The Weberian Ideal Type in Political Economy: Obsolete Match or Fruitful Encounter?

This article highlights the analytical contribution of the Weberian ideal type to the field of political economy. Major strands of political economy have continued to integrate ideal type thinking to understand better the dynamics of national, regional and global economic systems. While there is an unbroken popularity of this methodological tool in the social sciences, we argue that it shows particular strengths and weaknesses in the interface between comparative and international political economy. To make this point, we first analyse the aims of the Weberian ideal type and investigate how it has been applied in the Varieties of Capitalism approach (VoC), dominant in much of comparative political economy (CPE). We then explore standard criticisms especially in the extension and reformulation of this approach to include the reasoning of international political economy (IPE). Main patterns of ideal type construction are identified to capture the CPE/IPE interaction and to point to some of the standard pitfalls when using the Weberian device. To maintain its strong position in the toolbox of political economy researchers need to take its heuristic purpose more seriously and be aware of its limitations.