<P> Comparative historical research is a method of social science that examines historical events in order to create explanations that are valid beyond a particular time and place, either by direct comparison to other historical events, theory building, or reference to the present day . Generally, it involves comparisons of social processes across times and places . It overlaps with historical sociology . While the disciplines of history and sociology have always been connected, they have connected in different ways at different times . This form of research may use any of several theoretical orientations . It is distinguished by the types of questions it asks, not the theoretical framework it employs . </P> <P> Some commentators have identified three waves of historical comparative research . The first wave of historical comparative research concerned how societies came to be modern, i.e. based on individual and rational action, with exact definitions varying widely . Some of the major researchers in this mode were Alexis de Tocqueville, Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and W.E.B. Du Bois . The second wave reacted to a perceived ahistorical body of theory and sought to show how social systems were not static, but developed over time . Notable authors of this wave include Barrington Moore, Jr., Theda Skocpol, Charles Tilly, Michael Mann, and Mark Gould . Some have placed the Annales school and Pierre Bourdieu in this general group, despite their stylistic differences . The current wave of historical comparative research sociology is often but not exclusively post-structural in its theoretical orientation . Influential current authors include Julia Adams, Anne Laura Stoler, Philip Gorski, and James Mahoney . </P>

A main strength of the comparative cases method is that