Suchergebnisse

Examines the territorial dimension of political analysis and the relationship between politics and territory; 10 articles.

Text has always been an important data source in political science. What has changed in recent years is the feasibility of investigating large amounts of text quantitatively. The internet provides political scientists with more data than their mentors could have imagined, and the research community is providing accessible text analysis software packages, along with training and support. As a result, text-as-data research is becoming mainstream in political science. Scholars are tapping new data sources, they are employing more diverse methods, and they are becoming critical consumers of findings based on those methods. In this article, we first describe the four stages of a typical text-as-data project. We then review recent political science applications and explore one important methodological challenge—topic model instability—in greater detail.

"A collection of essays by a diverse group of scholars, The Politics of Cyberspace tackles the most important themes tied to the emergence of cyber-space - inequalities of access, the use of the Web by mainstream political parties, the challenge to the First Amendment, the possibility that the Web may foster new understandings of gender, and the need for progressive intellectuals to embrace and utilize the internet in their political struggles."--Jacket

This article helps fill the void in U.S. political science's approach
to Latin American political science and its institutionalization.
One example of that void is that PS: Political Science &
Politics has recently published several pieces on the
state of the discipline in diverse regions of the world but, despite
its relative importance, none on the state of the discipline in
Latin America (see, for example, Bogaç and Turan 2004; Rizayev 2004;
and Sharapova 2005). This omission is remarkable because this
continent has both nourished U.S. political science by providing
several outstanding colleagues, many of whom have generated
controversial and important arguments against the dominant paradigms
in the discipline, and because, for better or worse, Latin America
has been considered the "backyard" of the United States. Arguably,
because of its economic, social, and political ties with the U.S.,
any major change in Latin America would have greater and more
immediate implications for the U.S. than similar events elsewhere in
the world. These topics are particularly pertinent with the upcoming
conference of the International Political Science Association (IPSA)
being held in Santiago, Chile, in 2009, and the APSA's new efforts
to recruit members from overseas, especially from not-so privileged
countries.

Abstract There are many ways of quantifying the success of political science departments, all of which have advantages and disadvantages. The most relevant international rankings consider factors such as research quality, research quantity, or academic reputation. None of the established rankings consider how frequently departments place their alumni into the academic job market. As this criterion should arguably be among the most important ones for prospective graduate students, this paper analyzes original data on the educational background of faculty members ( N = 3548) at highly reputable political science departments in North America and Europe to create an up-to-date ranking based on academic placement records. The insights from this article provide guidance to undergraduate and graduate students when considering different options for the pursuit of a Ph.D., and hopefully also motivate departments to place greater significance on their placement records through increased transparency. In addition, the data highlights the large gender gap in placement success across all departments.

ACADEMIC DISHONESTY IS A PROBLEM THAT HAS PLAGUED POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSORS FOR GENERATIONS. IN RECENT YEARS, HOWEVER, ACADEMIC DISHONESTY AMONG COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES APPEARS TO HAVE REACHED EPIDEMIC PROPORTIONS. CHEATING ON MAJOR EXAMINATIONS HAS BECOME HIGHLY SOPHISTICATED AND THE PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF PLAGIARIZED TERM PAPERS IS NOW A MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS. POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSORS CAN THEREFORE NO LONGER ASSUME THAT TRADITIONAL METHODS OF TESTING AND GRADING ARE VALID NEW METHODS OF DETECTING AND PREVENTING ACADEMIC DISHONESTY MUST BE DEVELOPED AND IMPLEMENTED IF GRADES ARE TO HAVE ANY MEANING. THE PURPOSE OF THIS PAPER IS TO PROVIDE MEMBERS OF OUR DISCIPLINE WITH SOME IMPORTANT GUIDELINES FOR DEALING WITH ACADEMIC DISHONESTY. FIRST, THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM IS EXAMINED AND SOME OF THE PRESSURES AND SITUATIONS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO DISHONEST BEHAVIOR ARE IDENTIFIED. AND SECOND, SOME SPECIFIC TIPS ARE OFFERED TO HELP AVERT DISHONEST STUDENT BEHAVIOR IN THE FUTURE. SPECIAL ATTENTION IS GIVEN TO CLASSROOM LOGISTICS, TEST CONSTRUCTION, AND FACULTY DEMEANOR