The Study of Politics

The Study of Politics PDF Author: M. Duverger
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400931719
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 319

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Book Description
If the study of politics is to be rewarding both intellectually and practically it must. by definition. concern itself with the great issues which arise in the real world and with the fundamental arguments which occur about their nature and the possible solutions to them. Abstract political philosophy which is not informed by the experi ence of practice will become sterile. A study of constitutions and the machinery of government can become dry-as-dust and hence boring unless the underlying principles are analysed and grasped. But theo ries of political change divorced from an understanding of consti tutions and institutions will degenerate into mere phrase-mongering. Attempts to apply the techniques of the natural sciences to politics will lead to model building for its own sake and thence to arid and barren intellectualism unless it is understood that it is impossible to quantify the intangible. Indeed. anyone-sided approach to politics and consequent failure to grasp the essential wholeness of the sub ject is bound to end in disaster. The study of politics is a study of changing human relationships in dynamic societies. Thus it involves. since the present and hence the future are shaped in part by the past. an appreciation of history.

The Study of Politics

The Study of Politics PDF Author: M. Duverger
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400931719
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 319

Get Book Here

Book Description
If the study of politics is to be rewarding both intellectually and practically it must. by definition. concern itself with the great issues which arise in the real world and with the fundamental arguments which occur about their nature and the possible solutions to them. Abstract political philosophy which is not informed by the experi ence of practice will become sterile. A study of constitutions and the machinery of government can become dry-as-dust and hence boring unless the underlying principles are analysed and grasped. But theo ries of political change divorced from an understanding of consti tutions and institutions will degenerate into mere phrase-mongering. Attempts to apply the techniques of the natural sciences to politics will lead to model building for its own sake and thence to arid and barren intellectualism unless it is understood that it is impossible to quantify the intangible. Indeed. anyone-sided approach to politics and consequent failure to grasp the essential wholeness of the sub ject is bound to end in disaster. The study of politics is a study of changing human relationships in dynamic societies. Thus it involves. since the present and hence the future are shaped in part by the past. an appreciation of history.

Problems and Methods in the Study of Politics

Problems and Methods in the Study of Politics PDF Author: Ian Shapiro
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521539432
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description
The study of politics seems endlessly beset by debates about method. At the core of these debates is a single unifying concern: should political scientists view themselves primarily as scientists, developing ever more sophisticated tools and studying only those phenomena to which such tools may fruitfully be applied? Or should they instead try to illuminate the large, complicated, untidy problems thrown up in the world, even if the chance to offer definitive explanations is low? Is there necessarily a tension between these two endeavours? Are some domains of political inquiry more amenable to the building up of reliable, scientific knowledge than others, and if so, how should we deploy our efforts? In this book, some of the world's most prominent students of politics offer original discussions of these pressing questions, eschewing narrow methodological diatribes to explore what political science is and how political scientists should aspire to do their work.

Leo Strauss, Max Weber, and the Scientific Study of Politics

Leo Strauss, Max Weber, and the Scientific Study of Politics PDF Author: Nasser Behnegar
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226041433
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description
Can politics be studied scientifically, and if so, how? Assuming it is impossible to justify values by human reason alone, social science has come to consider an unreflective relativism the only viable basis, not only for its own operations, but for liberal societies more generally. Although the experience of the sixties has made social scientists more sensitive to the importance of values, it has not led to a fundamental reexamination of value relativism, which remains the basis of contemporary social science. Almost three decades after Leo Strauss's death, Nasser Behnegar offers the first sustained exposition of what Strauss was best known for: his radical critique of contemporary social science, and particularly of political science. Behnegar's impressive book argues that Strauss was not against the scientific study of politics, but he did reject the idea that it could be built upon political science's unexamined assumption of the distinction between facts and values. Max Weber was, for Strauss, the most profound exponent of values relativism in social science, and Behnegar's explication artfully illuminates Strauss's critique of Weber's belief in the ultimate insolubility of all value conflicts. Strauss's polemic against contemporary political science was meant to make clear the contradiction between its claim of value-free premises and its commitment to democratic principles. As Behnegar ultimately shows, values—the ethical component lacking in a contemporary social science—are essential to Strauss's project of constructing a genuinely scientific study of politics.

Decolonizing Politics

Decolonizing Politics PDF Author: Robbie Shilliam
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1509539409
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 112

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Book Description
Political science emerged as a response to the challenges of imperial administration and the demands of colonial rule. While not all political scientists were colonial cheerleaders, their thinking was nevertheless framed by colonial assumptions that influence the study of politics to this day. This book offers students a lens through which to decolonize the main themes and issues of political science - from human nature, rights, and citizenship, to development and global justice. Not content with revealing the colonial legacies that still inform the discipline, the book also introduces students to a wide range of intellectual resources from the (post)colonial world that will help them think through the same themes and issues more expansively. Decolonizing Politics is a much-needed critical guide for students of political science. It shifts the study of political science from the centers of power to its margins, where the majority of humanity lives. Ultimately, the book argues that those who occupy the margins are not powerless. Rather, marginal positions might afford a deeper understanding of politics than can be provided by mainstream approaches.​

Politics as a Science

Politics as a Science PDF Author: Philippe C. Schmitter
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000180220
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 171

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Book Description
In Politics as a Science, two of the world's leading authorities on Comparative Politics, Philippe C. Schmitter and Marc Blecher, provide a lively introduction to the concepts and framework to study and analyze politics. Written with dexterity, concision and clarity, this short text makes no claim to being scientific. It contains no disprovable hypotheses, no original collection of evidence and no search for patterns of association. Instead, Schmitter and Blecher keep the text broadly conceptual and theoretical to convey their vision of the sprawling subject of politics. They map the process in which researchers try to specify the goal of the trip, some of the landmarks likely to be encountered en route and the boundaries that will circumscribe the effort. Examples, implications and elaborations are included in footnotes throughout the book. Politics as a Science is an ideal introduction for anyone interested in, or studying, comparative politics. “The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/doi/view/10.4324/9781003032144, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.”

That Noble Science of Politics

That Noble Science of Politics PDF Author: Stefan Collini
Publisher: CUP Archive
ISBN: 9780521277709
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
In this work, three historians of ideas examine the forms taken in nineteenth-century Britain to develop a 'science of politics'.

Approaches to the Study of Politics

Approaches to the Study of Politics PDF Author: Bernard Susser
Publisher: Prentice Hall
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 552

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Book Description


Exploration and Contestation in the Study of World Politics

Exploration and Contestation in the Study of World Politics PDF Author: Peter J. Katzenstein
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262611442
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 444

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Book Description
New insights into the interplay between conflict and cooperation, the impact of domestic political structures on foreign policy, the role of institutions, and the influence of worldviews and causal beliefs on decision-making.

The Tragedy of Political Science

The Tragedy of Political Science PDF Author: David M. Ricci
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300037609
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
"This book is both a comprehensive review and a thoughtful critique of the development of political science as an academic discipline in this century. David Ricci eloquently describes the tragic dilemma of political science in America: when political scholars deal with politics in a scientific fashion, they reveal facts that contradict democratic expectations; when the same scholars seek to justify those expectations, their moral arguments carry little professional weight."--Jacket.

The Politics of the Book

The Politics of the Book PDF Author: Filipe Carreira da Silva
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271083913
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
It is impossible to separate the content of a book from its form. In this study, Filipe Carreira da Silva and Mónica Brito Vieira expand our understanding of the history of social and political scholarship by examining how the entirety of a book mediates and constitutes meaning in ways that affect its substance, appropriation, and reception over time. Examining the evolving form of classic works of social and political thought, including W. E. B. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk, G. H. Mead’s Mind, Self, and Society, and Karl Marx’s 1844 Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts, Carreira da Silva and Brito Vieira show that making these books involved many hands. They explore what publishers, editors, translators, and commentators accomplish by offering the reading public new versions of the works under consideration, examine debates about the intended meaning of the works and discussions over their present relevance, and elucidate the various ways in which content and material form are interwoven. In doing so, Carreira da Silva and Brito Vieira characterize the editorial process as a meaning-producing action involving both collaboration and an ongoing battle for the importance of the book form to a work’s disciplinary belonging, ideological positioning, and political significance. Theoretically sophisticated and thoroughly researched, The Politics of the Book radically changes our understanding of what doing social and political theory—and its history—implies. It will be welcomed by scholars of book history, the history of social and political thought, and social and political theory.