Begins with a reflection on the field of political science, which, while highly politicized internally, plays no central role in public policy debate. Research is generally shaped by the political preferences of the field's generally liberal-Left practitioners, but these views are seldom attended to outside of academia. The remainder of the comment discusses the importance & disadvantages of specialization, & the need for methodological expertise to include policy knowledge as well as academic knowledge. K. Coddon
The relationship between political science and the 'real world' of public policy and politics has long been a complicated one. Current calls for more relevance in political science research echo back to the discipline's early days. This essay traces the intertwined history of practice and ivory tower, with specific attention to the rise of economics as a policy-engaged social science. A mini-case study of political scientists' involvement in contemporary health policymaking provides a concrete focus. Adapted from the source document.
Contemporary political science is specialized, deeply concerned with its methods, and politicized. It also remains peripheral to most public debates. But the relationships among these characteristics are ambiguous and each yields advantages as well as costs.
Reports on a survey of 168 female political science faculty members in the US South, conducted in 2002 by the Committee on the Status of Women (CSW), that examined perceptions of the status of women in the field of political science. Although the respondents acknowledged significant efforts by departments, colleges, & universities to recruit women faculty members, many felt more needs to be done to diversify their departments. Sixty percent of the respondents indicated their departments have written standards for tenure & promotion that are explained during the hiring process, & 77% said they were regularly evaluated, usually by an annual review. However, there were numerous reports of failures for political science departments to tenure or promote women faculty, as well as mixed responses about departmental efforts to retain female faculty. The results are compared to the findings of a 2000 CSW survey of department chairs. The mixture of positive & negative experiences indicates the need for continued vigilance in monitoring the status of women in the profession. 1 Table, 4 References. J. Lindroth
The relationship between political science and the "real world" of public policy and politics has long been a complicated one. Current calls for more relevance in political science research echo back to the discipline's early days. This essay traces the intertwined history of practice and ivory tower, with specific attention to the rise of economics as a policy-engaged social science. A mini-case study of political scientists' involvement in contemporary health policymaking provides a concrete focus.
Abstract.Political scientists are increasingly studying public policy in interdisciplinary environments where they are challenged by the political and normative agenda of other disciplines. Political science has unique perspectives to offer, including a stress on the political feasibility of policy in an environment of power differentials. Our contributions should be informed by the insights of cognitive psychology and we should focus on improving governance, in particular the competence and integrity of decision makers. The discipline's stress on legitimacy and acceptability provides a normative anchor, but we should not over invest in the idea that incentives will achieve normative goals. Creating decision situations that overcome cognitive deficiencies is ultimately the most important strategy.Résumé.Les politologues étudient les politiques publiques dans des contextes de plus en plus interdisciplinaires, où ils sont remis en question par les préoccupations politique et normatives d'autres disciplines. La science politique a des perspectives uniques à offrir, y compris un accent sur la faisabilité politique des politiques publiques dans un contexte de relations de pouvoir asymétriques. Nos contributions doivent être informées par les idées associées à la psychologie cognitive et nous devrions nous concentrer sur l'amélioration de la gouvernance, et notamment la compétence et l'intégrité des décideurs. L'accent de notre discipline sur la légitimité et l'acceptabilité fournit un point d'ancrage normatif, mais il ne faut pas trop investir dans l'idée que des mesures incitatives permettront nécessairement d'atteindre des objectifs normatifs. Créer des situations de décision qui surmontent les lacunes cognitives des acteurs est finalement la stratégie la plus importante à adopter.
