Comparative political analysis at the macrolevel of political systems can reduce the inevitably high complexity of such comparisons by the systematic matching or contrasting of cases, depending on the particular problem. Such “most similar systems” or “most different systems” designs, in Przeworski and Teune's terminology, thus constitute one of the major ways out of the usual “small N—many variables” dilemma. This article proposes a detailed and comprehensive method to establish such similarities and dissimilarities in a systematic and, at all stages, transparent way. The examples chosen refer to an analysis of the conditions of survival or breakdown of democratic systems in the interwar period in Europe.
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