Modern Political Science

Since emerging in the late nineteenth century, political science has undergone a radical shift--from constructing grand narratives of national political development to producing empirical studies of individual political phenomena. What caused this change? Modern Political Science--the first authoritative history of Anglophone political science--argues that the field's transformation shouldn't be mistaken for a case of simple progress and increasing scientific precision. On the contrary, the book shows that political science is deeply historically contingent, driven both by its own inherited ideas and by the wider history in which it has developed. Focusing on the United States and the United Kingdom, and the exchanges between them, Modern Political Science contains contributions from leading political scientists, political theorists, and intellectual historians from both sides of the Atlantic. Together they provide a compelling account of the development of political science, its relation to other disciplines, the problems it currently faces, and possible solutions to these problems. Building on a growing interest in the history of political science, Modern Political Science is necessary reading for anyone who wants to understand how political science got to be what it is today--or what it might look like tomorrow.

Modern Political Theory critically examines the contemporary state of political theory, making an assessment of the achievements and limitations of the ‘Behavioural Revolution’ in its totality, and reviews objectively the major paradigms and conceptual frameworks adopted by the discipline. The salient features of the contending conceptual models elaborated by leading scholars, operating from separate locations and disparate premises, have been highlighted and intellectual inter-linkages in their works have been traced. The book has 3 parts. Part I comprises the scope of political science as a discipline. Part II deals with the tools and techniques of political analysis. Part III delineates mainstreams of contemporary political thought.

Remarkable developments have taken place in the domain of political theory in the present age of liberalisation and globalisation. The concept of the nation-state has undergone a major change on account of the irresistible erosion of sovereignty in the internal and external spheres and the emergence of the model of a transnational state. Different models of state may be seen in the countries of the Third World. It has put a question mark on the future of the nation-state. The basic tenets of liberalism have been challenged by Neo-liberalism and Communitarianism with the result that now it is on the retreat. In the post-World War II period, the New Fabians had revised the tenets of Fabianism, but in the post-Cold War era it has been replaced by the Third Way. The pluralists had attacked the classical theory of sovereignty, but the neo-pluralists have given a new shape to it. The theme of political legitimacy has been revisited. The old concept of citizenship requires to be reinterpreted in the contexts of civic republicanism, multi-culturalism and identity politics. It has happened with other themes as well which may be taken note of in the emergence of new topics like Neo-colonialism, Post-colonialism, Post-communism and the like. The task of a political scientist is to comprehend and critically describe the underlying principles of political behaviour in their empirical as well as normative dimensions. Inter-disciplinary focus has become so popular now that the implications of the themes of various social sciences have penetrated into the domain of each other. The discipline of political science has become a study of `power' and of 'struggle' for its sake at any level -- local, regional, national and international. In the light of these salient features, university courses have been modernised, and the author has done well to cover them in this work so as to adequately meet the requirements of students offering this course at the degree and postgraduate levels and of candidates preparing for competitive examinations.

Informatie en richtlijnen ter ondersteuning van het politieke denken, waarbij verschillende componenten zoals vormen van politieke invloed en kenmerken van politieke systemen en regimes worden belicht

In the realm of political science, this book discusses the various challenges coming up in the 21st century in the form of globalization, global governance, feminism, contemporary terrorism, state supremacy, democracy, and human rights. In the light of the latest developments, it explains, analyzes, and evaluates these challenges to reformulate contemporary 'political theory.' It first takes up substantive studies of political behaviouralism, power, influence, authority and legitimacy, modernization and development, political ideologies and political cultures, and feminine political theory. Along with systems and structural-functional approaches as theories-in-making, the book - looking into the proper relationship among values, theory, and methodology - strives to transform conventional political science into rechristened 'politicology.' To serve the global market, the author has discovered 'applied' aspects of the discipline in form of new professions of 'political engineering' and 'political technologies.' The book, in this manner, undertakes the task of evolving an advanced modern political theory. Until scholars are able to realize this goal, they are advised, in its place, to empirically make use of the devices of 'analysis' and 'explanation, ' and continue striving for it. The book concentrates on the past and present, but its goal is to prepare the discipline for the critical future. An advanced political theory, as proposed in this book, opposes both status quo and unaccountable power lying with vested interests