Explaining War and Peace Case Studies and Necessary Condition Counterfactuals

This edited volume focuses on a common form of causal explanation of historical events, the use of necessary condition counterfactuals, which is neglected in the growing literature on the methodology of qualitative analysis and case studies. The volume analyzes the causal logics of necessary and sufficient conditions, demonstrates the variety of different ways in which necessary condition counterfactuals are used to explain the causes of individual events, and identifies errors commonly made in applying this form of causal logic to individual events. It includes discussions of causal chains, contingency, critical junctures, and powder keg explanations, and the role of necessary conditions in each. The volume focuses in particular on the applications of these concepts in a variety of competing explanations for two of the defining events of the 20thcentury, the origins of World War I and the end of the Cold War. This book will be of great interest to students of qualitative analysis, World War I, the Cold War, international history and IR theory in general.Goertz, Gary is the author of 'Explaining War and Peace Case Studies and Necessary Condition Counterfactuals', published 2007 under ISBN 9780415422321 and ISBN 0415422329.