Objective Political Science

An exploration of the inherent and often hidden logic of political conflict.

Interpretive Political Science is the second of two volumes featuring a selection of key writings by R.A.W. Rhodes. Volume II looks forward and explores the 'interpretive turn' and its implications for the craft of political science, especially public administration, and draws together articles from 2005 onwards on the theme of 'the interpretive turn' in political science. Part I provides a summary statement of the interpretive approach, and Part II develops the theme of blurring genres and discusses a variety of research methods common in the humanities, including: ethnographic fieldwork, life history, and focus groups. Part III demonstrates how the genres of thought and presentation found in the humanities can be used in political science. It presents four examples of such blurring 'at work' with studies of: applied anthropology and civil service reform; women's studies and government departments; and storytelling and local knowledge. The book concludes with a summary of what is edifying about an interpretive approach, and why this approach matters, and revisits some of the more common criticisms before indulging in plausible conjectures about the future of interpretivism. The author seeks new and interesting ways to explore governance, high politics, public policies, and the study of public administration in general. Volume I collects in one place for the first time the main articles written by Rhodes on policy networks and governance between 1990 and 2005, and explores a new way of describing British government, focusing on policy making and the ways in which policy is put into practice.

"This is a solid textbook for an intro course... It follows different approaches in the discipline, going subfield by subfield from Political Theory to American Politics, Comparative, and IR. It has a strong introductory chapter that helps disentangle the relation between politics and political science." —Manuel Balan, McGill University Political science has changed; the way students learn has changed; so too should the way it’s taught. This is political science, today. Political Science Today by Wendy Whitman Cobb gives students a holistic view of the subfields that make up political science by dedicating one chapter to each of the topics at the core of the discipline. Unlike denser texts on the market, Political Science Today uses a field-based approach that allows students to engage with the material directly and dig into each of the discipline’s diverse subfields while also developing critical thinking skills, discerning the differences between politics and political science, conducting and consuming research, and broadening their future career aspirations. This title is accompanied by a complete teaching and learning package. Digital Option / Courseware SAGE Vantage is an intuitive digital platform that delivers this text’s content and course materials in a learning experience that offers auto-graded assignments and interactive multimedia tools, all carefully designed to ignite student engagement and drive critical thinking. Built with you and your students in mind, it offers simple course set-up and enables students to better prepare for class. Assignable Video with Assessment Assignable video (available with SAGE Vantage) is tied to learning objectives and curated exclusively for this text to bring concepts to life. LMS Cartridge (formerly known as SAGE Coursepacks): Import this title’s instructor resources into your school’s learning management system (LMS) and save time. Don’t use an LMS? You can still access all of the same online resources for this title via the password-protected Instructor Resource Site.