Download or read book The Relevance of Political Science written by Gerry Stoker and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-03-26 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What does political science tell us about important real-world problems and issues? And to what extent does and can political analysis contribute to solutions? Debates about the funding, impact and relevance of political science in contemporary democracies have made this a vital and hotly contested topic of discussion, and in this original text authors from around the world respond to the challenge. A robust defence is offered of the achievements of political science research, but the book is not overly sanguine given its sustained recognition of the need for improvement in the way that political science is done. New insights are provided into the general issues raised by relevance, into blockages to relevance, and into the contributions that the different subfields of political science can and do make. The book concludes with a new manifesto for relevance that seeks to combine a commitment to rigour with a commitment to engagement.
Download or read book The Relevance of Political Science written by Gerry Stoker and published by Red Globe Press. This book was released on 2015-03-26 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "What does political science tell us about important real-world problems and issues? And to what extent does and can political analysis contribute to solutions? This is the challenge addressed by leading political scientists in this original text which will be essential reading for students and scholars alike"--
Download or read book Basic Interests written by Frank R. Baumgartner and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 1998-03-23 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A generation ago, scholars saw interest groups as the single most important element in the American political system. Today, political scientists are more likely to see groups as a marginal influence compared to institutions such as Congress, the presidency, and the judiciary. Frank Baumgartner and Beth Leech show that scholars have veered from one extreme to another not because of changes in the political system, but because of changes in political science. They review hundreds of books and articles about interest groups from the 1940s to today; examine the methodological and conceptual problems that have beset the field; and suggest research strategies to return interest-group studies to a position of greater relevance. The authors begin by explaining how the group approach to politics became dominant forty years ago in reaction to the constitutional-legal approach that preceded it. They show how it fell into decline in the 1970s as scholars ignored the impact of groups on government to focus on more quantifiable but narrower subjects, such as collective-action dilemmas and the dynamics of recruitment. As a result, despite intense research activity, we still know very little about how groups influence day-to-day governing. Baumgartner and Leech argue that scholars need to develop a more coherent set of research questions, focus on large-scale studies, and pay more attention to the context of group behavior. Their book will give new impetus and direction to a field that has been in the academic wilderness too long.
Download or read book Good Government written by Sören Holmberg and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Everyone wants good government, but how do we know when we have it? The path-breaking Quality of Government Institute cuts through the tiresome ideological debate with theoretically grounded empirical analyses of the components, measures, and outcomes of good government. The book's contributors demonstrate the relevance of political science, and they do so with arguments and evidence that should improve policy and, ultimately, peoples' lives.' – Margaret Levi, University of Washington, US 'All too often today research in political science is irrelevant and uninspiring, shying away from the "big" questions that actually matter in people's lives. Good Government shows that this does not have to be the case. Tackling some of the "biggest" questions of the contemporary era – What is good government? Where does it come from? How can it be measured and how does it matter? – this book will prove invaluable to academics and policy makes alike.' – Sheri Berman, Barnard College, US 'What is "Good Government?" Few doubt that it is better to have a "good government" than a "bad" one, but few of us have thought carefully about what makes for good government vs. bad. Sören Holmberg and Bo Rothstein's excellent volume helps fill in this gap. Though the book is more than this, the focus on corruption is particularly fascinating. We know that corruption is "bad" but where does it come from? Why are some legislatures more corrupt than others? Why does the media sometimes collude? Why are women less easily corrupted than men? These are just a few of the many fascinating questions this volume explores. By bridging democratic theory, public policy and institutional analysis, it is one of the first to give us some practical insight into the obviously important question: what makes some governments "better" than others?' – Sven Steinmo, European University Institute, Italy In all societies, the quality of government institutions is of the utmost importance for the well-being of its citizens. Problems like high infant mortality, lack of access to safe water, unhappiness and poverty are not primarily caused by a lack of technical equipment, effective medicines or other types of knowledge generated by the natural or engineering sciences. Instead, the critical problem is that the majority of the world's population live in societies that have dysfunctional government institutions. Central issues discussed in the book include: how can good government be conceptualized and measured, what are the effects of 'bad government' and how can the quality of government be improved? Good Government will prove invaluable for students in political science, public policy and public administration. Researchers in political science and the social sciences, as well as policy analysts working in government, international and independent policy organizations will also find plenty to interest them in this resourceful compendium.
Download or read book Research Design in Political Science written by T. Gschwend and published by Springer. This book was released on 2007-10-23 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When embarking on a new research project students face the same core research design issues. This volume provides readers with practical guidelines for both qualitative and quantitative designs, discusses the typical trade-offs involved in choosing them and is rich in examples from actual research.
Download or read book Political Science in the Shadow of the State written by Rainer Eisfeld and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-07-11 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is the link between scholarship and democracy? What role do academics play in sustaining democratic values? Why should concerns about the ‘hollowing-out’ of democracy include a focus on the changing governance of higher education? Offering the first comparative analysis of how both democratic and autocratic politicians are seeking to control the research funding landscape, this book reveals a very worrying shift in the relationships between the state and universities: With higher education politically redefined as a mere tool of economic strategy, the space for academic autonomy, intellectual independence and critical thinking is being closed down. This book will be of interest to anyone concerned about democratic governance and the future of higher education.
Download or read book International Encyclopedia of Political Science written by Bertrand Badie and published by SAGE Publications. This book was released on 2011-09-07 with total page 4033 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Request a FREE 30-day online trial to this title at www.sagepub.com/freetrial With entries from leading international scholars from around the world, this eight-volume encyclopedia offers the widest possible coverage of key areas both regionally and globally. The International Encyclopedia of Political Science provides a definitive, comprehensive picture of all aspects of political life, recognizing the theoretical and cultural pluralism of our approaches and including findings from the far corners of the world. The eight volumes cover every field of politics, from political theory and methodology to political sociology, comparative politics, public policies, and international relations. Entries are arranged in alphabetical order, and a list of entries by subject area appears in the front of each volume for ease of use. The encyclopedia contains a detailed index as well as extensive bibliographical references. Filling the need for an exhaustive overview of the empirical findings and reflections on politics, this reference resource is suited for undergraduate or graduate students who wish to be informed effectively and quickly on their field of study, for scholars seeking information on relevant research findings in their area of specialization or in related fields, and for lay readers who may lack a formal background in political science but have an interest in the field nonetheless. The International Encyclopedia of Political Science provides an essential, authoritative guide to the state of political science at the start of the 21st century and for decades to come, making it an invaluable resource for a global readership, including researchers, students, citizens, and policy makers. The encyclopedia was developed in partnership with the International Political Science Association. Key Themes: Case and Area Studies Comparative Politics, Theory, and Methods Democracy and Democratization Economics Epistemological Foundations Equality and Inequality Gender and Race/Ethnicity International Relations Local Government Peace, War, and Conflict Resolution People and Organizations Political Economy Political Parties Political Sociology Public Policy and Administration Qualitative Methods Quantitative Methods Religion
Download or read book Field Research in Political Science written by Diana Kapiszewski and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-03-19 with total page 471 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explains how field research contributes value to political science by exploring scholars' experiences, detailing exemplary practices, and asserting key principles.
Download or read book Thinking Like a Political Scientist written by Christopher Howard and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2017-03-07 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A compelling case for transforming how research methods are taught to undergraduate students of political science.” —London School of Economics Review of Books Each year, tens of thousands of students who are interested in politics go through a rite of passage: they take a course in research methods. Many find the subject to be boring or confusing, and with good reason. Most of the standard books on research methods fail to highlight the most important concepts and questions. Instead, they brim with dry technical definitions and focus heavily on statistical analysis, slighting other valuable methods. This approach prevents students from mastering the skills they need to engage more directly and meaningfully with a wide variety of research. With wit and practical wisdom, Christopher Howard draws on more than a decade of experience teaching research methods to transform a typically dreary subject and teach budding political scientists the critical skills they need to read published research more effectively and produce better research of their own. The first part of the book is devoted to asking three fundamental questions in political science: What happened? Why? Who cares? In the second section, Howard demonstrates how to answer these questions by choosing an appropriate research design, selecting cases, and working with numbers and written documents as evidence. Drawing on examples from American and comparative politics, international relations, and public policy, Thinking Like a Political Scientist highlights the most common challenges that political scientists routinely face, and each chapter concludes with exercises so that students can practice dealing with those challenges.
Download or read book Politics as a Science written by Philippe C. Schmitter and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-07-21 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Politics as a Science, two of the world's leading authorities on Comparative Politics, Philippe C. Schmitter and Marc Blecher, provide a lively introduction to the concepts and framework to study and analyze politics. Written with dexterity, concision and clarity, this short text makes no claim to being scientific. It contains no disprovable hypotheses, no original collection of evidence and no search for patterns of association. Instead, Schmitter and Blecher keep the text broadly conceptual and theoretical to convey their vision of the sprawling subject of politics. They map the process in which researchers try to specify the goal of the trip, some of the landmarks likely to be encountered en route and the boundaries that will circumscribe the effort. Examples, implications and elaborations are included in footnotes throughout the book. Politics as a Science is an ideal introduction for anyone interested in, or studying, comparative politics. “The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/doi/view/10.4324/9781003032144, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.”
Download or read book Political Science written by William J. Crotty and published by Northwestern University Press. This book was released on 1991 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this volume, the study of legislatures has traditionally been a central preoccupation of political scientists. Legislatures provide good laboratories for testing theories and methodologies of significance in the discipline and, more broadly, for contributing to an understanding of how representative government works.
Download or read book Untimely Politics written by Samuel A. Chambers and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2003-12 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The standard, linear view of history is founded on the belief that political outcomes are predetermined by what has gone before. This book challenges this view, arguing for what Samuel A. Chambers calls an untimely politics which renders the past problematic and the future unpredictable. This pathbreaking argument is advanced through a close reading of key texts in political theory and by entering into debates involving metaphysics, philosophy of language, and psychoanalysis versus discursive analysis. Chambers focuses on the theme of the relevance of language analysis to political debate, answering those critics who insist discourse approaches to politics are irrelevant. Heidegger, Nietzsche, Foucault and Derrida are used to challenge the political burden which is placed on language analysis to prove its value in the real world. Drawing from political theory and cultural studies Chambers takes on the same-sex marriage debate, showing how the use and misuse of language has contributed to an impasse that is not likely to be broken. Wide ranging and insightful, Untimely Politics makes a timely plea for a more politically relevant and culturally engaged form of intellectual engagement.
Download or read book Political Science in the Shadow of the State written by Rainer Eisfeld and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'This compelling volume literally spans the globe, from North America to Europe and on to the Middle East, as it apprehends how agenda-setting and research support by public authorities can redirect and limit the contours and content of political science. Sharply argued, the essays raise many points of concern'. -Ira I. Katznelson, Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History, Columbia University, USA 'Superbly evocative...A distinguished dissection of a prevalent pattern in contemporary state-scholar relationships, revealed as disquieting in terms of its costs to intellectual freedom and social capital. Also a compassionate appeal in favor of expanding political scientists' topic-driven international cooperation'. -Irmina Matonyte, former President, Lithuanian Political Science Association, Military Academy of Lithuania (Vilnius) 'Political science should be relevant, but this book makes a convincing argument that the state should not be left to define what is relevant. A discipline focused on power and how to control it would do well to reflect and act on the warnings embodied in this work'. -Gerry Stoker, Professor of Governance, University of Southampton, UK What is the link between scholarship and democracy? What role do academics play in sustaining democratic values? Why should concerns about the 'hollowing-out' of democracy include a focus on the changing governance of higher education? Offering the first comparative analysis of how both democratic and autocratic politicians are seeking to control the research funding landscape, this book reveals a very worrying shift in the relationships between the state and universities: With higher education politically redefined as a mere tool of economic strategy, the space for academic autonomy, intellectual independence and critical thinking is being closed down. This book will be of interest to anyone concerned about democratic governance and the future of higher education. Rainer Eisfeld is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Osnabrück University, Germany, and also taught at UCLA as a Visiting Professor. Matthew Flinders is Founding Director of the Sir Bernard Crick Centre and Professor of Politics at the University of Sheffield, UK.
Download or read book Political Science and Ideology written by William Connolly and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-05 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Professor David Kettler commented at the time of initial release, that this book is "writing with great poise and clarity, the author says important things in a deceptively simple way about a problem of paramount significance. A fine piece of clarification, blending just the right mixture of respect and impiety toward the important heroes of contemporary political science, this is the kind of book I look forward to having available for our courses in political theory."Ideology, though long pronounced moribund, continues to play a central role in contemporary political inquiry. In this reevaluation of the true function of political science, the author lays down guidelines for the construction of fruitful political interpretations in the large areas where ideological assumptions and claims cannot be adequately tested. He analyzes two representative theories of power in American society-those of the "pluralists" who affirm and the "elitists" who dispute the case for democracy-and demonstrates how personal preferences and group-oriented interests enter into the development of these concepts. Speaking to all social scientists and students engaged in the study of political processes, Connolly details the methods by which the investigator-who inevitably brings his own beliefs and values to the task-can lay bare and control the ideological aspects of his own work and that of others.A critical examination of the writings of some of the leading figures in recent and contemporary political inquiry, such as Karl Mannheim, C. Wright Mills, Robert Dahl, Daniel Bell, and Seymour Martin Lipset leads him to assign a decisive role for the political scientist in the creation of carefully formulated ideologies. An original mind, drawing upon an exceptionally rich store of knowledge, has here produced an important book which will be of immediate-and challenging-relevance to the work and studies of all scholars, graduate students, and majors in the field
Download or read book Competitive Accountability in Academic Life written by Richard Watermeyer and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2019 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book considers how a culture of ‘competitive accountability’ in UK higher education produces multiple tensions, contradictions and paradoxes that are destabilizing and deleterious to the work and identities of academics as research scientists. It suggests the potential of a new discourse of scientific accountability, that frees scientists and their public communities from the absurdities and profligacy of ‘performativity’ and ‘managerial governmentality’ encountered in the REF and an impact agenda – the noose of competitive accountability – and a more honest and meaningful public contract.
Download or read book Handbook of Research Methods and Applications in Political Science written by Hans Keman and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2016-12-30 with total page 566 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Handbook offers a comprehensive overview of state-of-the-art research methods and applications currently in use in political science. It combines theory and methodology (qualitative and quantitative), and offers insights into the major approaches and their roots in the philosophy of scientific knowledge. Including a comprehensive discussion of the relevance of a host of digital data sources, plus the dos and don’ts of data collection in general, the book also explains how to use diverse research tools and highlights when and how to apply these techniques.
Download or read book The Development of Political Science written by David Easton and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-03-11 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years the history of political science has become recognised as an important but neglected area of study. The Development of Political Science is the first comprehensive discussion of the subject in a comparative international perspective. Offering a wide-ranging account of the development of the subject and its dissemination across national borders and cultural divides, the book begins with a study of the historiography of the discipline in the United States, a country which has been at the forefront of the field. Widening its discussion to emphasise Western Europe as a focus for comparison, the contributors provide studies of further areas of interest such as China and Africa. This particular approach emphasises the book's vision of political science as a growing transnational body of knowledge. In presenting critical analysis of the state of the field, this vigorous study aims to further the development of the discipline in the countries discussed, and to provide a work that is interesting not only to political scientists, but to all those concerned with the development of the social sciences.
