In recent years there has been an explosion of research on qualitative methodology and methods in the social sciences at large, and in the field of Political Science in particular. This Major Work presents a comprehensively curated collection of key literature on this subject, organised into four thematic volumes: Volume One includes papers on the ontological and epistemological foundations of qualitative research, before moving onto articles that compare qualitative with quantitative research, as well as statements that contrast the divergent strands within qualitative research. Volume Two includes literature that exemplifies the tradition and techniques of cross-case comparisons. Volume Three is devoted to the spectrum of approaches that focuses on within-case analysis in order to provide evidence for causal claims. The selected works shed light on the corresponding major concepts: causal mechanisms, congruence and process tracing. Volume Four captures the spectrum of qualitative methods that highlights the importance of context and social constructions (meanings) and is most often summed up as interpretivism: ethnographic and practice approaches as well as discourse, frame and narrative analysis.

This book argues that a third wave of research on the EU is needed to adequately understand the increased interconnectedness between the European and national political levels. In particular, the book asks: how has Europeanization affected current modes of integration and cooperation in the EU? The authors argue that deeper integration in other areas requires a degree of input legitimacy that is currently lacking in the EU.

European integration has had an ever deepening impact on the member states. The first wave of research concerned the process of institution building and policy developments at the European Union (EU) level. The second wave, on Europeanization used the resulting integration as an explanatory factor in understanding domestic political change and continuity. What is now necessary is to link our understanding of these bottom-up' and top-down' processes of integration and Europeanization. This book argues that a third wave of research on the EU is needed to adequately understand the increased interconnectedness between the European and national political levels. We posit that this third wave should be sensitive to the temporal dimension of European integration and Europeanization. In particular, we ask: how has Europeanization affected current modes of integration and cooperation in the EU?