The Relevance of Political Science

297 Pages·2015·1.3 MB·English

by  Gerry Stoker, Jon Pierre, B. Guy Peters (eds.)

Political
Analysis
Series Editors:B.Guy Peters,Jon Pierre and Gerry Stoker
Political science today is a dynamic discipline.Its substance,theory and methods
have all changed radically in recent decades.It is much expanded in range and scope
and in the variety of new perspectives – and new variants of old ones – that it
encompasses.The sheer volume of work being published,and the increasing degree
of its specialization,however,make it difficult for political scientists to maintain a
clear grasp of the state of debate beyond their own particular subdisciplines.
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rather than advocacy of one regional approach or another,is the key to progress.
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Political Analysis Series
Series Standing Order ISBN 978–0–333–78694–9 hardback
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Political
Analysis
Series Editors:B.Guy Peters,Jon Pierre and Gerry Stoker
Editorial Advisory Group: Frank R.Baumgartner, Donatella Della Porta, Scott
Fritzen,Robert E.Goodin,Colin Hay,Alan M.Jacobs,Eliza W.Y.Lee,Jonathon W.
Moses,Craig Parsons,Mitchell A.Seligson and Margit Travits
Published Rudra Sil and Peter J.Katzenstein
Beyond Paradigms:Analytic
David Beetham
Eclecticism in the Study ofWorld
The Legitimation ofPower (2nd
Politics
edition)
Gerry Stoker,B.Guy Peters and Jon Pierre
Peter Burnham,Karin Gilland,Wyn Grant
(eds)
and Zig Layton-Henry
The Relevance ofPolitical Science
Research Methods in Politics (2nd
edition) Martin Smith
Power, Politics and the State
Lina Eriksson
Rational Choice Theory:Potential Cees van der Eijk and Mark Franklin
Limits Elections and Voters
Jean Grugel and Matthew Louis Bishop
Democratization:A Critical
Introduction (2nd edition)
Colin Hay Forthcoming
Political Analysis
Colin Hay,Michael Lister and David Marsh Keith Dowding
(eds) The Philosophy and Methods of
The State: Theories and Issues Political Science
Andrew Hindmoor Alan Finlayson and James Martin
Rational Choice Interpretive Political Analysis:A
Critical Introduction
Vivien Lowndes and Mark Roberts
Why Institutions Matter Colin Hay
Globalization and the State
David Marsh and Gerry Stoker (eds)
Theory and Methods in Political Johanna Kantola and Emanuela Lombardo
Science (3rd edition) Gender and Political Analysis
Ioannis Papadopoulos William Maloney and Jan van Deth
Democracy in Crisis? Politics, Political Participation and
Governance and Policy Democratic Politics
B.Guy Peters David Marsh
Strategies for Comparative Political Behaviour
Research in Political Science Karen Mossberger and Mark Cassell
Jon Pierre and B.Guy Peters The Policy Process: Ideas, Interests
Governance, Politics and the State and Institutions
Heather Savigny and Lee Marsden Dimiter Toshkov
Doing Political Science and Research Design in Political
International Relations Science
The Relevance of
Political Science
Edited by
Gerry Stoker
B. Guy Peters
and
Jon Pierre
Selection,editorial matter,Introduction and Conclusion © Gerry Stoker, B.Guy Peters
and Jon Pierre 2015
Individual chapters in order © Gerry Stoker;John Gerring;Colin Hay;Matthew Flinders;
Bo Rothstein;Graham Wilson;Sarah Giest;Michael Howlett and Ishani Mukherjee;
Thom Brookes;Craig Parsons;B.Guy Peters;Jon Pierre;Helen Margetts 2015
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First published 2015 by
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ISBN 978-0-230-20108-8 hardback
ISBN 978-0-230-20109-5 paperback
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Contents
List of tables and figures ix
Notes on the editors and contributors x
Acknowledgements xiv
Introduction 1
Gerry Stoker, B. Guy Peters and Jon Pierre
Tensions over relevance 2
Relevance: the standard lines of defence 5
Three lines of vulnerability 7
The developing argument of the book 11
PART I PERSPECTIVES ON RELEVANCE
1 Challenging three blockages to relevance and political
science: the obvious, the avoidable and the thorny 19
Gerry Stoker
Politics and evidence: a difficult relationship 20
Incentive structures in academia limit the pursuit of
relevance 23
Doubts about the intellectual case for relevance
undermine its practice 26
Designing a solution 30
Conclusions 34
2 The relevance of relevance 36
John Gerring
Causal and descriptive knowledge 37
The science of social science 39
Engagement and objectivity 43
Are there other possible foundations for social science? 45
A pragmatic inquiry 46
v
vi Contents
3 Relevant to whom? Relevant for what? The role and
public responsibility of the political analyst 50
Colin Hay
Introduction: relevance – divided by a common
language? 51
The private language of political science 53
Relevance and rationality: between perestroika and
glasnost? 55
Relevance: deserved or attained? 58
Diagnosing and resolving the crisis 61
4 The rediscovery of the political imagination 65
Matthew Flinders
The road(s) to irrelevance 67
The political imagination 71
A rallying cry to the university professors of politics 79
5 Guilty as charged? Human well-being and the unsung
relevance of political science 84
Bo Rothstein
Variations of relevance 84
Does democracy produce human well-being? 86
State capacity, quality of government and human
well-being 88
Poverty, state capacity and quality of government 91
Does democracy generate political legitimacy? 92
What does political science want to explain? 93
Political theory, state capacity and quality of
government 94
Empirical measures of the relevance problem in political
science 96
Theory: why state capacity and quality of government
generate human well-being 99
Quality of government, social trust and human
well-being 100
Conclusions: the seven sins depriving political science
of its potential for being relevant to human
well-being 102
Contents vii
6 Why did nobody warn us? Political science and the crisis 104
Graham Wilson
Ideas 106
Institutions 108
Interests 110
What did political science get right? 115
Conclusion 115
PART II RELEVANCE: THE CONTRIBUTION OF
SUB-DISCIPLINES AND DIVERSE APPROACHES
7 The relevance of the academic study of public policy 121
Sarah Giest, Michael Howlett and Ishani Mukherjee
Introduction: linking policy research to policy practice 121
The contribution of political science: reconciling
knowledge and power in public policy-making 122
Concerns for relevance and the two-communities
metaphor of policy knowledge utilization 124
Moving beyond the two-communities model:
knowledge brokerage 128
Conclusion: research relevance in policy studies – an
ongoing research agenda in political science 134
8 Why political theory matters 136
Thom Brooks
Introduction 136
A chequered past? 137
Political thought: creating an impact 139
The challenge of demonstrating an impact 143
Bright future 146
9 Constructivism and interpretive approaches: especially
relevant or especially not? 148
Craig Parsons
Of gadflies and journalists: problems with
postmodern and interpretivist claims to specific and
direct relevance 152
Constructivism as eye-opener for policy-makers and
especially students 161
Conclusion 168
viii Contents
10 Is comparative politics useful? If so, for what? 169
B. Guy Peters
Varieties of relevance 171
The contributions of comparative politics 172
Challenges to the relevance of comparative politics 180
The limits of relevance in comparative politics 186
Conclusion 188
11 Can political science address the puzzles of global
governance? 190
Jon Pierre
Towards global governance? 193
Enter the scholar: The political science contribution 194
Discussion 199
Conclusions 201
12 Maximizing the relevance of political science for public
policy in the era of big data 203
Helen Margetts
Citizens, social media and big data 204
Governments, digital technologies and the promise of
big data for policy-making 208
Big data challenges 210
Maintaining relevance 212
Public policy pay-offs 217
Conclusion 220
Gerry Stoker, B. Guy Peters and Jon Pierre
The case for relevance 220
Why is relevance difficult to deliver? 222
A manifesto for relevance 225
Bibliography 227
Index 263
List of tables and
figures
Table
1.1 Varieties of policy input provided by academics 22
Figures
5.1 Healthy life years vs level of democracy 89
5.2 Healthy life years vs control of corruption 90
ix