Science and Sovietology: Bridging the Methods Gap in Soviet Foreign Policy Studies

1988 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Snyder
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Policy Studies ◽  
Area Studies ◽  
Soviet Foreign Policy ◽  
Domestic Sources ◽  
Science Departments

Specialists in the study of Soviet foreign policy increasingly feel torn between the positivist culture of political science departments and the holistic traditions of the Soviet area-studies programs. In fact, these approaches are largely complementary. Examples taken from literature on Soviet security policy and on the domestic sources of Soviet expansionism show how positivist theories and methods can be used to clarify holist (or traditionalist) arguments, to sharpen debates, to suggest more telling tests, and to invigorate the field's research agenda.

Using Community Resources to Teach Public Policy

1984 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Keith J. Mueller
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Health Policy ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Community Resources ◽  
Alternative Instruction ◽  
Policy Studies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Energy Environment ◽  
Science Departments ◽  
Specific Health

The recent growth in policy studies curricula in political science departments affords increased opportunities for experimentation with alternative instruction modes. This article describes one innovation found to be appropriate for courses for which the instructor has access to experts in the policy being studied. In this example, community experts in health policy issues were used as resource persons to assist in discussion of specific health policy concerns. Other policy courses should be amenable to this format, including energy, environment, and economic development courses. Even without using community experts, the general format of weekly colloquiums could be replicated for other policy courses.The courses described herein is an upper division/graduate level course in American Health Policy. It is taught for one semester every other year as one of several topical courses in the public policy track within political science.

Soviet Foreign Policy Studies and Foreign Policy Models

1971 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 704-733 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Welch ◽  
Jan F. Triska
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Analytical Models ◽  
Policy Studies ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Policy Models ◽  
Soviet Foreign Policy ◽  
Type Studies ◽  
American Academic ◽  
Policy Behavior ◽  
Foreign Policy Behavior

American academic literature on foreign policy witnessed, in the 1960's, a continuing flow of studies of the Soviet case, as indeed of other cases. It also witnessed a flow of studies of another, newer, and broader type—studies of theoretical bent concerned with the construction of general analytical models of foreign policy behavior.

South Asia and Foreign Policy

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sumit Ganguly
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
The South ◽  
Policy Studies ◽  
The Past ◽  
Interstate Conflicts ◽  
Foreign And Security Policy ◽  
The Cold War

There has been a pronounced dearth of scholarly literature on foreign and security policy in South Asia. Fortunately, there is a significant transformation under way. The amount of South Asian case materials that have been effectively integrated into the mainstream of the foreign and security policy literature is slowly expanding. Furthermore, the bulk of the scholarship on these subjects emanating from the region had been quintessentially devoid of theoretical substance. This, too, is undergoing a change. The neglect of South Asia is baffling considering that the region offers a rich array of cases pertaining to questions of comparative foreign policy, interstate conflicts, regional crises, and the effects of nuclear proliferation, among other issues. There are a variety of plausible reasons to explain the marginalization of South Asian foreign policy studies. One, at the level of the global system, the South Asian states (with the exception of Pakistan) sought to self-consciously exclude themselves from the tensions of the Cold War international order. Also, India was one of the principal exponents of the doctrine of nonalignment. After several decades of systematic neglect, however, there are signs that scholars are beginning to integrate the study of India and South Asia into the study of international relations, foreign policy, and strategic studies. This newfound scholarly interest in the South Asian region can be attributed to a host of actors, such as India’s remarkable economic growth of the past decade or so, Pakistan’s political fragility, and the acquisition of nuclear weapons by India and Pakistan.

Chinese Press Perceptions of Threat: The U.S. and India, 1962

1973 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 80-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuang-sheng Liao ◽  
Allen S. Whiting
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Correlation Analysis ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Statistical Methods ◽  
Serial Correlation ◽  
Chinese Foreign Policy ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
International Crises ◽  
Area Studies ◽  
The U.S

Area studies have been under attack for many years as lacking the rigorous methods of disciplined inquiry such as are possessed by economics and political science. However, in the last decade, social scientists have attempted to bridge this academic gap. In the study of Chinese foreign policy, for instance, Charles A. McClelland employed several statistical methods for examining Chinese behaviour in international crises. Similarly, Paul Smoker undertook a serial correlation analysis to examine both the freedom of decision and interaction and reaction of the Indian and Chinese Governments.

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