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The dominant belief among both teachers and graduate students of political science seems to be that political theory constitutes the heart of their subject; yet political theory is not, in practice, the core of political science teaching. Such is the schizoid condition of political science and political scientists that is revealed by the investigations of the Committee for the Advancement of Teaching of the American Political Science Association. The hypothesis advanced in this note presents a dual reason for the unfortunate situation: it is partly that political theorists have failed to keep up with the times and have not engaged in sufficient value-free theoretical study of the raw data of politics, and partly that vast numbers of political scientists have falsely concluded that one of the most important parts of the traditional study of political theory—political ethics—is not susceptible of scientific treatment and should rigorously be eschewed.

Intro -- Table of Contents -- Introduction -- About This Book -- Conventions Used in This Book -- Icons Used in This Book -- Beyond the Book -- Where to Go from Here -- Part 1: Understanding Political Science -- Chapter 1: Discovering the Discipline of Political Science -- Looking at Politics and Political Science -- Studying Political Power -- Searching for Sources of Legitimacy -- Chapter 2: Shaping Research in Political Science: Looking at Major Approaches -- Starting with Traditionalism -- Switching to Behavioralism -- Moving Leftward with Post-Behavioralism -- Comparing Political Science Theories -- Looking at Historical Sociology -- Seeking Benefits: Rational Choice Theory -- Chapter 3: Dealing with Political Culture -- Analyzing Political Culture -- Sustaining Democracy: The Civic Culture -- Working on Political Socialization -- Moving from Materialist to Postmaterialist -- Part 2: Comparing Governments -- Chapter 4: Discussing Different Forms of Government -- Identifying Types of Governments -- Dividing Powers -- Chapter 5: Setting the Rules: Constitutions -- Looking at Constitution Basics -- Creating a New Country: The U.S. Constitution of 1789 -- Checking on a New Document: The Russian Constitution -- Chapter 6: Comparing Political Institutions: Systems of Government -- Comparing Democratic Political Systems -- Studying the U.S. Congress -- Looking at Great Britain -- Analyzing Executives -- Going Bureaucratic -- Settling Disputes -- Chapter 7: Elections, Political Parties, and Interest Groups -- Studying Elections -- Political Parties - Necessary for Democracy -- Interest Groups: Influencing the Government -- Part 3: Going Global: International Relations -- Chapter 8: Thinking Globally: The Study of International Relations -- Understanding the Origins of International Relations -- Getting into the Theories of International Relations.

"Political and Psychological Processes in Political Action" published on by Oxford University Press.

Among political scientists, even among political theorists, there is a widespread conviction that political theory has entered upon a time of troubles. Few, however, regard it simply as a "dead dog," and political theorists continue, as they should, to administer critical self-analysis, and to define and defend their methodological and philosophical positions. The basis for a unity of opposites is still a subject for dispute. This paper is offered, not as a solution, but as a statement of one conception of the role of political theory.A time-honored technique of dialectic is to seek well-reasoned objections to the view one does not hold. A medicine often commended to the political scientists is a body of systematic, scientific theory akin to economic theory in approach and methodological sophistication. Accordingly, this article takes issue with that interpretation which conceives of political theory as, ideally, the master discipline whereby the science of politics is to be unified and systematized, and empirical investigation oriented and guided. A few definite and carefully developed proposals for reconstruction along these lines, familar to political scientists, are G. E. G. Catlin's The Science and Method of Politics, Harold D. Lasswell's and Abraham Kaplan's Power and Society, and David Easton's The Political System. These works can serve as an initial point of purchase for analysis and discussion.

C. P. Snow, in his Rede Lecture on the scientific and literary worlds as separate cultures, lists four groups needed by a country if it is to "come out top" in the scientific revolution. First, as many top scientists as it can produce; second, a larger group trained for supporting research and high class design; third, educated supporting technicians; and "fourthly and last, politicians, administrators, an entire community, who know enough science to have a sense of what the scientists are talking about."It seems increasingly clear that the growing army of "political" scientists—meaning natural scientists in politics—is more likely to be aided by students of politics prepared to understand the effects of science in political terms than by most of the recent efforts to understand politics in scientific terms. When one looks over the journals in political science, and in related areas of public opinion and social psychology, searching for significant conclusions in articles where much time has been spent on the elaboration of method, it is difficult to avoid V. O. Key's conclusion "that a considerable proportion of the literature commonly classified under the heading of 'political behavior' has no real bearing on politics, or at least that its relevance has not been made clear."

Like Rachel, Jacob's beloved but still childless bride, who asked herself and the Lord each morning, "Am I?," or "Can I?," so presidents of this Association on these annual occasions intermittently ask, "Are we a science?," or "Can we become one?" My predecessor, David Truman, raised this question last September applying some of the notions of Thomas Kuhn in his recent book on scientific revolutions. I shall be following in Truman's footsteps, repeating much that he said but viewing the development of the profession from a somewhat different perspective and intellectual history. My comments will be organized around three assertions.First, there was a coherent theoretical formulation in the American political theory of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.Second, the development of professional political science in the United States from the turn of the century until well into the 1950's was carried on largely in terms of this paradigm, to use Kuhn's term. The most significant and characteristic theoretical speculation and research during these decades produced anomalous findings which cumulatively shook its validity.Third, in the last decade or two the elements of a new, more surely scientific paradigm seem to be manifesting themselves rapidly. The core concept of this new approach is that of the political system.

Ostensibly theoretical disputes in political science often involve competing approaches to explanation, including skepticism, covering law arguments, reconstructions of propensities, system models, and explanations featuring causal mechanisms. Mechanism- and process-based accounts, including cognitive, environmental, and relational effects, deserve more attention than they have received in recent political science. Analyses of democratization illustrate these points.

First published in 1997, this edition of The American Political Process examines both the formal and informal institutions of government and analyses how these bodies interact I the making of public policy in the United States in order to provide an understanding of contemporary American politics. This Sixth Edition has been thoroughly up-dated, extended and substantially revised to take account of important events such as the Republicans winning control of Congress in 1994 and the 1996 Presidential and Congressional elections. It looks at the political developments of the 1990s against the background of a long-established constitutional structure and a distinctively American political culture. Each chapter includes a variety of useful tables and diagrams as well as suggestions for further reading and there is an extensive glossary of terms in American politics which provides an easily accessible reference for the reader.