Synopses & Reviews
In the social disciplines there is a growing movement to use disciplinary history as a means of accounting for the present status and possible futures of various modes of social and political inquiry. In this collection of essays, a number of political scientists take up the challenge of disciplinary history by exploring a range of themes and movements that have shaped academic political science today. These essays should be of interest to any student of the social disciplines who is interested in understanding both the development of modern political science and its current concerns.
Review
"...this book should be read by anyone interested in the history--present and future--of the social sciences generally. It exemplifies new maturity and sophistication in the telling and mining of the discipline's own checkered history. Furthering the promise of a reasoned discourse about the social sciences in America, it reflects the many dilemmas inherent in contemporary social and political inquiry." Journal of Interdisciplinary History
Synopsis
In the social disciplines there is a growing interest in disciplinary history as a means of accounting for the present status and possible futures of various modes of social and political inquiry. In this collection of essays, scholars take up the challenge of disciplinary history by exploring the themes and movements that have shaped political science today.
Table of Contents
Editor's introduction; 1. The declination of the state and the origins of American pluralism John G. Gunnell; 2. An ambivalent alliance: political science and American democracy Terence Ball; 3. The pedagogical purposes of a political science Stephen T. Leonard; 4. Public opinion in modern political science J. A. W. Gunn; 5. Disciplining Darwin: biology in the history of political science John S. Dryzek and David Schlosberg; 6. Race and political science: the dual traditions of race relations politics and African-American politics Hanes Walton, Jr., Cheryl M. Miller, and Joseph P. McCormick, 2nd; 7. Realism in international relations Jack Donnelly; 8. Remembering the revolution: behavioralism in American political science James Farr; 9. Policy analysis and public life: the restoration of phronesis? Douglas Torgerson; 10. The development of the spatial theory of elections John Ferejohn; 11. Studying institutions: some lessons from the rational choice approach Kenneth A. Shepsle; 12. Order and time in institutional study: a brief for the historical approach Karen Orren and Stephen Skowronek; Bibliography.