Route 1 approach recovers meanings actors attach to actions → culture/ideas/interpretation over empirical–structural factors

Route 2 politics read through meaning, not measurement → positivist empirical lens set aside

Geertz + Taylor: culture/ideas shape action → Geertz’s thick description: behaviour read through cultural context, not outward acts → constructivism: actors shaped by social constructions of reality → defined against rational choice: self-interest vs beliefs/emotions/norms → Snyder’s contextualized comparisons: events within own cultural–historical–ideological frame → fits non-Western societies

weak generalisation → risk of cultural relativism → difficulty of cross-cultural interpretation

Route 1 trades predictive breadth for depth of meaning

Route 2 restores meaning to a discipline long drawn to measurement