Political Science, Political Culture, and Africa

In: The journal of modern African studies: a quarterly survey of politics, economics & related topics in contemporary Africa, Volume 16, Issue 4, p. 679-685

Abstract

Political scientists during the last 20 years have been bombarded by a bewildering array of approaches and methods to the study of their discipline, including structural-functionalism, systems and partial systems, decision-making, costs and benefits, patron-client relationships, micro-politics, politimetrics, mobilisation systems, survey research, aggregate data and content analysis, Q methodology, and experimentalism. With so many different approaches and techniques available to students of politics, it is not surprising that the discipline is in a twilight period characterised by confusion and disillusionment.