An examination of the movement that has turned the discipline of political science upside down
This superb volume describes the events and ramifications of a revolt within the political science discipline that began in 2000 with a disgruntled e-mail message signed by one “Mr. Perestroika.” The message went to seventeen recipients who quickly forwarded it to others, and soon the Perestroika revolt became a major movement calling for change in the American political science community.
What is the Perestroika movement? Why did it occur? What has it accomplished? What remains to be done? Most important, what does it tell us about the nature of political science, about methodological pluralism and diversity, about the process of publishing scholarly work, and about graduate education in the field? The contributors to the book—thoughtful political scientists who offer a variety of perspectives—set the Perestroika movement in historical and comparative contexts. They address many topics related to heart of the debate—a desire for tolerance of methodological diversity—and assess the changes that have come in the wake of Perestroika. For political scientists and their graduate students, and for those interested in the history or sociology of social sciences, this volume is essential reading.
Author(s): Kristen Renwick Monroe (editor)
Edition: 1
Publisher: Yale University Press
Year: 2005
Language: English
Pages: 587
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction i
Kristen Renwick Monroe
Part 1 History, Background, and Perspectives of Perestroika 7
1 The Idea
The Opening of Debate 9
Perestroika
2 Perestroika and Its Other 12
Susanne Hoeber Rudolph
3 Not Here, Not Now!
The Absence of a European Perestroika Movement 21
Catarina Kinnvall
4 Every Poet His Own Aristotle 45
Theodore J. Lowi
5 Letter to a Graduate Student 53
Samuel H. Beer
Part 2. Methodological Concerns 61
6 Problems, Methods, and Theories in the Study of Politics
Or, What's Wrong with Political Science and What to Do about It 66
lan Shapiro
7 Rational Choice, Symbolic Politics, and Pluralism
in the Study of Violent Conflict 87
Stuart J. Kaufman
8 A Return to Politics
Perestroika, Phronesis, and Postparadigmatic Political Science 103
Sanford F. Schram
9 The Perestroikan Challenge to Social Science 115
David D. Laitin
10 Interpretation and Institution
Rational Choice and the Problem of Social Action 136
Brian Caterino
11 The "R" Word, Narrative, and Perestroika
A Critique of Language and Method 154
Cecelia Lynch
12 Work That Counts 167
Elizabeth Sanders
13 Lost in Translation
The Challenges of State-Generated Data in Developing Countries 181
Kamal Sadiq
14 In the House of "Science," There Are Many Rooms
Perestroika and the “Science Studies” Turn 200
Dvora Yanow
15 Will the Real Perestroikniks Please Stand Up?
Race and Methodological Reform in the Study of Politics 218
Dorian T. Warren
16 Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom, Let a Hundred Schools
of Thought Contend
Arguments for Pluralism and against Monopoly in Political Science 230
Lloyd I. Rudolph
Part 3. Governance 237
17 The Case against Mandatory Competition
for APSA Offices 241
Gary C. Jacobson
18 Democracy versus Diversity—A False Dichotomy
A Critique of the Jacobson Committee Report 250
Marsha Pripstein Posusney
19 Governance
Minutes from a Public Meeting 260
Kristen Renwick Monroe
20 Ironic Representation 265
Joanna Vecchiarelli Scott
21 Introducing Democracy in the APSA
The Case for Member Sovereignty and Constituency Representation 278
Lloyd I. Rudolph
22 Confessions of a Confused Democrat
Some Thoughts on Representation and Governance in the APSA 282
Martha Ackelsberg
Part 4 The Journals 291
23
The Emperor Had No Clothes
The Politics of Taking Back the APSR 294
Sven Steinmo
24
Methodological Bias in the APSR
David Pion-Berlin and Dan Cleary 304
25
The APSR in the Perestroika Era 323
Lee Sigelman
26
Inventing Perspectives on Politics 330
Jennifer Hochschild
27
Methodological Bias in the
American Journal of Political Science 342
GregoryJ. Kasza
28
Science, Political Science, and the
American Journal of Political Science 346
Kim Quaile Hill and Jan E. Leighley
Part 5
Graduate Education 355
29
2004 Report to the Council 358
APSA Task Force on Graduate Education
30 The Graduate Student Experience
"Hegemony " or Balance in Methodological Training? 374
Peregrine Schwartz-Shea
31 Graduate Education in a Pluralist Context
The Metaphor of a Toolbox 403
Leslie E. Anderson
32 Quantitative Methods
Reflections on the Files of Recent fob Applicants 421
GregoryJ. Kasza
33 On Curricular Perestroika
Seven Principles of Methodological Pluralism 434
Hayward R. Alker
Part 6 Assessment 465
34 Caught between Confused Critics and
Careerist Co-Conspirators
Perestroika in American Political Science 468
Timothy W. Luke
35 After Methodology
Toward a Profession of Political Science 489
Maurice J. Meilleur
36 A Pox on Perestroika, a Hex on Hegemony
Toward a Critical Political Science 509
John S. Dryzek
37 Of Means and Meaning
The Challenges of Doing Good Political Science 525
Rogers M. Smith
38 Perestroika, Politics, and the Profession
Targets and Tolerance 534
Robert Jervis
39 Reforming the Discipline
Some Doubts 548
Peter J. Steinberger
Further Reading 567
List of Contributors 577
Index 583
