James MahoneyView profile
Professor
James Mahoney is the Gordon Fulcher Professor of Decision-Making, Professor of Sociology, and Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University. His work focuses on comparative-historical analysis, political development in Latin America, and methodological innovations in social sciences. He has authored and edited influential books such as Advances in Comparative-Historical Analysis (2015) and A Tale of Two Cultures: Qualitative and Quantitative Research in the Social Sciences (2012). Mahoney has held leadership roles including President of the Qualitative and Multi-Method Research Section at APSA and Chair of Sociology at Northwestern. His research has received multiple awards from ASA and APSA for methodological contributions and his book Colonialism and Postcolonial Development earned six major awards. His teaching includes courses like Comparative Historical Analysis and Global Development . Mahoney advocates for methodological pluralism, emphasizing integration of qualitative and quantitative approaches. His recent work examines historical institutionalism, Latin American political trajectories, and causal mechanisms in social science explanations. He has also contributed to debates on process tracing and set-theoretic methods in comparative research. Key areas of study include colonial legacies, state formation, and constitutional evolution in Latin America. Mahoney’s interdisciplinary approach bridges sociology, political science, and historical analysis, producing foundational texts for graduate and undergraduate education in social sciences.










