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Title:
Centre-Periphery Structures in Europe [1880-1978] : an International Social Science Council (ISSC) Workbook in Comparative Analysis

Subject Categories:
Teaching packages and test datasets - Reference and instructional resources
Government and political systems - Politics
Economic history - History
International history - History
Political history - History
Population history - History
Social history - History

Depositor(s):
ICPSR

Principal Investigator(s):
Rokkan, S.

Other Acknowledgements:
International Social Science Council

Abstract:
Main Topics:
Variables
This study presents economic, cultural, electoral and administrative variables from the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries: Britain, Germany, Norway and Switzerland. The dataset was constructed at the request of the Standing Committee on Comparative Research of the International Social Science Council to serve as a teaching tool on research methodology in the social sciences. Its purpose is to introduce students to international comparative studies by offering them the opportunity to investigate the structures of territories in modern Western Europe. In particular, this study focuses on the relationships between military-administrative, economic, and cultural `centers' within a nation-state and their surrounding hinterlands. The four countries selected illustrate very different types of territorial structure from the federal, multi-centered model to the unitary, single-centered model. In physical size, they represent both large and small political entities. The separate country level files in this study vary in the unit of analysis: Kreise for the Federal Republic of Germany, Constituencies for the United Kingdom, communes within counties (Fylke) in Norway, and Cantons in Switzerland. These units were chosen explicitly to allow the student to grapple with the problems of choosing a level of aggregation in comparative analyses. This study contains extensive information for all four countries in such areas as geography, demography, urban settlement patterns, occupational structures, education, income, industrial and agricultural production, health and household condition, cultural and religious traits and political beliefs.

Coverage:
Country: German Federal Republic; Germany (pre-1948); Great Britain; Multi-nation; Norway; Switzerland
Observation Units: Administrative units (geographical/political)

Universe Sampled:
Location of Units of Observation:Cross-national
National

Methodology:
Data Sources: Census data; other demographic data.

Language(s) of Written Materials:
Study Description: English
Study Documentation: English

Access:
Access Conditions: The depositor has specified that registration is required and standard conditions of use apply. The depositor may be informed about usage. See terms and conditions for further information.

Available to UK residents or those registered at UK institutions of higher or further education only.
Availability: History Data Service, UK Data Archive
Contact: Help desk: hds@essex.ac.uk
Originating Archive: ICPSR - Original Study Number: 7571

Date of Release:
First Edition: 1 January 1988