The configurational approach in comparative social policy analysis: advances in capturing the impact of globalisation on social policymaking in moderate-N research designs

Abstract

Although relatively young, the configurational approach is now firmly established as part of the methodological toolkit for comparative political economists. While debates about its advantages and limitations are ongoing, there has been a proliferation of different qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) types for moderate-N research designs. Rather than adding to these debates, this chapter assesses QCA applications addressing the impact of globalisation processes on national social policymaking. We conduct a systematic literature review of empirical studies to illustrate how a small but increasing number of QCA studies try to capture the causal effects of globalisation from a comparative perspective. We find that theoretical innovation within those studies has remained limited; few fully comply with existing ‘best practice’ prescriptions of the configurational approach. We conclude by charting a way forward for QCA in comparative political economy and suggest how researchers could combine QCA techniques with other mainstream research methods in this field.