Suchergebnisse

Michael Oakeshott (1901-1990) achieved arguably the most sophisticated philosophical understanding of politics in recent times. His characteristic skepticism extended to the possibility of creating a genuine science of politics. This chapter sketches the development of his conception of political understanding. It begins with his early elaboration of the modal character of all knowledge, discusses his criticism of rationalism & reflections on the appropriate curriculum for studying politics in a university. It concludes by examining the theoretical basis of his rejection of the idea that politics could be analyzed as a field governed by natural laws. 23 References. Adapted from the source document.

Cover -- Brief Contents -- Contents -- List of Figures, Tables and Boxes -- Preface -- Chapter 1 Introduction -- What Is Research? -- What Is Science? -- Why Research Design? -- What Is Political Science? -- The Purposes of This Text -- The Way Ahead -- Chapter 2 Types of Research and Research Questions -- Normative and Positive Research -- Theoretical and Empirical Research -- Descriptive, Predictive, and Explanatory Research -- Theory Generation, Theory Testing, and Theory Application -- Alternative Approaches -- Choosing a Topic -- Sharpening the Research Question -- Further Reading -- Chapter 3 Theory in the Research Process -- Paradigms, Theories, Models, and Interpretations -- The Functions of Theory -- The Structure of Theory -- Developing Explanatory Theory -- What Makes a Good Theory? -- Practical Considerations about Theory -- Further Reading -- Chapter 4 Concepts and Operationalization -- Concepts -- Conceptualization -- Operationalization -- Pitfalls of Conceptualization -- Summing Up -- Further Reading -- Chapter 5 Measurement and Description -- Preliminaries -- A Glossary of Research Terms -- Measurement Reliability and Validity -- Measurement Strategies in Political Science -- Descriptive Inference -- Goals of Descriptive Research -- Describing Populations -- Describing Individual Cases -- Further Reading -- Chapter 6 Explanation and Causality -- Types of Explanation -- Notions of Causality -- Causal Inference -- Further Reading -- Chapter 7 Experimental Designs -- The Basics of Experimental Research -- The Design of Experimental Research -- Complications -- The Analysis of Experimental Data -- Experiments in Political Science and Public Policy Research -- Limits to Experimental Research -- Further Reading -- Chapter 8 Large-N Designs -- The Logic of Large-N Research -- Pitfalls on the Way from Association to Causation.

A Foreword from Abroad by Peter HennessyPART I: INTRODUCTION1 Remembering and Witnessing - Glyn Davis and R.A.W. Rhodes2 A Historian Encounters Politics: The Craft of Pat Weller - Glyn Davis and R.A.W. RhodesPART 2: THE EXECUTIVE3 Two Halves of a Whole: Rudd and Gillard and the Politics of Prime Ministerial Vulnerability - Michelle Grattan4 Core Executives, Prime Ministers, Statecraft and Court Politics: Towards Convergence - R.A.W. RhodesPART 3: THE PUBLIC SERVICE5 Mandarins - Peter Shergold6 The Machinery of Government: The Evolution of Research on Ministerial Portfolios - Evert LindquistPART 4: HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY7 'It is not a biography . . .', it is executive practice - James Walter8 Administrative History as Biography - John WannaPART 5: INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS9 Agents of Influence: Weller and Xu on International Organisations from a Public Policy Perspective - Jason Sharman10 Learning a New Trick: International Civil Servants - Xu Yi-chongPART 6: COMPARATIVE GOVERNMENT11 Who rules? Democratic Versus Bureaucratic Leadership - John Kane and Haig Patapan12 Westminster Futures: Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom in Comparative Perspective - Robert J. Jackson13 Politics as Work: A Credo - Patrick WellerPatrick Weller's BibliographyIndex