Methods and Models: A Guide to the Empirical Analysis of Formal Models in Political Science

At present much of political science consists of a large body of formal mathematical work that remains largely unexplored empirically and an expanding use of sophisticated statistical techniques. While there are examples of noteworthy efforts to bridge the gap between these, there is still a need for much more cooperative work between formal theorists and empirical researchers in the discipline. This book explores how empirical analysis has, can, and should be used to evaluate formal models in political science. The book is intended to be a guide for active and future political scientists who are confronting the issues of empirical analysis with formal models in their work and as a basis for a needed dialogue between empirical and formal theoretical researchers in political science. These developments, if combined, are potentially a basis for a new revolution in political science.

• There isn’t another book in the field that bridges the gap between formal theoretical work and sophisticated methodological techniques • Book discusses game theory, rational choice, and laboratory experimental methods

Part I. Introduction: 1. Political science’s dilemma; Part II. Formal Models in Political Science: 2. What makes a model formal?; 3. The variety of formal models; Part III. Empirical Evaluation of Formal Models: 4. Fundamentals of empirical evaluation; 5. Evaluating assumptions; 6. Evaluating predictions: equilibria, disequilibria, and multiequilibria; 7. Evaluating relationship predictions; 8. Evaluating alternative models; Part IV. A Second Revolution: 9. The present and the future; 10. References.