James Mahoney Boeken

This review of the accomplishments and future agendas of comparative historical research in the social sciences explores its strengths in explaining important worldwide outcomes (e.g., revolutions, social provision, democracy). It includes sections on substantive research accomplishments, methodology, and theory, and features essays by some of the most important political scientists and sociologists currently working.

The book addresses the essentialism problem in social science, where categories are often treated as having inherent properties. Mahoney critiques this view and the extreme rejection of external realities by proposing scientific constructivism as a middle ground. This approach combines elements of both scientific and constructivist perspectives, leveraging cognitive science to address biases like essentialism. Mahoney introduces a set-theoretic analysis to examine how categories function in the mind, laying out foundational methods and applying them to social science tools and case studies.

This book proposes a model for directly aligning strategic communication with organisational business planning to enable effective management of mid- to long-term organisational issues. It argues that current conceptualisations of strategic communication need to be extended to locate it more precisely within definitions of strategy and as an essential element of mid- and long-term business planning. This approach re-positions strategic issues communication in a professional practice dimension that has a specific focus on issues that do not immediately impact on an organisation’s ability to achieve its day-to-day business goals. Full of contemporary examples from business, and including a thorough explanation of how the model can be applied in professional practice, the book will prove illuminating reading for scholars, students, and professionals alike.