Vestnik RUDN. International RelationsVestnik RUDN. International RelationsВестник Российского университета дружбы народов. Серия: Международные отношения2313-06602313-0679федеральное государственное автономное образовательное учреждение высшего образования «Российский университет дружбы народов имени Патриса Лумумбы» (РУДН)2397010.22363/2313-0660-2020-20-2-279-287THEMATIC DOSSIERТЕМАТИЧЕСКОЕ ДОСЬЕResearch ArticleComparative Area Studies and the Study of the Global SouthСравнительное регионоведение и исследование Глобального ЮгаSilRudraСилРудраProfessor of Political Science, the SAS Director of the Huntsman Program in International Studies & Businessпрофессор политологии и директор (SAS) Программы Хантсмана по международным исследованиям и бизнесуrudysil@sas.upenn.eduAhramAriel I.АхрамАриэль И.Associate Professor, School of Public and International Affairsдоцент, школа публичных и международных отношенийahram@vt.eduUniversity of PennsylvaniaУниверситет ПенсильванииVirginia TechПолитехнический университет Виргинии и университет штата15122020202Contemporary Area Studies: Overcoming Level-of-Analysis EclecticismСовременное регионоведение: преодолевая эклектику уровней анализа27928715062020Copyright ©; 2020, Sil R., Ahram A.I.Copyright ©; 2020, Сил Р., Ахрам А.И.2020Sil R., Ahram A.I.Сил Р., Ахрам А.И.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0https://journals.rudn.ru/international-relations/article/view/23970Comparative Area Studies (CAS) offers a template to bring the Global South back into the foreground of social science inquiry. CAS urges researchers to grapple directly with empirical variations derived from across the seemingly different global regions. CAS offers three comparative modes: intra-regional, cross-regional, and trans-regional. A number of scholars have used CAS’s comparative rubrics, even without knowing about the wider CAS agenda and program. CAS unsettles assumptions about discrete, fixed “regional” or civilizational blocks as well as about nomothetic theory-building aimed at universal or general laws. At the same time, CAS engages in the idea of medium-range theory-building, focusing empirical rigor and induction in order to create concepts and analyses that are portable yet contextualized. These macro-historical theories must be attentive to spatial and temporal variation in the social world. Claims of universalism are suspect. For the study of the Global South, in particular, CAS provides a path for aggregating and leveraging the wide range of observations and interpretations area specialists have to offer on regions as diverse as South Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa. CAS thus changes the division of labor within social science to allow greater input for scholarship derived from and originating in the developing world.Сравнительные региональные исследования (СРИ) предлагают инструментарий, позволяющий вернуть Глобальный Юг на передний план исследований в области социальных наук. СРИ призывают исследователей не бояться сталкиваться и изучать, казалось бы, значительную эмпирическую вариацию, обнаруживаемую при сравнении различных регионов мира. СРИ предлагают три сравнительных метода: внутрирегиональный, сравнение соседних регионов и трансрегиональные сравнения. Ряд исследователей уже применяли методику СРИ до того, как они были выделены в отдельное методологическое направление со своими более глобальными задачами и представлениями о сравнительных исследованиях в целом. СРИ разрушают предположения о дискретных, фиксированных «региональных» или цивилизационных блоках, а также построении номотетических теорий, нацеленных на универсальные законы. В то же время СРИ продвигают идею построения теории среднего уровня, концентрируясь на большей эмпирической строгости и индукции, с целью создания терминологии и анализа, являвшихся бы экстраполируемыми, но в то же время контекстуализируемыми. Эти макроисторические теории должны более тщательно учитывать пространственные и временные изменения в социальном мире. 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