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The defence of political science rests on a starting proposition that practitioners of political science need to embrace relevance rather than fear. Defending the role of politics in resolving societal dilemmas is in part a responsibility of those who study it and the challenge is significant given evidence of disenchantment with the political process in many established and mew democracies. Political science needs to offer not only an understanding of politics that is theoretical, sophisticated and empirically rigorous but also an approach that is not just problem‐focused but solution‐seeking. Defending political science means defending politics and taking on the challenge of improving its practice.

The idea of local governance has gained much prominence but can elected local government be sustained in a role as network coordinator alone? To investigate this question this article focuses attention on four societal roles that local government systems undertake. They can support political identity, underwrite economic development, facilitate social welfare provision or act as a lifestyle co‐ordinator through the practice of community governance. Tying our investigation to the embedded societal roles of local government in different systems opens up the opportunity for a global comparative perspective. It also supports an argument that a sustainable system of local government is likely to be one that is able to combine societal roles to a substantial degree and those systems left with community governance as their key societal function are particularly likely to find themselves pushed to the sidelines of governing arrangements.

In the face of scepticism experimenters are looking to move out of niche areas to offer their methods to mainstream political science. But even if the strength of experimental logic in demonstrating causal claims is accepted by political science colleagues there are doubts about the practicality and ethics of experimental work. Experimenters need to address these issues head on by showing how the research practice of experimenting is developing and proving to be viable. The particular claims of experimental work to offer insights into the micro-foundations of political behaviour will have to be advanced. Applications of experimental work could produce a political science of relevance to policy makers and citizens. In order to make advances experimenters will need their strategies to deal with the demands of a complex policy world.

This paper explores what makes relevance difficult to deliver. Researchers can be victims of the play of politics in policy settings and organizational blockages limit the numbers of academics that seek to achieve relevance. In addition the scholarly arguments for relevance are underdeveloped leaving scope for sustained doubts about the project. Crucially political science lacks a design arm and as a result it is deficient in the intellectual foundations needed to proffer solutions to political problems. Adapted from the source document.

It is in their potential policy relevance that experiments may make their strongest contribution to innovation and progress in political science. Yet there are good grounds for thinking that the policy world has in place a number of barriers that can limit the impact of experimental evidence. Moreover, some experimenters seem to approach the business of influencing policy with spectacular naivety. In modern democratic societies, engaging with the policy process is a complex and demanding activity. In order to make advances in this quarter, experimenters will need to develop their methods and practices in field experiments and extend their strategies to deal with the demands of a complex policy world.

The comparative study of local governance has been too focused on the institutional arrangements of the Systems of different nation states rather than the more fundamental issue of the societal functions performed by local government. This article focuses attention on four societal roles that local government systems undertake. They can support political identity, underwrite economic development, facilitate social welfare provision or act as a lifestyle co-ordinator through the practice of community governance. Linking our investigation to the embedded societal roles of local government in different systems opens up the opportunity for a more genuinely global comparative perspective. It also helps us to understand the likely forms of politics associated with different systems of local governance. It also enables us to explore the sustainability of different systems of local governance. It is suggested that a strong system of local government is likely to be one that is able to combine societal roles to a substantial degree. A vulnerable local government system is one trapped with one function that in changing societal and economic circumstances could find itself under threat. ; El estudio comparado de la gobernanza local se ha focalizado excesivamente en los arreglos institucionales de los sistemas de los diferentes Estados-nación en lugar de centrarse en el tema esencial de las funciones sociales que desempeñan los gobiernos locales. Este artículo centra su atención en cuatro roles sociales que desempeñan los sistemas de gobierno local. Pueden proporcionar identidad política, garantizar el desarrollo económico, facilitar la provisión de servicios sociales o actuar como coordinador de la forma de vida mediante la práctica de la gobernanza comunitaria. La vinculación de la investigación a los roles sociales asumidos por los gobiernos locales en los diferentes sistemas proporciona la posibilidad de adoptar una perspectiva global comparada más genuina. También ayuda a comprender las formas que adopta la política asociada a los distintos sistemas de gobernanza local y permite explorar la sostenibilidad de los diferentes sistemas de gobernanza local. Se sugiere que un sistema de gobierno local fuerte es probablemente más capaz de combinar los roles sociales de forma sustancial y que aquellos más vulnerables quedarán atrapados por una sola función que, en un contexto social y económico cambiante, puede quedar amenazada.