32 Political Methodology: An Overview John E. Jackson
33 Political Methodology: Qualitative Methods
Charles C. Ragin, Dirk Berg-Schlosser & Gisele de Meur
34 Political Methodology: Research Design & Experimental Methods Kathleen McGraw
35 Political Methodology, Old & New Hayward R. Alker
Index
Preface
The New Handbook, by its very title, pays explicit homage to the truly Herculean efforts of our predecessors, Fred Greenstein and Nelson Polsby, in compiling the original Handbook o f Political Science (1975). Though that eight-volume work is now two decades old, it remains a landmark in the discipline and an essential reference. We have set our task as the examination of what has happened in the discipline in the twenty years since publication of the Greenstein-Polsby original. Inevitably, some contributors have needed to go slightly beyond those bounds to tell a coherent story (the story of contemporary political theory, for example, clearly starts with the publication of Rawls's Theory of Justice, four years before the Greenstein-Polsby Handbook). Basically, however, the first
three contributors to each section have been held to that remit, with the fourth ('Old and New') being invited explicitly to reflect upon how these newer developments articulate with older traditions within each subdiscipline.
The New Handbook is conspicuously more international than the old, with just under half of our 42 contributors having non-North American affiliations. That is due in some small part to its origins in a meeting of the International Political Science Association (see our Acknowledgments, immediately following). But it is due in much larger part to genuine internationalization of the discipline over the past two decades. American political science undoubtedly remains primus inter pares — but it now has many equals, most of whom actually see themselves as collaborators in some shared enterprise. These and various other new voices make political science a richer discourse today than twenty years ago, albeit a discourse which is clearly continuous with that earlier one.
The New Handbook is also conspicuously organized around subdisciplines in a way that the old was not. Some such subdisciplinary affiliations are, and virtually always have been, the principal points of allegiance of most members of our discipline. The particular subdisciplines around which we have organized the New Handbook represent what seem to us to constitute the dominant configuration of the discipline at present. Subdisciplines are far from being hermetically sealed, however. Work across and between subdisciplinary divides is increasingly common in its frequency and compelling in its quality.
The original Handbook o f Political Science was loosely inspired by the model of Lindzey and Aronson's (1954/1985) Handbook o f Social Psychology (Greenstein and Polsby 1975: vol. 1, p. vi). While social psychology remains central to much political science, it is a mark of the broadening scope of the contemporary discipline that the New Handbook was loosely inspired, in like fashion, by the New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics (Eatwell et al. 1987). Again, our modest single volume cannot compare with the four-volume sweep of that latter work, nor does it face quite the same challenge of
catching up on a century's worth of developments since publication of the original. But like the New Palgrave, the New Handbook o f Political Science strives to encourage cutting-edge practitioners to stand back from the fray and reflect upon where, collectively, we have been and where, collectively, we are going in their corner of the discipline. And like the New Palgrave, the New Handbook o f Political Science takes that disciplinary remit broadly to embrace cognate work in economics and sociology, psychology and statistics, anthropology and area studies.
In addition to these masterly surveys of cognate disciplines, we should also acknowledge our debt — and our profession's — to various other interim assessments of the state of political science itself. Although the surveys of Political Science: The State of the Discipline (Finifter 1983; 1993) are not nearly as comprehensive in their aspirations as the handbook, old or new, several of their chapters have become classics that now stand alongside corresponding chapters in the original handbook as authoritative statements upon which any subsequent work must build. Another four-volume collection, Political Science: Looking to the Future (Crotty 1991), also contains many truly excellent chapters which also repay careful study. Subfields of political science have also been well-served, a particular landmark being Public Administration: The State o f the Discipline (Lynn and Wildavsky 1990) — a joint venture between the American Society for Public Administration and APSA. Looking beyond the Anglophone orbit, there are also ambitious and excellent handbooks of political science published in French (Leca and Grawitz 1985), German (von Beyme 1986) and Italian (Graziano 1987). The New Handbook aims not to supplant any of those previous efforts but, rather, to extend and supplement them.
Greenstein and Polsby felt compelled to remark upon the inevitable incompleteness of their original eight-volume handbook. So too must we emphasize, all the more strongly, the inevitable incompleteness of our one-volume successor. Authors of the lead chapter in each section have been asked to provide an overview of recent developments, as best they are able — but within the tightly limited number of pages they have been allowed, inevitably there is much that they have had to leave out. We have attempted to supplement each of those overview chapters with other shorter ones from particular perspectives — but with only two per subdiscipline, there are again many perspectives that are inevitably left out. While we cannot hope to have provided a comprehensive coverage of all recent developments of consequence, we nonetheless hope to have touched upon most of the main currents in the disciplines. It is a lively and thriving enterprise, of which we are proud to be part.
References:
Crotty, W., ed. 1991. Political Science: Looking to the Future. 4 vols. Evanston, 111.:
Northwestern University Press.
Eatwell, J.; Milgate, M.; and Newman, P., eds. 1987. The New Palgrave: A Dictionary o f Economics. 4 vols. New York: Stockton Press.
Finifter, A. W., ed. 1983. Political Science: The State o f the Discipline. Washington, D.
C. : American Political Science Association.
Finifter, A. W., ed. 1993. Political Science: The State o f the Discipline II. Washington, D. C.: American Political Science Association.
Graziano, L., ed. 1987. La Scienca Politica Italiana. Milano: Felterinellei.
Greenstein, F. I., and Polsby, N. W., eds. 1975. Handbook o f Political Science. 8 vols.
Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.
Leca, J., and Grawitz, M., eds. 1985. Traite de Science Politique. 4 vols. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Lindzey, G., and Aronson, E. 1985. Handbook o f Social Psychology. 2 vols. 3rd edn.
Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley; originally published 1954.
Lynn, N. B., and Wildavsky, A , eds. 1990. Public Administration: The State o f the Discipline. Chatham, N.J.: Chatham House, for the American Political Science Association and the American Society for Public Administration.
von Beyme, K., ed. 1986, Politikwissenschaft in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. PVS Sonderheft 17. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag.
Acknowledgments
The New Handbook o f Political Science has its origins in a set of panels we organized on the 'state of the discipline' for the XVIth World Congress of the International Political Science Association, which met in Berlin in August 1994. Some contributors were unable to come at the last minute; others who came have fallen by the wayside, for one reason or another, in the course of transforming the Congress papers into a coherent book. But most of the contributors to this volume had the invaluable opportunity to discuss their draft chapters with one another, and with others from adjacent subdisciplines, in Berlin. It is a much more unified and cohesive book than it would otherwise have been.
We want to take this opportunity to thank the many people who made those meetings possible — most particularly our secretaries and assistants, Norma Chin, Frances Redrup and Judith Sellars in Canberra, and Gudrun Mouna and Hubertus Buchstein in Berlin. We should also take this opportunity to pay tribute to the larger IPSA organization — including most especially the then-President, Carole Pateman; the then-Secretary-General, Francesco Kjellberg, and his able assistant, Lise Fog; and the Local Organizer of the Berlin Congress, Gerhard Göhler.
We should also thank the many people who have offered valuable advice on the substance of the New Handbook, ranging from suggestions on the selection of topics and contributors to detailed comments on the substance of particular chapters. First and foremost, once again, are the members of the IPSA Program Committee — most particularly Carole Pateman, Jean Leca, Ted Lowi and Luigi Graziano. Among the many others who have been invaluable sources of excellent advice, the contributions which particularly stand out are those of John Dryzek, John Uhr, Barry Weingast and members of Research Unit III at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin.
We ought pay more than the usual passing tribute to our publishers. Tim Barton and Dominic Bryant have been constant sources of advice and assistance, encouragement and admonitions. Putting together a high-profile reference book such as this is a process which is bound to try any desk editors' nerves: theirs have held remarkably firm, throughout. We are grateful to them for their constant support.
Transoceanic collaborations can rarely be easy. With the advent of the electronic age, they are easier than they used to be. Still, there are strict limits to what can be done in 'virtual reality', and coeditors must literally come together from time to time. Our respective home institutions have generously facilitated this, on several occasions and in various connections. Goodin would like to pay particular tribute to the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin for bringing him to Berlin early in the planning stages of this project, and for providing him with office space and secretarial assistance in the run-up to
the Berlin Congress. Klingemann would similarly like to thank the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University for a Visiting Fellowship to facilitate final editing of the complete manuscript. Most of all, we would like to thank our partners
— Diane Gibson and Ute Klingemann — for suffering such an intrusive presence as this project with such good humour for so long.
Robert E. Goodin
Hans-Dieter Klingemann Canberra
October 1995
About the Contributors
Alberto Alesina is Professor of Economics and Government at Harvard University.
Hayward R. Alker is John A. McCone Professor of International Relations at the University of Southern California.
Gabriel A. Almond is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at Stanford University.
James E. Alt is Professor of Government at Harvard University.
David E. Apter is Henry J. Heinz II Professor of Comparative Political and Social Development at the Department of Political Science, Yale University.
A. B. Atkinson is Warden of Nuffield College, Oxford.
Brian Barry is Professor of Government at the London School of Economics.
Dirk Berg-Schlosser is Professor of Political Science, Philipps-University, Marburg.
Edward G. Carmines is Professor of Political Science at Indiana University, Bloomington.
David Louis Cingranelli is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at the State University of New York at Binghamton.
Russell J. Dalton is Professor of Political Science at the University of California at Irvine.
Mattei Dogan is Director of Research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris and Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Gavin Drewry is Professor of Social Policy and Social Science at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, University of London.
Patrick Dunleavy is Professor of Government at the London School of Economics.
Kjell Goldmann is Professor of Political Science at the University of Stockholm.
Robert E. Goodin is Professor of Philosophy at the Research School of Social Sciences of the Australian National University, Canberra.
Bernard Grofman is Professor of Political Science at the University of California at Irvine.
Richard I, Hofferbert is Professor of Political Science at the State University of New York at Binghamton and Recurring Visiting Professor at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung.
Robert Huckfeldt is Professor of Political Science at Indiana University, Bloomington.
John E. Jackson is Professor of Political Science and of Business Administration and Research Scientist at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan.
Robert O. Keohane is Stanfield Professor of International Peace in the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University.
Hans-Dieter Klingemann is Director of Research Unit III at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung and Professor of Political Science at the Free University, Berlin.
Peter Mair is Professor of Political Science at the University of Leiden.
Giandomenico Majone is Professor of Comparative Public Policy at the European University Institute in Florence.
Kathleen McGraw is Associate Professor of Political Science at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
Gisele de Meur is Professor of Mathematics for the Social Sciences at Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
Warren E. Miller is Regents' Professor of Political Science at Arizona State University.
Barbara J. Nelson is Vice President for Academic Programs at Radcliffe College.
Claus Offe is Professor of Political Sociology and Social Policy at Humboldt University, Berlin.
Franz Urban Pappi is Professor of Politial Science at Mannheim University.
Bhikhu Parekh is Professor of Politics at the University of Hull.
B. Guy Peters is Maurice Falk Professor of American Government at the University of Pittsburgh.
Charles C. Ragin is Professor of Sociology and Political Science at Northwestern University.
Bo Rothstein occupies the August Röhss chair of Political Science at Göteborg University.
David Sanders is Professor of Government at the University of Essex.
J. Ann Tickner is Associate Professor in the School of International Relations at the University of Southern California.
Klaus von Beyme is Professor of Political Science at the University of Heidelberg.
Barry R. Weingast is Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Professor of Political Science at Stanford University.
Laurence Whitehead is Fellow in Politics at Nuffield College, Oxford.
Vincent Wright is Fellow in Politics at Nuffield College, Oxford.
Iris Marion Young is Professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh, with affiliated appointments in the Departments of Philosophy and Political Science.