Problems and Methods in the Study of Politics

In this volume some of the world's most prominent scholars of politics offer original discussions exploring what political science is and how political scientists should aspire to do their work. Although beset by constant debate about method, at the core of the study of politics is the unifying concern as to whether political scientists should view themselves primarily as scientists, or, instead, try to focus their knowledge on resolving the many complex world crises currently happening.

The study of politics seems endlessly beset by debates about method. At the core of these debates is a single unifying concern: should political scientists view themselves primarily as scientists, developing ever more sophisticated tools and studying only those phenomena to which such tools may fruitfully be applied? Or should they instead try to illuminate the large, complicated, untidy problems thrown up in the world, even if the chance to offer definitive explanations is low? Is there necessarily a tension between these two endeavours? Are some domains of political inquiry more amenable to the building up of reliable, scientific knowledge than others, and if so, how should we deploy our efforts? In this book, some of the world's most prominent students of politics offer original discussions of these pressing questions, eschewing narrow methodological diatribes to explore what political science is and how political scientists should aspire to do their work.

Introduction: problems and methods in the study of politics Ian Shapiro, Rogers Smith and Tarek Masoud; Part I. Description, Explanation and Agency: 2. Problems, methods and theories in the study of politics, or: what's wrong with political science and what to do about it Ian Shapiro; 3. Of problems and methods: identities, interests, and the tasks of political science in the 21st century Rogers M. Smith; 4. Political science as a vocation Anne Norton; 5. The politics of policy science Frances Fox Piven; 6. The study of black politics and the practice of black politics: their historical relation and evolution Adolph Reed; 7. External and internal explanation John Ferejohn; Part II. Redeeming Rational Choice Theory?: 8. Lies, damned lies and rational choice analyses Gary W. Cox; 9. On problems and methods Alan Ryan; 10. An analytic narrative approach to puzzles and problems Margaret Levi; 11. The methodical study of politics Bruce Bueno de Mesquita; Part III. Possibilities for Pluralism and Convergence: 12. The illusion of learning from observational research Alan S. Gerber, Donald P. Green and Edward H. Kaplan; 13. Concepts and commitments in the study of democracy Lisa Wedeen; 14. Problems chasing methods or methods chasing problems, research communities, constrained pluralism, and the role of eclecticism Rudra Sil; 15. Method, problem, faith William E. Connolly; 16. Provisionalism in the study of politics Elisabeth Ellis; 17. What have we learned? Robert Dahl, Truman Bewley, Susanne Hoeber Rudolph and John Mearsheimer.

The study of politics is beset by debates about method. In this book, some of the world's most prominent scholars of politics offer original discussions exploring what political science is and how political scientists should aspire to do their work.

Ian Shapiro is William R. Kenan, Jr Professor and Chair of Political Science at Yale University. His many books include The State of Democratic Theory, The Moral Foundations of Politics, Democratic Justice, and (with Donald Green) Pathologies of Rational Choice Theory.
Rogers M. Smith is the Christopher H. Browne distinguished Professor and Chair of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. His previous books include Civic Ideals: Conflicting Visions of Citizenship in U.S. History, Liberalism and American Constitutional Law, and Stories of Peoplehood: The Politics and Morals of Political Membership.
Tarek Masoud is an assistant professor of public policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. His current research focuses on the politics of religion in the Islamic world, particularly the ways in which Islamist parties shape - and are shaped by - their political environments. He is the co-editor of Problems and Methods in the Study of Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2004), and Order, Conflict, and Violence (Cambridge University Press, 2008). He is the recipient of grants from the National Science Foundation and the Paul and Daisy Soros Foundation. He is a graduate of Brown and Yale Universities.