Separately, scholars, although focusing on one particular units, develop what could be described as an ‘unbalanced’ comparison, contrasting features of other similar units against their chosen unit to provide some context. Hence, Ernst Haas (1961) focused on European integration, but contrasted this with a variety of similar processes across the globe.
Some have argued that not merely ‘unbalanced’ comparisons, but even explicitly ‘single case’ studies, can be classified as ‘comparative’. For example, the use of ‘ideal types’ (abstractions from different exemplars of a particular phenomenon) in order to contextualize single cases could be seen as involving comparison (Ragin, 1987: 4).