The Relevance of Political Science [Paperback]

What does political science tell us about important real-world problems and issues? And to what extent does and can political analysis contribute to solutions? Debates about the funding, impact and relevance of political science in contemporary democracies have made this a vital and hotly contested topic of discussion, and in this original text authors from around the world respond to the challenge.

A robust defence is offered of the achievements of political science research, but the book is not overly sanguine given its sustained recognition of the need for improvement in the way that political science is done. New insights are provided into the general issues raised by relevance, into blockages to relevance, and into the contributions that the different subfields of political science can and do make. The book concludes with a new manifesto for relevance that seeks to combine a commitment to rigour with a commitment to engagement.
Introduction; the Editors.- PART I.- 1. Challenging Three Blockages to Relevance and Political Science: the Obvious, the Avoidable and the Thorny; Gerry Stoker.- 2. The Relevance of Relevance; John Gerring.- 3. Relevant to whom? Relevant for what? The Role and Public Responsibility of the Political Analyst; Colin Hay.- 4. The Rediscovery of the Political Imagination; Matthew Flinders.- 5. Guilty as Charged? Human Well-Being and the Unsung Relevance of Political Science; Bo Rothstein.- 6. Why Did Nobody Warn US? Political Science and the Crisis; Graham Wilson.- PART II.- 7. The Relevance of the Academic Study of Public Policy; Sarah Giest, Michael Howlett and Ishani Mukherjee.- 8. Why Political Theory Matters; Thom Brooks.- 9. Constructivism and Interpretive Approaches: Especially Relevant or Especially Not?; Craig Parsons.- 10. Is Comparative Politics Useful? If so, for What?; B. Guy Peters.- 11. Can Political Science Solve the Puzzles of Global Governance?; Jon Pierre.- 12. Maximising the Relevance of PoliticlS.