Political Science and the Public Sphere Today

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 366-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rogers M. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Scientific Rigor ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Public Issues ◽  
The Public ◽  
American Higher Education ◽  
Research And Teaching ◽  
Recent Trends ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Cumulative Knowledge

The potential of political science to contribute to debates over public issues has long been hindered by tensions in the discipline's goals of achieving scientific rigor while also serving America's democracy. Those tensions have been exacerbated by recent trends in American higher education working to separate research and teaching activities and to rely more on external donors to finance both. Collectively these trends suggest that political science faces growing pressures to steer away from unpopular topics in both research and teaching, and to abandon the traditional teacher/scholar model of academic careers. It is advisable for the discipline both to seek more actively to promote engagement between different forms of political science scholarship in order to achieve cumulative knowledge that is pertinent to important political issues, and to preserve and strengthen its commitments to effective teaching about politics.

scholarly journals From Scientific Communism to Political Science: The Development of the Profession in Selected Former Soviet European States

2021 ◽  
pp. 51-85
Author(s):  
Tatsiana Chulitskaya ◽  
Irmina Matonyte ◽  
Dangis Gudelis ◽  
Serghei Sprincean
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Academic Freedom ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
Important Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Conflicts ◽  
The Public Sphere

AbstractThe chapter explores the trajectories of the evolution of political science (PS) in four former Soviet Socialist Republics (Estonia and Lithuania, the Republics of Moldova and Belarus) after the USSR collapse. Departing from the premise that PS is appreciated as the science of democracy, the authors claim that its identity and autonomy are particularly important. Research shows that PS in these countries started from the same impoverished basis (“scientific communism”), but it soon took diverse trajectories and currently faces specific challenges. Democracy, pro-Western geopolitical settings and the shorter period of Sovietization contributed to the faster and more sustainable development of PS in two Baltic States. However, in Estonia, political developments have led to the retrenchment of PS and to downsize of universities’ departments and study programmes. In Lithuania, political scientists are very visible in the public sphere. In Moldova, its uncertain geopolitical orientation and a series of internal political conflicts have led to the weak identity of PS and questionable prospects for its further institutionalization. In authoritarian Belarus, PS as an academic discipline exists within a hostile political environment and under a hierarchical system of governance offering practically no degree of academic freedom.

scholarly journals Ideology and Truth

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 7-39
Author(s):  
Krešimir Petković
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Political Science ◽  
History Of Ideas ◽  
Philosophical Tradition ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
The Third ◽  
Western Philosophical Tradition ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Public Sphere

The author argues that any discourse analysis, as well as other approaches in social sciences and humanities, cannot ultimately avoid the truth and ideology distinction. The first part of the article provides several glimpses at the Western philosophical tradition that preserves the value of truth. In the second part, an idea for political science, grounded in such a history of ideas, is sketched. After a brief discussion of what is ideology as opposed to truth, the author proposes a thesis about ideology, identity and power, and several heuristic ideas how to develop it. In the third part, he briefly provides examples from political and policy analysis that correspond to such a project. In the final part, he explains the importance of preserving the distinction between ideology and truth in the discursively postulated “post-truth” era. This combination of epistemology, science, analysis and teleology is reflected together in one political area of utmost importance for political science operating in the public sphere: the politics of naming.

scholarly journals Complicating the Political Scientist as Blogger

2013 ◽  
Vol 46 (02) ◽  
pp. 383-386
Author(s):  
Robert Farley
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Academic Career ◽  
The Political ◽  
Multiple Models ◽  
Political Scientist ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere

AbstractIn our efforts to make blogging an acceptable component of an academic career in political science, we ought not tame the practice of blogging beyond recognition. Multiple models exist under which blogging can contribute to the discipline of political science and through which political scientists can contribute to the public sphere.

Political Science in Real Time: Engaging the Middle East Policy Public

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Lynch
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Political Science ◽  
The Political ◽  
Good Work ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political World ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Middle East Policy

A decade ago, very few political scientists had either the opportunity or the incentive to engage with the political public in a direct, unmediated way. Today, there is a dense and eclectic ecosystem of political science and international relations-focused blogs and online publications, where good work can easily find an audience through social media. There are multiple initiatives dedicated to supporting academic interventions in the public sphere, and virtually every political or cultural magazine of note now offers a robust online section featuring commentary and analysis in which political scientists are well represented. This has transformed publication for a broader public from something exotic to something utterly routine. I discuss how these changes have affected individual scholars, the field of political science, and the political world with which we are engaged.

Embodied Reasons in the Public Sphere: The Example of the Hijab

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 499-512
Author(s):  
Thomas Wabel
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
John Rawls ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Free Standing ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Debates ◽  
German Philosopher ◽  
The Public Sphere

In public debates on moral or political issues between participants from different religious backgrounds, liberal and secular thinkers like John Rawls and Jürgen Habermas recommend to restrict oneself to free-standing reasons that are independent of their religious, social or cultural origin. Following German philosopher Matthias Jung, however, I argue that such reasons fall short of describing the relevance of the issue in question for the adherents of a specific religion or worldview. Referring to the debates in several European countries about the hijab, I am showing how a deeper understanding of reasons as embodied in social practices and as embodied in individual biographies can help to disentangle such debates and to facilitate a dialogue on these issues.

The U.S. Congressional Record as a technology of representation

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zornitsa Keremidchieva
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
The Public ◽  
Congressional Debates ◽  
Congressional Record ◽  
Written Form ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Historical Controversies ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Argumentative Practice

Focusing on the historical controversies surrounding the development of the print records of the U.S. congressional debates, this essay explores how human, technological, and discursive agencies come together to constitute institutional argumentative practice. Examining the U.S. Congressional Record through the lens of Bruno Latour’s concept of dingpolitik reveals that as a technology of representation print records work less as mediators and more as agents of institutional contextualization. Print records do more than translate arguments from oral to written form or transfer arguments from the public sphere to the state. Rather, they assemble the disparate elements that constitute the terrains of governance, the character of political issues, and the norms of congressional deliberation. Hence, the material dynamics of congressional deliberation prompt not only a reconsideration of what and who is being represented by Congress, but also a methodological reorientation from normative to constitutive perspectives on institutional argumentation.

scholarly journals The Case for Public Policy Expertise in Political Science

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (03) ◽  
pp. 476-480
Author(s):  
Veronica Herrera ◽  
Alison E. Post
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Research Funding ◽  
Research Area ◽  
The Public ◽  
Innovative Work ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Academic Positions

ABSTRACTThe politics of public policy is a vibrant research area increasingly at the forefront of intellectual innovations in the discipline. We argue that political scientists are best positioned to undertake research on the politics of public policy when they possess expertise in particular policy areas. Policy expertise positions scholars to conduct theoretically innovative work and to ensure that empirical research reflects the reality they aim to analyze. It also confers important practical advantages, such as access to a significant number of academic positions and major sources of research funding not otherwise available to political scientists. Perhaps most importantly, scholars with policy expertise are equipped to defend the value of political science degrees and research in the public sphere.

Class Discourse in Croatia

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 663-671 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marko Grdešić
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Class Analysis ◽  
New Developments ◽  
The Public ◽  
Recent Trends ◽  
Younger Generation ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Academic Debate ◽  
Class Discourse

This article summarizes recent trends in Croatia with regard to class analysis and class discourse. It traces the main currents both in academic debate as well as more broadly in the public sphere. Issues of class were sidelined with the outbreak of war and the rise of nationalism in the 1990s. Later, neoliberalism further weakened class and leftist discourse. Research on class has been sporadic and rare. New developments among a younger generation of leftist activists and scholars have begun to challenge the silence on class, but the main trends have not been reversed.

Soziologische Phantasie und kosmopolitisches Gemeinwesen

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Public Domain ◽  
Special Edition ◽  
Unexpected Death ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
The Public ◽  
Sociological Work ◽  
The Public Sphere

Since the unexpected death of Ulrich Beck, there has largely been an absence of studies and debate on the continuation of his sociological work. One reason for this might be the fact that Beck’s writings revolve strongly around public resonance and everyday political issues. His approach to sociology, which straddles the border between academia and the public sphere, therefore represents a challenge for an academic discipline which is increasingly trying to overcome its own flawed and entrenched academic unity by demanding a more public form of sociology, but which has only just begun to tackle the work of one of its most important representatives in the public domain. This special edition aims to reassess the dialogue between the sociologist Ulrich Beck and the contemporary academic field of sociology.

Encyclopedia of Public Administration

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
International Studies ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Department Of State ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Sciences ◽  
The University

Encyclopedia of Public Administration is the first Polish interdisciplinary encyclopedia covering the issues of public administration, both in the theoretical context and with reference to its functioning in practice. The publication, whose idea was developed by researchers from the Institute of Political Sciences at the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies of the University of Warsaw, was prepared by scientists from eight Polish universities. Readers seeking knowledge and information on such issues as democracy, the system of public authorities in Poland, including local and regional self-government authorities, rules governing the practice of the functioning of offices, issues regarding officials and professional ethics, and finally forms of citizens’ participation in co-governance and their rights in relations with the public administration system, will appreciate the several hundred entries. Issues related to the functioning of the Polish administration in the structures of the European Union are also taken into account. This list does not exhaust the extensive range of entries. The Encyclopedia is addressed to various readers – the scientific community, students, representatives of public administration or citizens seeking information about the system of public institutions and the rules governing their functioning. The authors of the entries are authorities in the field of law, state systems and political issues of public administration, such as Professors Hubert Izdebski, Robert Kmieciak, Izabela Malinowska, Stanisław Mazur, Andrzej Misiuk, Jacek Sroka, Jacek Wojnicki and scientific editor of the volume Jolanta Itrich-Drabarek, Head of the Department of State Sciences and Public Administration at the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies, University of Warsaw.

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