Theory and Methods in Political Science

Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 6
List of Figures, Tables and Boxes......Page 13
Preface to the Third Edition......Page 14
Notes on the Editors and Contributors......Page 15
Introduction......Page 18
What is politics? What is it that political scientists study?......Page 23
What is a scientific approach to politics?......Page 26
The discipline of political science: a celebration of diversity......Page 28
PART 1 THEORY AND APPROACHES......Page 30
Introduction to Part 1......Page 32
1 Behavioural Analysis......Page 40
The rise of the behavioural movement and its core characteristics......Page 41
Criticisms of the behavioural approach......Page 46
The strengths of the behavioural approach: an example......Page 50
Conclusion: the behavioural legacy in the 21st century......Page 56
Further reading......Page 58
2 Rational Choice......Page 59
The method of economics (and rational choice)......Page 60
Rational choice in action: the logic of party competition......Page 62
Rational choice in the round......Page 67
What's wrong with rational choice?......Page 68
Types, tokens and leverage: a qualified defence of rational choice......Page 74
Further reading......Page 76
3 The Institutional Approach......Page 77
The 'traditional' institutional approach......Page 79
The rise of the 'new institutionalism'......Page 80
What's new about new institutionalism? The core features of the approach......Page 83
New institutionalist dilemmas......Page 88
Conclusion......Page 95
Further reading......Page 96
4 Constructivism and Interpretive Theory......Page 97
Origins of constructivism......Page 98
What is and isn't distinctive about constructivism......Page 100
Variations within constructivism......Page 106
Conclusion......Page 114
Further reading......Page 115
5 Political Psychology......Page 116
Roots and promise of political psychology......Page 117
'Homo psychologicus' in political life......Page 119
Political psychology at work......Page 123
The future for political psychology......Page 128
Further reading......Page 130
6 Feminism......Page 131
Debates within feminism......Page 132
Feminism and political science......Page 134
Re-conceptualizing politics......Page 139
Gendering the state......Page 144
Critical responses to feminist political science......Page 149
Conclusion: the way forward......Page 151
Further reading......Page 152
7 Marxism......Page 153
The continuing relevance of Marxism: from Communist Manifesto to No Logo......Page 155
Continuing problems in Marxism......Page 158
Marxism and international relations......Page 160
Insights from contemporary Marxist analysis......Page 162
Developing Marxism......Page 165
Conclusions......Page 171
Further reading......Page 172
8 Normative Theory......Page 173
The rise of liberalism......Page 174
Challenges to liberalism......Page 181
Conclusion: the victory of liberalism?......Page 190
Further reading......Page 193
PART 2 METHODS AND RESEARCH DESIGN......Page 196
Introduction to Part 2......Page 198
Ontology and epistemology introduced......Page 201
Ontological and epistemological positions......Page 205
Distinguishing broad epistemological positions......Page 208
Interrogating different approaches to ontology and epistemology......Page 210
Ontology and epistemology in political science: a case study of globalization......Page 223
Conclusion......Page 226
Further reading......Page 227
The connectedness of meta-theoretical issues......Page 229
Structure and agency: the dialectical approaches......Page 232
The material and the ideational: thin and thick constructivism......Page 238
Stability and change......Page 241
Conclusion......Page 246
Further reading......Page 248
11 The Challenge of Research Design......Page 249
Setting the stage: the philosophical foundations of research design......Page 250
From philosophy to research design......Page 252
The relevant universe......Page 256
Time and history in the social sciences......Page 259
The 'social' in social science......Page 262
Conclusion......Page 264
Further reading......Page 265
12 Debating Methods: Rediscovering Qualitative Approaches......Page 266
The rediscovery of qualitative methods......Page 267
What is distinctive about qualitative methods and analysis?......Page 272
Qualitative research techniques......Page 274
Interviews and group discussion......Page 275
Text/document based techniques......Page 278
Conclusions......Page 282
Further reading......Page 283
13 Quantitative Methods......Page 284
The collection and management of data......Page 285
The power of description......Page 288
Tables and inferential statistics......Page 289
Multivariate analysis......Page 292
Testing and reporting models......Page 295
Recent developments......Page 299
Conclusions......Page 300
Further reading......Page 301
Theory and the comparative method......Page 302
Basic forms of comparative explanation......Page 308
Large Ns: quantitative-comparative strategies......Page 311
Limitations of the quantitative comparative approach......Page 313
Small Ns: qualitative-comparative strategies......Page 317
Conclusion: carry on comparing!......Page 322
Further reading......Page 324
15 The Experimental Method: Prospects for Laboratory and Field Studies......Page 325
What is the experimental method?......Page 326
The rise of experimentation......Page 327
Learning from laboratory experiments......Page 330
Learning from field experiments......Page 333
Pitfalls in the experimental method......Page 334
Conclusions......Page 338
Further reading......Page 341
Introduction......Page 342
The case for relevance: objections and rebuttals......Page 343
Political science and democratic decay......Page 347
What do we know about political institutions?......Page 351
Political science and global governance......Page 354
Conclusion......Page 358
Bibliography......Page 360
C......Page 402
F......Page 403
I......Page 404
M......Page 405
P......Page 406
R......Page 407
U......Page 408
W......Page 409