Political science in motion

What are the main trends in contemporary political science research?

This book examines recent developments in political science research. What are
the new influences to which the discipline opens itself up? Is political
science research converging towards a single model or splitting into different
streams? What are the new challenges at the beginning of the 21st century?

This collection of essays discusses three interrelated topics: the
relationship between political science and the problems of politics, the
relationship between political science and other fields of research, and the
transformation of the profession.

EXTRACT

The past, the present and the future of political science have always been a
topic of inquiry for political scientists. This collection of essays is not
the first to explore the evolution of the discipline. Since its inception,
scholars of politics of all persuasions have (re)produced the story of the
field as a discipline and as a profession (Farr et al. 1990: 598; Blondiaux
1997: 10; Gunnell 2002: 339; Dryzek 2002; 2006). They have explored the
discipline’s relation with its social and political environment, they have
questioned its epistemological and ontological specificities, and more
recently they have documented its professional standards, codes, and
practices. As the discipline expands in different parts of the world, the
attention devoted to its evolution and development has increased. Political
science is a recognized object of study and “state of the discipline” studies
are flourishing.
This book seeks to contribute to these recent debates about the evolution of
the discipline by exploring three interrelated themes, namely (1) the
discipline’s co-evolution with politics, (2) its changing relations with
sister disciplines, (3) and the transformation of its practices for knowledge
production and dissemination. We argue in this volume that these topics are
fundamental, as they directly address the core identity of political science.

ABOUT THIS BOOK

There is very little literature on academic journals and how they function or
what they achieve and Political Science in Motion is to be welcomed as a step
towards filling that gap. It is well-edited, as is evident from the cross-
references between chapters. It answers some of the questions that one might
want to ask, while others remain unanswered" - Wyn Grant, The London School of
Economics and Political Science, Review of books