Political Science in the International Field

1923 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 381-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pitman B. Potter

Political science, like all other branches of social science, has, in the past century, become increasingly inductive in method. Attempts to deduce conclusions regarding the details of political organization and practice by speculative thought concerning the nature of man, of liberty, of authority, of society, and so on, have now largely ceased. In their place we have efforts to collect as much data as possible concerning actual forms of state organization and governmental methods, and efforts to analyze that data and discover therein the main lines of causation and the fundamental principles of politics.This is all a matter of common knowledge. It is, moreover, a change which most of us regard with approval. The reason for calling attention to it here, therefore, is principally to point out its effect upon the study of the international field by political scientists.There are several consequences which flow from the placing of political science upon the basis of inductive method. The consequence of which we think most frequently is that of rendering our conclusions more certain and secure, and of reducing as much as possible the element of subjective personal judgment therein.

2011 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 388-388
Author(s):  
Nathan J. Brown

Scholars of the Middle East based in social science disciplines—especially my own, political science—are likely to feel a bit more welcome by their colleagues as a result of recent events in the Middle East. Not only will we be informative conversationalists in the hallways for a while because of our regional expertise, but also, far more profoundly, the sorts of things that political scientists study, from voting patterns to regime change, are suddenly interesting subjects in the region. This is not to say that Middle East elections were not studied in the past or that research on political change was not undertaken—far from it. But the questions posed, the terms used, and tools employed were often different from those more prevalent in the discipline. Political scientists focusing on the Middle East are therefore likely to find this a gratifying time, ripe with opportunities for comparative and cross-regional analysis. And those nonregional specialists whose interests lie in a wide variety of topics from voting behavior to revolutions may work harder to incorporate Middle Eastern cases into their own work.


Res Publica ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 509-520
Author(s):  
Rudolf Rezsohazy

The social problem incites the Belgian catholics to study scientifically the human collectivity. As early as the nineteen-eighties learned societies are ouded, seminars, congresses, lectures are organized, a review is launched. At the Catholic University of Louvain the School of Political and Social Sciences is inaugurated in 1892. The sociological approach of the problems becomes wide-spread.All this movement is prepared by the work of a pioneer : Edouard Ducpétiaux (1804-1868) . He opens the way by his numerous publications and realizations in as various fields as the social inquiries, statistics, sociography, social economics, political science, criminology... The article analyses his methodology and shows place of E. Ducpétiaux among the main intellectual currents of the past century.


Refuge ◽  
1999 ◽  
pp. 15-18
Author(s):  
Peter Penz

As Rwanda and Yugoslavia indicate, atrocities policing ("humanitarian intervention") is, in our currentglobal polity, unreliable and carried out crudely. This becomes apparent when it is compared with domestic policing. It is the result of the system of sovereign states, into which atrocities policing does not readily fit. Even innovation to accommodate it leads to the haphazard interventions we have seen in this decade. But the sovereign state system, which developed in Europe in the context of a particular historical contingency and was then endowed to the rest of the world through decolonization, is not the only possible way of organizing the global polity. Thus, the author offers as an alternative the concept of a democratic global federation in which atrocities policing - including preventative policing - can be conducted in a much more reliable and responsible manner. While such a global political organization may seem utopian, in the long term it is not, given how radical change has been in the past century and can he expected to he in the next one. Moreover, it provides direction to current institutional reform and adds to current decisions about atrocities policing the issue of the longer-term consequences for global practices and institutions.


Author(s):  
Licia do Prado Valladares

For the first time available in English, Licia do Prado Valladares’s classic anthropological study of Brazil’s vast, densely populated urban living environments reveals how the idea of the favela became an internationally established—and even attractive and exotic—representation of poverty. The study traces how the term “favela” emerged as an analytic category beginning in the mid-1960s, showing how it became the object of immense popular debate and sustained social science research. But the concept of the favela so favored by social scientists is not, Valladares argues, a straightforward reflection of its social reality, and it often obscures more than it reveals. The established representation of favelas undercuts more complex, accurate, and historicized explanations of Brazilian development. It marks and perpetuates favelas as zones of exception rather than as integral to Brazil’s modernization over the past century. And it has had important repercussions for the direction of research and policy affecting the lives of millions of Brazilians. Valladares’s foundational book will be welcomed by all who seek to understand Brazil’s evolution into the twenty-first century.


Author(s):  
Robert Hunter Wade

This chapter examines the globalization argument, which warns that mutual benefits will be at risk if countries start to backslide on market liberalization. It begins with a discussion of trends in globalization over the past century, and the kind of evidence provided by mainstream economists to support the globalization argument. It then considers global-level trends in economic growth, income inequality, and poverty over the past few decades. It also explains why the consensus among economists about the virtues of globalization has been so resilient. It concludes by outlining some challenges for economists, especially in the field of professional ethics. The chapter argues that the evidence for the globalization argument is not as robust as the policy mainstream presumes.


Author(s):  
Thomas F. Pettigrew

The discipline of psychology has an extremely broad range—from the life sciences to the social sciences, from neuroscience to social psychology. These distinctly different components have varying histories of their own. Social psychology is psychology’s social science wing. The major social sciences—anthropology, economics, sociology, and political science—all had their origins in the 19th century or even earlier. But social psychology is much younger; it developed both in Europe and North America in the 20th century. The field’s enormous growth over the past century began modestly with a few scant locations, several textbooks, and a single journal in the 1920s. Today’s social psychologists would barely recognize their discipline in the years prior to World War II. But trends forming in the 1920s and 1930s would become important years later. With steady growth, especially starting in the 1960s, the discipline gained thousands of new doctorates and multiple journals scattered throughout the world. Social psychology has become a recognized, influential, and often-cited social science. It is the basis, for example, of behavioral economics as well as such key theories as authoritarianism in political science. Central to this extraordinary expansion were the principal events of mid-20th century. World War II, the growth of universities and the social sciences in general, rising prosperity, statistical advances, and other global changes set the stage for the discipline’s rapid development. Together with this growth, social psychology has expanded its topics in both the affective and cognitive domains. Indeed, new theories are so numerous that theoretical integration has become a prime need for the discipline.


1994 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-34
Author(s):  
Joseph Rothschild

Over the past several decades the discipline of political science has, perhaps, degraded its competence and hence its eligibility for handling this issue by saddling itself with a flawed language, or, rather, flawed use of language for doing so. At any rate, that is true of political science as written and taught in English. Not that the other social-science disciplines are in better shape (perhaps History is). Still, political scientists have, for example, committed the following intellectual offenses:


2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 721-746 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Gerring

This article attempts to reformulate and resuscitate the seemingly prosaic methodological task of description, which is often derided in favour of causal analysis. First, the problem of definition is addressed: what does this category of analysis (‘description’) refer to? Secondly, a taxonomy of descriptive arguments is offered, emphasizing the diversity contained within this genre of empirical analysis. Thirdly, the demise of description within political science is charted over the past century, with comparisons to other disciplines. Fourthly, it is argued that the task of description ought to be approached independently, not merely as a handmaiden of causal theories. Fifthly, the methodological difficulties of descriptive inference are addressed. Finally, fruitful research areas within the rubric of description are reviewed.


1996 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Wallace

‘The study of international relations is not an innocent profession.’1 It is not like the classics, or mathematics, an abstract logical training for the youthful mind. The justification for the place it has gained in the university curriculum rests upon utility, not on aesthetics. The growth of the social sciences in Western universities in the past century, and their remarkable expansion over the past thirty years, has been based upon their perceived contribution to better government, in the broadest sense. ‘The forever explosive relationship between social science and public policy’ has been embedded in the discipline of International Relations from the outset.2


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-51
Author(s):  
Sulthon

The main purpose of this research is to suggest that theoritically there is no specific and standard methodology to be used in the study of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) siyasah. It is because fiqh siyasah is more a part of a social science, where the methodology that might be used always changes and grows.  As a part of fiqh,  the study of fiqh siyasah needs to accommodate  various methods of ijtihad as in the science of fiqh in general, such as  qiyas, istihsan, istishab, maslaha mursalah, 'urf, and others. The study of fiqh siyasah can also use the five approaches such as philosophical, legal, empirical, bureaucracy, and ethics approach. Because the study of fiqh is quite complex and dynamic, then in the assessment and development of which need to be equipped with supporting sciences, such as sociology, anthropology, history, political science, economics, and others.The two fundamental questions to be answered in this research are; what is the methodology and approach of the Islamic political studies / fiqh siyasah and what are its characteristics. The method used in this research is descriptive and historical method. Descriptive method is used to describe a systematic, factual and accurate as well as the characteristics of the population in a particular region. While the historical method is used to reconstruct the past systematically and objectively by collecting, assessing, verifying, and synthesizing evidence to establish facts and to reach a strong conclusion


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