The Utility of Replication: Exploring the Impact of Corporatism and Consensualism with Multiple Models, Methods, and Operationalizations

Replicating the work of others is much more useful and challenging than is generally acknowledged. In this case study, I review the multiple replications that I had to perform to investigate the relationship between consensualism and corporatism that represented a constitutive element of Arend Lijphart’s analysis of the performance of opposite patterns of democracy. The replication exercise was part of my own contribution to that topic, but it was further prompted and expanded by the comments and suggestions received from the journal’s referees. I here produce a first classification of types of replication, underlining the aim and helpfulness of each of them.