Avoiding Methodological Nationalism in Comparative Elite Studies. From Comparison to “I’histoire Croisée” – and Back Again?

• In Event: 378 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session II
  In Refereed Roundtable: B. Table 12. Theory

Abstract

The debate over ‘methodological nationalism’ has brought up methodological issues relating to cross- or international comparative studies in general and of elites in particular that warrants serious attention. Too often such studies implicitly define the societies that are under scrutiny as not only nested in, but also bounded by nation-states. The question I shall take up in this paper is how one can develop a comparative approach in studies of elites that may avoid some of the problems that this preconception of the cases that are compared, may imply. This obviously demands a critical scrutiny of implicit theoretical presuppositions in comparative approaches in the field. My central contention, however, is that the critique of international comparative approaches for ‘methodological nationalism’ ‘may be true as it reads, but false as it is taken’ , if it is taken to mean that existing comparative approaches cannot be developed in ways that accomodate the critique. And one way of doing this is developing comparative approaches that take the “l’histoire croisée”, or “entangled history”, of the cases into account.

Authors

• Olav Korsnes, University of Bergen

• Johs. Hjellbrekke, University of Bergen