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Samuel Huntington once remarked that authoritarian societies are unable to produce great political scientists, that political science is closely linked to democracy, and that political scientists have a moral duty to promote political reform. Huntington did not, however, discuss in detail why authoritarianism cannot produce great political scientists. He also overlooked a number of other issues with regard to the relationship between regimes and political science. Through an examination of the case of China, this article confirms the main finding of Huntington's thesis through a discussion of why democracy is associated with political science and why authoritarianism does not produce great political scientists. The article, however, also points out the problems associated with Huntington's thesis on connections between regimes and political science. The article offers a number of causal mechanisms and constructive criticisms of Huntington's thesis.

Upon my first reading of the Etzioni autobiography, I recalled my favorite book review, written by a nine-year-old, who also should have won a prize for the youngest author and the shortest review ever: "This book told me more about penguins than I wanted to know."

While the value of student peer-assessment (SPA) is now largely acknowledged, it can be problematic for teachers to implement such a method in large groups and to ensure that students accept and benefit from it. This Working Paper focuses on this issue learning from the experience of implementing SPA with first year bachelor students following an introductory course in political science at the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL). To this end, this article is twofold: on the one hand, it presents the project that was implemented both in its objectives and its design and, on the other hand, it discusses its impact on the students, as measured by original data collected along the implementation of SPA. The findings show that online SPA has a positive impact for the students in terms of increasing their (perceived) abilities. The research also delivers interesting results concerning students' post-SPA perceptions of their ability to assess their peers' works and of their peers' ability to assess their own works.

While the value of student peer-assessment (SPA) is now largely acknowledged, it can be problematic for teachers to implement such a method in large groups and to ensure that students accept and benefit from it. This Working Paper focuses on this issue learning from the experience of implementing SPA with first year bachelor students following an introductory course in political science at the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL). To this end, this article is twofold: on the one hand, it presents the project that was implemented both in its objectives and its design and, on the other hand, it discusses its impact on the students, as measured by original data collected along the implementation of SPA. The findings show that online SPA has a positive impact for the students in terms of increasing their (perceived) abilities. The research also delivers interesting results concerning students' post-SPA perceptions of their ability to assess their peers' works and of their peers' ability to assess their own works.