Faculty Books
James Mahoney
Professor
Department of Political Science and Department of Sociology
Fitzgerald Professor of Economic History
Scott Hall, Room 402
(847) 491-2626
james-mahoney@northwestern.edu
Office Hours:
Monday 11:30 am - 1:30 pm
Curriculum Vitae
Personal Website
Areas of Interest
Historical Sociology
National Development Qualitative
Methodology Macro Theory
Relevant Link
Department of Political Science
Biography
James Mahoney is a comparative-historical researcher with interests in socioeconomic development, political regimes, and methodology. His most recent books are Colonialism and Postcolonial Development: Spanish America in Comparative Perspective (2010) and Explaining Institutional Change: Ambiguity, Agency, and Power (2010; co-edited with Kathleen Thelen). He is also the author of The Legacies of Liberalism: Path Dependence and Political Regimes in Central America (2001) and co-editor of Comparative-Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences (2003; with Dietrich Rueschemeyer).
His book Colonialism and Postcolonial Development: Spanish America in Comparative Perspective won four major awards from the American Sociological Association and American Political Science Association.
His article publications feature work on political and socioeconomic development in Latin America, path dependence in historical sociology, and causal inference in small-N analysis. Mahoney is a past President of the American Political Science Association (APSA) Section for Qualitative and Multi-Method Research, and he is Chair of the American Sociological Association Section for Comparative and Historical Sociology.
Courses Taught
Sociology:
SOCIOL 317: Global Development Syllabus
SOCIOL 439: Comparative Historical Analysis Syllabus
Political Science:
POLI SCI: 490: Methods of Comparative Analysis Syllabus
Books
Colonialism and Postcolonial Development: Spanish America in Comparative Perspective
Cambridge University Press, 2010
Explaining Institutional Change Ambiguity, Agency, and Power
(with Kathleen Thelen), Cambridge University Press, 2010
Comparative Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences
(with Dietrich Rueschemeyer), Cambridge University Press, 2003
The Legacies of Liberalism: Path Dependence and Political Regimes in Central America
John Hopkins University Press, 2001
Publications
Sociology Robert F. Winch Awards for 2011
Outstanding Graduate Student Lecturer: Marina Zaloznaya
Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Assistants: Fiona Chin and Christopher Carroll
Outstanding Graduate Student Second-Year Paper: Jaimie Morse
Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Published or Presented:
Upcoming Events
Colloquium: Nicola Beisel, PhD - Sociology
February 23, 2012 • 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM
Culture and Society Workshop: Simone Ispa-Landa, Human Development and Social Policy
February 23, 2012 • 3:30 PM - 5:30 PM
