PART 1. CONCEPTUAL AND METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK 1. What is historical sociology? 2. Research design in comparative sociology PART 2. INSTITUTIONS AND CENTRAL TOPICS IN HISTORICAL SOCIOLOGY 3. Types of social power and the evolution of empires 4. Organizational sources of the modern state 5. Political institutions and social revolutions 6. Cultural and economic factors in the birth of capitalism 7. Social structure and political modernization 8. Socio-economic inequalities and the welfare state 9. Political opportunities, frames and collective action 10. Structural changes and political cleavages 11. Cultural and political origins of civil society 12. The world society theory