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wp-theory-building

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Use when building the theoretical argument of a World Politics manuscript so it travels across cases. World Politics rewards arguments that significantly advance theoretical debates in comparative politics and international relations, with explicit mechanisms and scope conditions that generalize beyond one case. Structures the argument; it does not run analyses.

When to use

• building theoretical argument
• defining key constructs
• stating causal mechanisms
• identifying observable implications
• defining scope conditions
• formal modeling for comparative/IR puzzles
• addressing referee objections on generativity

When not to use

• running analyses
• topic selection
• research design testing

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