Patrick A. Mello

International Politics, Security, and Methods

  • QCA-Workshop am Max-Weber-Institut für Soziologie, Universität Heidelberg

    Am 12. und 13. Januar 2022 habe ich am Max-Weber-Institut der Universität Heidelberg einen virtuellen Workshop zu Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) gehalten. Neben einer allgemeinen Einführung in die Methodik von QCA illustrierte der Workshop empirische Anwendungsmöglichkeiten und die konkrete Durchführung von QCA-Analysen mit R und den zugehörigen R Packages. Als Grundlage diente das Lehrbuch Qualitative Comparative Analysis: An Introduction to Research Design and Application (Georgetown University Press, 2021).

    Herzlichen Dank an Prof. Matthias Koenig (Lehrstuhl Empirische Makrosoziologie) für die Einladung und an alle Teilnehmer*innen für den konstruktiven Workshop!

  • Parliamentary debates and decision-making on Afghanistan

    The January 2022 issue of Orient: Deutsche Zeitschrift für Politik, Wirtschaft und Kultur des Orients/ German Journal for Politics, Economics and Culture of the Middle East features my article on “German Parliamentary Debates and Decision-Making on Afghanistan”. The piece reviews German engagement in Afghanistan with a focus on parliamentary involvement. The article can be accessed here.

    Abstract: The fall of Kabul in August 2021 marked the end of 20 years of German civilian and military engagement in Afghanistan. Over this time, more than 90,000 Bundeswehr soldiers were deployed in Afghanistan, 59 of whom died there. At a cost of about EUR 12.3 bn, the engagement in the Afghanistan missions amounted to the largest and most costly military operation in the history of the Bundeswehr. This contribution reflects upon parliamentary involvement throughout this period, placing emphasis on the initial political decisions and turning points of the Afghanistan engagement.

  • 9th International QCA Expert Workshop at ETH Zurich

    On December 13-15, I took part virtually in the 9th International QCA Expert Workshop and 5th International QCA Paper Development Workshop at ETH Zurich (organized by Manuel Fischer, Julia Leib, Johannes Meuer, Sofia Pagliarin, Ryan Rumble, and Christian Rupietta). The main workshop brought together a group of about 30 QCA experts from around the globe, most of whom participated online to discuss methodological innovations, the diffusion of QCA, and new measures of validity and robustness. The preceding paper development workshop included more than a dozen roundtables with about 50 applied QCA papers that were presented and discussed. I co-chaired roundtables with Sofia Pagliarin (Erasmus University Rotterdam) and Nena Oana (European University Institute), presented my recent QCA textbook Qualitative Comparative Analysis: An Introduction to Research Design and Application (Georgetown University Press), and took part in the jury for the QCA Best Paper Award (together with Yunzhou Du, Peer Fiss, Benoît Rihoux, Carsten Schneider, and Eva Thomann).

  • QCA Book Published with Georgetown University Press

    Georgetown University Press has just published my QCA textbook Qualitative Comparative Analysis: An Introduction to Research Design and Application. Following an ideal-typical research cycle, the book’s ten chapters cover the methodological basis and analytical routine of QCA, as well as matters of research design, causation and causal complexity, and QCA variants. A comprehensive glossary helps to clarify frequently used terms. The book is complemented by an accessible online R manual to help new users practice QCA’s analytical steps on sample data and then implement those steps with their own findings. The book further contains boxes by other authors from across the social sciences, who are reflecting on their own QCA applications and their use of specific variants of the method. For more information, reviews, and online material, please click the button below.

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  • QCA-Workshop, Universität Jena

    Am 30. September und 1. Oktober 2021 habe ich am Fachbereich Interkulturelle Wirtschaftskommunikation (IWK) der Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena einen virtuellen Workshop zu Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) gehalten. Der Workshop diente der allgemeinen Einführung in die QCA-Methodik sowie der konkreten Anwendung von QCA im Rahmen laufender Forschungsprojekte des IWK.

    Herzlichen Dank an das ganze IWK-Team für den konstruktiven Workshop und den anregenden Austausch zu sozialwissenschaftlichen Methoden!

  • Foreign Policy Change in Europe

    Palgrave just published the edited volume Foreign Policy Change in Europe Since 1991, co-edited by Jeroen Joly (Saint-Louis University Brussels) and Tim Haesebrouck (Ghent University). The book analyzes foreign policy change and continuity across 11 European countries throughout the past three decades. I contributed a chapter on German Foreign Policy to the volume.

    Many thanks to the editors for inviting me to contribute to this project!

  • 25th Swiss Summer School in Social Science Methods, Lugano 2021

    From August 23-27, 2021 I taught at the 25th Summer School in Social Science Methods, organized by the Swiss Foundation for Social Science (FORS) and the Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI). The summer school is hosted at USI in beautiful Lugano, Switzerland. This was the third time that I offered a one-week intensive course on Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) at the Swiss Summer School in Lugano (after 2016 and 2019, respectively). The course was offered in hybrid format, with in-presence and online participants attending the course. The course was based on my QCA textbook Qualitative Comparative Analysis: An Introduction to Research Design and Application, published with Georgetown University Press (2021, Publisher’s Website). Many thanks to all course participants for an intensive and fun week with QCA! And thanks to School Coordinator Janice Casarella and the School Directors Eugène Horber, Patrick Gagliardini, and Benedetto Lepori for the excellent and smooth organization!

  • Researching Non-State Actors in International Security – Now Open Access

    The Routledge volume Researching Non-State Actors in International Security: Theory and Practice, edited by Andreas Kruck and Andrea Schneiker, has now been turned into a fully open access book. The book contains chapters on “interpreting texts” (Part I), “establishing causal claims” (Part II), and “doing fieldwork” (Part III). I contributed a chapter on “Qualitative Comparative Analysis and the Study of Non-State Actors” to Part II of the volume. The book’s substantive chapters are complemented by “discussion chapters” where commentators draw together and reflect upon the respective areas of research. Many thanks to the editors and other contributors for their efforts turning this into an open access book! I am grateful for the open access funding approved by the University of Erfurt to contribute to this aim.

  • QCA-Workshop, Universität Halle

    Am 21. und 22. Juli 2021 habe ich an der Medizinischen Fakultät der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg einen Workshop zu Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) gehalten. Der Workshop richtete sich gezielt auf die Anwendung von QCA im Rahmen eines laufenden Forschungsprojekts am Institut für Gesundheits- und Pflegewissenschaft der Uni Halle. Herzlichen Dank an das ganze Forschungsteam für die Einladung nach Halle und für den konstruktiven und anregenden Präsenz-Workshop!

  • Gastvortrag, EIPCC Nachwuchskolleg

    Am 14. Juli 2021 habe ich am Nachwuchskolleg „Effective and Innovative Policymaking in Contested Contexts“ (EIPCC) der Universität Erfurt einen virtuellen Gastvortrag zum Thema “Research Design and Methods” gehalten. Der Vortrag für Doktorandinnen und Doktoranden des EIPCC erläuterte grundlegende Fragen zu Forschungsdesign, Kausalität, sowie qualitativen und quantitativen Methoden der Sozialwissenschaften. Das EIPCC-Nachwuchskolleg der Universität Erfurt wurde Anfang 2021 von der Willy Brandt School of Public Policy, der Staatswissen-schaftlichen Fakultät und dem Max-Weber-Kolleg gegründet. Herzlichen Dank an die beiden Sprecherinnen der EIPCC-Kollegiat*innen, Stephanie Gast Zepeda und Almut Mohr, für die Einladung und an alle Teilnehmenden für die angeregte Diskussion im Anschluß an den Vortrag!