Comparative Case Study Methods in Urban Political Development

Abstract

Over the past decade there has been a concerted attempt among a growing group of authors to bring together the political science subfields of urban politics and American political development (APD). In this paper, I look at specifically how the comparative study of different cities and urban areas might contribute to this intellectual project, beginning with a brief illustrative comparison of Philadelphia and Montreal. I then place that comparison in the larger context of recent literature in postcolonialism, assemblage, and planetary urbanization, which I use to establish what I call an aggregation strategy for constructing variables—or, alternately, for denying the very existence of variables. I then suggest how my aggregation strategy could improve upon urban regime analysis, and inform new directions in studies at the intersection of urban politics and APD.

Keywords

• urban studies
• urban theory
• American political development
• Philadelphia
• Montreal