Divining Nuclear Intentions: A Review Essay

2008 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
William C. Potter ◽  
Gaukhar Mukhatzhanova
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Proliferation ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
The Political ◽  
Common Features ◽  
Great Relevance ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Level Of Analysis

Although projections of nuclear proliferation abound, they rarely are founded on empirical research or guided by theory. Even fewer studies are informed by a comparative perspective. The two books under review—The Psychology of Nuclear Proliferation: Identity, Emotions, and Foreign Policy, by Jacques Hymans, and Nuclear Logics: Alternative Paths in East Asia and the Middle East, by Etel Solingen, are welcome exceptions to this general state of affairs, and represent the cutting edge of nonproliferation research. Both works challenge conventional conceptions of the sources of nuclear weapons decisions and offer new insights into why past predictions of rapid proliferation failed to materialize and why current prognoses about rampant proliferation are similarly flawed. While sharing a number of common features, including a focus on subsystemic determinants of national behavior, the books differ in their methodology, level of analysis, receptivity to multicausal explanations, and assumptions about decisionmaker rationality and the revolutionary nature of the decision. Where one author emphasizes the importance of the individual leader's national identity conception in determining a state's nuclear path, the other explains nuclear decisions primarily with regard to the political-economic orientation of the ruling coalition. Notwithstanding a tendency to overinterpret evidence, the books represent the best of contemporary social science research and provide compelling interpretations of nuclear proliferation dynamics of great relevance to scholars and policymakers alike.

The Political Power of Farmers: An English Perspective

Rural History ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Flynn ◽  
Philip Lowe ◽  
Michael Winter
Keyword(s):  
Focal Point ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Rural Politics ◽  
The Political ◽  
Implicit Assumption ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
West European Country ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
Object Of Study

England has one of the longest histories of industrialisation and urbanisation of any West European country. This has inevitably had a formative influence in the structuring of its social science research. For political scientists it has involved an almost overwhelming concern with urban political systems and industrial cleavages. An analysis of class based voting has been a major focal point with its implicit assumption that any other cleavages based, for example, on religious or regional identities are marginal or atavistic. Certainly there has been little acknowledgement of any significant urban–rural divide. In consequence the study of rural politics has been something of an intellectual backwater and there has been no attempt to define or identify rural politics as an object of study. The blinkered vision of political scientists is disappointing. It unduly ignores a number of studies that have engaged with mainstream debates and frequently made worthwhile contributions, most notably, with reference to the case of agriculture, in the understanding of relations between government and industry (Cox et al, 1986; Grant, 1983). There are also signs that some political scientists are beginning to reject models of national (i.e. urban) voting behaviour and political systems in favour of more spatially sensitive work in which greater prominence is given to regional and local differences (Dunleavy, 1990; Johnston, 1985, 1987; Johnston et al, 1988).

Classification Process of Languages in Schools

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nirmali Goswami
Keyword(s):  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Race And Ethnicity ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
School Context ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Learner Identity ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
School Space

Advances in different disciplinary traditions suggest that the classification of languages into standard and non-standard, official and popular, and school and home languages has more to do with power relations than factors intrinsic to language as such. Such classifications, in school space and beyond, articulate hierarchical relations constituted through interaction of class, race, and ethnicity in specific historic context. An examination of the process of classification of languages gives us important insights into the interrelation between social and learner identity of students in school and about discourses of power in general. Scholars from a political economic perspective have argued how identification and hierarchical positioning of languages as high and low status in school context contribute to the process of social reproduction of class based inequality through education. In recent years the reproduction framework has been challenged for being too rigidly framed on the grids of class while ignoring the gendered and ethnic identity of students that might influence and constitute the language practice of students. The approaches that view language use in school as an act of identity production have generated a number of interesting insights in this field, but these have also been subjected to criticism because of their tendency to essentialize social identities. Many of these have also been questioned for directly or indirectly employing a cultural deficit theory on the basis of class, race, or ethnicity. Such concerns necessitate a shift of focus toward examination of the process through which the very category of standard languages, considered appropriate for schooling, emerges. In this respect the work of Pierre Bourdieu is significant in highlighting the political economic context of how certain languages come to acquire higher value than the others. Another perspective emerges from critical studies of colonial encounters that relied on classification of languages as one of the techniques of modern governance. Investigations of such colonial pasts explicate how linguistic groups are imagined, identified, and classified in a society. Postcolonial scholars have argued that such colonial classificatory techniques continue to influence much of social science research today. Methods of research, particularly in the field of education, have been affected by these process to such an extent that our attempts at recovery of non-standard, multilingual speech forms are affected by the very process of investigation. Consequently, studying languages in the school context becomes a more complicated exercise as one is trapped in the very categories which one seeks to open up for investigation. The decolonization of school space, therefore, calls for a fresh methodological approach to undertake study of languages in the school context.

Political Systems and Development in the Third World: New Directions for Social Science Research in Asia

1982 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 483-499 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Third World ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Alternative Theory ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
The People ◽  
The Third World ◽  
Political Economic

Starting from the fact, well-established by now, that conventional social sciences, developed in a specific social/cultural/political/economic context, cannot be relied upon to explain, analyse and understand the social dynamics in different contexts - let alone to predict the outcome of this dynamics - this paper outlines the agenda for research in social sciences in Third World countries. It identifies the areas of research and goes on to emphasize the need for evolving an alternative theory of development which, instead of insisting on industrialization and modernization at all costs, takes into account the historical and social factors in each society and sets itself goals that are both desirable and viable, and comes to grips with the needs and aspirations of the people.

scholarly journals Social Science Research in Southeast Asia: the Challenges of Studying Parliamentary Institutions

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 147
Author(s):  
Ratih Adiputri
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Plenary Session ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Political Institution ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Parliaments ◽  
Parliamentary Procedure

This paper introduces the challenges of studying parliamentary institutions in Southeast Asia. My focus of research is in three countries’ institutions: national parliaments of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. While in Southeast Asia, it is widely known that studying issues of politics and institutions face challenges – compared to studying culture, for example, this view is arguably no longer valid, however with certainqualification.The comparison of parliamentary tradition between three countries – based on observation of the plenary session - reveals that the effectiveness of parliamentary works is related to parliamentary procedure, and even to the culture of work in the countries. Parliamentary structure, procedure and their political culture matters. Therefore, acknowledging these factors will give rise to more research opportunities, if a researcher plans to study the political institution in other countries in Southeast Asia.

Institutions Encouraging Competition, Instrumentalism, and Meaningless Research

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mats Alvesson ◽  
Yiannis Gabriel ◽  
Roland Paulsen
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Mass Education ◽  
Scientific Institutions ◽  
System P ◽  
Institutional Competition ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
The Right

The rise of mass education has led to mass research—quantity dominates quality. A ruthless institutional competition for status, plus academics pushing to get published in the ‘right’, career-enhancing journals, has led to the fetishization of journal outputs even when they are of little meaning or value to society. This situation is now endemic within the system of academic research and publication, and is strongly driven and sustained by academics themselves, even when they are unwilling to admit it. Academics, both individually and collectively, exercise considerable control over the content and nature of social science research, its scrutiny, assessment, and dissemination. They also have considerable control over the practices of various scientific institutions, including universities and their departments, funding bodies, conferences, and publications. Social science researchers underestimate and diminish their own responsibility for this state of affairs and sometimes prematurely adopt a victim position, blaming an impersonal system.

Recovering Meaning by Reforming Academic Identities and Practices

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mats Alvesson ◽  
Yiannis Gabriel ◽  
Roland Paulsen
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Academic Identities ◽  
Group Research ◽  
Practice Teaching ◽  
Academic Citizenship ◽  
The Individual

Part II offers a number of proposals and suggestions for recovering meaning in social science research at the individual, institutional, and policy levels. These measures offer the prospect of many small ‘wins’ through which the system can be reformed, rather than one sweeping programme for change. This chapter addresses the identities of individual researchers and the research methodologies they use in their work, and encourages a different approach at the level of individual and group research practices and its outcomes. It argues for new scholarly identities and many different ways of fashioning them, in which research is one, but not the only, important practice. Teaching, outreach activities, and academic citizenship, it is argued, are also important aspects of scholarship. So too are thinking and reading in depth and breadth, writing textbooks and book reviews, journalistic pieces and blogs. Chapters 7 and 8 will address institutional and policy issues.

Heuristic Inquiry

2019 ◽  
pp. 66-82
Keyword(s):  
Research Design ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Doctoral Degree ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Heuristic Inquiry ◽  
Individual Experience ◽  
Doctoral Level ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Psychology Doctoral ◽  
Selection Of

This chapter presents current research insights into the selection of heuristic inquiries for a doctoral-level inquiry. Heuristic inquiry within social science research allows for self-as-subject representations in search of the essential meaning of phenomena or constructs explored and through the analysis of the individual experience, results may inform larger sociocultural contexts. While receptivity of heuristic inquiry as rigorous doctoral-level research varies by discipline and institution, the research design in doctoral education remains widely accepted for doctoral-level inquiry as it often appeals to the doctoral scholar due to the deep introspection expected in the phases of analysis. While heuristic inquiry emerged within psychology, doctoral scholars use the introspective research design across fields of study, the doctoral degree program, and institution to meet all institutional requirements and ethical assurances. Like autoethnography, the relational aspects between doctoral scholar and research supervisor are vital to successful heuristic inquiry and the doctoral scholar's development as a new investigator.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-38
Author(s):  
Lyndsey Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Source Material ◽  
The Political ◽  
Family Needs ◽  
Feminist Politics ◽  
The Family ◽  
Biographical Approach ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter explains who the Kenneys were, provides biographical detail about the family and the individual sisters, and sets out the political, economic, social, and cultural context in which they grew up. It shows that, despite the rhetoric of sisterhood which often characterizes feminist politics, friendship rather than family has been central to suffrage studies, and argues that the family needs to be given greater consideration. It also explains the place of class in suffrage historiography and the relationship between the women’s and labour movements as a way into understanding the relative lack of work on suffrage militants. The chapter sets out the source material which forms the basis for this study, explains the thematic biographical approach, and summarizes the chapters which follow.

Evolution of Statistical Software and Quantitative Methods

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brandon C LeBeau ◽  
Ariel M Aloe
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Research Synthesis ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Synthesis Methods ◽  
Statistical Software ◽  
Five Disciplines ◽  
State Of Affairs

Statistical software is the enabling tool of quantitative research and the availability and use of the software can greatly shape which methods are used by researchers. Software that is more accessible is likely to have more users and the methods implemented within the software limits the methods accessible to researchers. Open source software, (e.g. R), has reduced these barriers by making cutting edge statistical methods available to researchers through add-on packages. This manuscript explores the evolution of statistical software within social science research using a research synthesis to establish the state of affairs. Software and statistical analysis keywords were searched in published manuscripts from high impact journals in five disciplines, Economics, Education, Political Science, Public Policy, and Sociology. Analysis was based on research synthesis methods. Implications for open science and reproducibility are discussed.

Looking Beyond Demographics: Panel Attrition in the ANES and GSS

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 336-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Lazarus Frankel ◽  
D. Sunshine Hillygus
Keyword(s):  
Social Science Research ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Drop Out ◽  
Panel Surveys ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Demographic Predictors ◽  
Panel Attrition ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Data Collections

Longitudinal or panel surveys offer unique benefits for social science research, but they typically suffer from attrition, which reduces sample size and can result in biased inferences. Previous research tends to focus on the demographic predictors of attrition, conceptualizing attrition propensity as a stable, individual-level characteristic—some individuals (e.g., young, poor, residentially mobile) are more likely to drop out of a study than others. We argue that panel attrition reflects both the characteristics of the individual respondent as well as her survey experience, a factor shaped by the design and implementation features of the study. In this article, we examine and compare the predictors of panel attrition in the 2008–2009 American National Election Study, an online panel, and the 2006–2010 General Social Survey, a face-to-face panel. In both cases, survey experience variables are predictive of panel attrition above and beyond the standard demographic predictors, but the particular measures of relevance differ across the two surveys. The findings inform statistical corrections for panel attrition bias and provide study design insights for future panel data collections.

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