THE SYNTHETIC METHODOLOGY AND THE OUTLINE PROGRAM FOR RESEARCH OF SOCIAL-POLITICAL CRISES
In the context of current trends in the development of social sciences a set of ontological and epistemological foundations is proposed. It is oriented towards constructing and testing theories of social and historical dynamics which take into account various socio-spatial scales. The most striking manifestation of the historical dynamics are social crises, rebellions, revolutions, state breakdowns and regime changes, so further development of the methodology is illustrated with a focus on this group of phenomena. An a priori conceptual framework of socio-political crises is presented. It includes several fields of conflict (ideological, electoral, administrative, legal ones, the field of street protests, the field of violence) and the corresponding types of resources in conflict interactions. The classical logic of Karl Hempel is combined with modern concepts of social mechanisms, and illustrated by means of visual diagrams. The main difficulties in applying the rigorous Hempelian logic are revealed and some research strategies for overcoming these difficulties are suggested (the structural approach, the analysis of combinations of binary variables, the factorial approach).