use of qualitative methods. What slippage occurs (and why) between the abstract
methodological ideal and real-world applications? What counts as good process tracing in the
context of civil war? What are the special challenges of employing mixed methods?

The course thus operates at two levels – data and epistemology. On the former, we explore
the strengths and weaknesses of various qualitative methods, and how they shape and
influence data collection in the special context of civil war. Epistemology brings us to the
more foundational level of ‘how we come to know.’ How does one’s epistemological
position influence methodological choice, and why might this matter for students of civil war?

Credits: 10 ECTS.

Requirements: There are three.

1) Active Participation in Class Discussions: The course will be run as a seminar, where
debate and discussion are the norm; for each session, written discussion questions will serve as
our starting point. For this format to be successful, students need to read the seminar readings
prior to our first meeting on 29 April.

2) Preparation of Discussion Points: For each class session, students should prepare a brief
list of discussion questions and comments (3-5 in number); these should be based on the
readings and will be distributed to all other seminar participants. (Please make sufficient copies
for distribution!) Your questions/comments should reflect a critical assessment of those
readings. What are their strong and weak points? Their meta-theoretical, theoretical,
methodological, empirical contributions? How do they relate to or build upon other readings
or discussions?

3) Completion of an Analytic Essay: Students have two options. (I) Prepare an analytic review
on a topic that is of special interest and is consistent with the course's purpose and theme; or
(II) prepare a draft research design for a PhD project on civil war where qualitative methods

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play some role. In either case, essays should be 6000-10000 words and are due by 15 August
2019. On the first day of class – Monday, 29 April - students should provide the instructor with
a 1-2 page introduction to their proposed essay. These overviews will then be discussed at one-
on-one meetings on the morning of Thursday, 2 May, 0900-1100, when there will be no formal
class sessions.

Readings: The following five books – all available as paperbacks - should be purchased.

Bennett, Andrew and Jeffrey T. Checkel, Editors, Process Tracing: From Metaphor to Analytic
Tool (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015)

Gerring, John, Case Study Research: Principles and Practices (NY: Cambridge University
Press, 2007)

Kalyvas, Stathis, The Logic of Violence in Civil War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2006)

Weinstein, Jeremy, Inside Rebellion: The Politics of Insurgent Violence (NY: Cambridge
University Press, 2007)

Wood, Elisabeth Jean, Insurgent Collective Action and Civil War in El Salvador (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2003)

Students should be able to access most other assigned reading – especially journal articles -
through their local libraries. A selection of hard-to-get readings (single chapters in books,
contributions to newsletters) will be made available via Dropbox by early April.

Syllabus and Class Schedule

Day #1: Monday, 29 April

Session I (0900 – 1200): Causal Mechanisms and Case Studies

The Turn to Mechanisms

Johnson, James, “Consequences of Positivism: A Pragmatist Assessment,” Comparative

Political Studies 39/2 (2006): 224-52.

Gerring, John, “Review Article: The Mechanismic Worldview – Thinking Inside the Box,”
British Journal of Political Science 38/1 (2007): 161-79.

Hedstrom, Peter and Petri Ylikoski, “Causal Mechanisms in the Social Sciences,” Annual
Review of Sociology 36 (2010): 49–67.

Case Studies – Nuts and Bolts

Gerring, John, Case Study Research: Principles and Practices (NY: Cambridge University
Press, 2007), chapters 1-4, 7.

Case Studies – Applications

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Sambanis, Nicholas, “Using Case Studies to Expand Economic Models of Civil War,”
Perspectives on Politics 2/2 (2004): 257-79.

Blattman, Christopher, “Children and War: How ‘Soft’ Research Can Answer the Hard
Questions in Political Science,” Perspectives on Politics 10/2 (2012): 403-413.

Session II (1315 – 1630): Measuring Mechanisms – The Role of Process Tracing

Nuts and Bolts

Bennett, Andrew and Jeffrey T. Checkel, “Process Tracing: From Philosophical Roots to Best
Practices,” in Andrew Bennett and Jeffrey T. Checkel, Editors, Process Tracing: From
Metaphor to Analytic Tool (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), chapter 1.

Checkel, Jeffrey T. and Andrew Bennett, “Beyond Metaphors: Standards, Theory, and the
'Where Next' for Process Tracing,” in Andrew Bennett and Jeffrey T. Checkel,
Editors, Process Tracing: From Metaphor to Analytic Tool (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2015), chapter 10.

Applications

Bakke, Kristin, “Copying and Learning from Outsiders? Assessing Diffusion from
Transnational Insurgents in the Chechen Wars,” in Jeffrey T. Checkel, Editor,
Transnational Dynamics of Civil War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2013), chapter 2.

Lyall, Jason, “Process Tracing, Causal Inference, and Civil War,” in Andrew Bennett and
Jeffrey T. Checkel, Editors, Process Tracing: From Metaphor to Analytic Tool
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), chapter 7.

Day #2: Tuesday, 30 April

Session III (0900 - 1200): Interpretive Analysis

Nuts and Bolts

Milliken, Jennifer, “The Study of Discourse in International Relations: A Critique of Research

and Methods,” European Journal of International Relations 5/2 (1999): 225-54.

Neumann, Iver, “Discourse Analysis,” in Audie Klotz and Deepa Prakash, Editors,
Qualitative Methods in International Relations: A Pluralist Guide (NY: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2008), chapter 5.

Pouliot, Vincent, “Practice Tracing,” in Andrew Bennett and Jeffrey T. Checkel, Editors,
Process Tracing: From Metaphor to Analytic Tool (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2015), chapter 9.

Applications

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Doty, Roxanne Lynn, “Foreign Policy as Social Construction: A Post-Positivist Analysis of
US Counterinsurgency Policy in the Philippines,” International Studies Quarterly 37/3
(1993): 297-320.

Hopf, Ted and Bentley B. Allan, Editors, Making Identity Count: Building a National Identity
Database (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), chapters 1-2.

Session IV (1315 - 1630): Ethnography and Field Work

(With the participation of Kristian Berg Harpviken, PRIO)

Nuts and Bolts

Schatz, Edward, “Introduction: Ethnographic Immersion and the Study of Politics,” in

Edward Schatz, Editor, Political Ethnography: What Immersion Contributes to the
Study of Power (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009), chapter 1.

Gusterson, Hugh, “Ethnographic Research,” in Audie Klotz and Deepa Prakash, Editors,
Qualitative Methods in International Relations: A Pluralist Guide (NY: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2008), chapter 7.

Wood, Elisabeth Jean, “Field Research,” in Carles Boix and Susan Stokes, Editors, The
Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008),
chapter 5.

Applications

Harpviken, Kristian Berg, Social Networks and Migration in Wartime Afghanistan (NY:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), Appendix.

Fujii, Lee Ann, “Shades of Truth and Lies: Interpreting Testimonies of War and Violence,”
Journal of Peace Research 47/2 (2010): 231–241.

Autesserre, Severine, “Hobbes and the Congo: Frames, Local Violence and International
Intervention,” International Organization 63/2 (2009): 249-80.

Wood, Elisabeth Jean, “The Ethical Challenges of Field Research in Conflict Zones,”
Qualitative Sociology 29/3 (2006): 373-86.

Day #3: Wednesday, 1 May

No Class – Public Holiday in Norway

Day #4: Thursday, 2 May

Session V (0900 - 1100): Individual Meetings on Course Essays

Session VI (1100 – 1200, 1315 - 1415): Mixing Methods

Nuts and Bolts

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Lieberman, Evan, “Nested Analysis as a Mixed-Method Strategy for Comparative Research,”
American Political Science Review 99/3 (2005): 435-452.

Ahmed, Amel and Rudra Sil, “When Multi-Method Research Subverts Methodological
Pluralism - Or, Why We Still Need Single-Method Research,” Perspectives on Politics
10/4 (2012): 935-53.

Applications

“Symposium: Bridging the Gap? Connecting Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in the Study
of Civil War,” Qualitative Methods: Newsletter of the American Political Science
Association Organized Section for Qualitative and Multi-Method Research 6/1 (2008):
13-29.

Dunning, Thad, “Improving Process Tracing: The Case of Multi-Method Research,” in

Andrew Bennett and Jeffrey T. Checkel, Editors, Process Tracing: From Metaphor to
Analytic Tool (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), chapter 8.

Session VII (1415 - 1630): Openness and Transparency in the DA-RT/JETS Era

Symposium, “Openness in Political Science,” PS: Political Science & Politics 47/1 (2014):
19-83.

Symposium, “Transparency in Qualitative and Multi-Method Research,” Qualitative & Multi-

Method Research: Newsletter of the American Political Science Association
Organized Section for Qualitative and Multi-Method Research 13/1 (2015): 2-64.

Symposium, “Data Access and Research Transparency (DA-RT),” Comparative Politics

Newsletter: The Organized Section in Comparative Politics of the American Political
Science Association 26/1 (Spring 2016): 10-64.

Journal Editors' Transparency Statement (JETS) → http://www.dartstatement.org/2014-

journal-editors-statement-jets.

Qualitative Transparency Deliberations → http://www.qualtd.net/

Day #5: Friday, 3 May

Session VIII (0900-1100): Qualitative Methods and Civil War - Kalyvas

Kalyvas, Stathis, The Logic of Violence in Civil War (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2006), Introduction, chapters 4-5, 8-9.

Session IX (1100 – 1200, 1315 - 1400): Qualitative Methods and Civil War - Weinstein

Weinstein, Jeremy, Inside Rebellion: The Politics of Insurgent Violence (NY: Cambridge
University Press, 2007), Introduction, chapters 1, 4-5, 9.

Session X (1400 - 1630): Qualitative Methods and Civil War - Wood

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 (With the participation of Kristian Berg Harpviken, PRIO)

Wood, Elisabeth Jean, Insurgent Collective Action and Civil War in El Salvador (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2003), chapters 1-2, 7-8, Appendix.

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