THE POST-BEHAVIORIAL MOVEMENT CURRENTY FINDS ITSELF AT AN IMPASSE BECAUSE OF THE INABILITY OF POST-BEHAVIORAL ADVOCATES TO GO BEYOND THE ONTOLOGICAL AND EPISTEMOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS THAT UNDERPIN BEHAVIORAL POLITICAL SCIENCE. THIS CRITIQUE OF BEHAVIORALISM LOOKS FIRST TO INSIGHTS FROM THE POST-MODERN ONTOLOGICAL/PRACTICAL REVOLUTION IN CONTEMPORARY CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY.
If one considers that the reorientation of biology towards the neurosciences was steered by a small group of first-rank scientists who seemed to have independently selected their aims, & if one observes the applications to which their findings have been put, one must conclude that neuroscientists, despite their relatively independent (from military agencies eg) status, must assume responsibility for the use of the knowledge generated by them. The industrial-military complex, in the service of the dominant classes, has the infrastructure, the expertise, & the necessary amount of financial, political, & technical power to make use of that knowledge, made freely accessible to all interested in the subject through the many international journals. Leaders of the scientific community, in fact, offer opinions on the conduct of public affairs & predict the future in their capacity as scientists & in a manner supportive of the repressive status quo. Inventing & propagating among fellow scientists & laymen doctrinal explanations of the intrinsic nature of human violence, they reinforce the pessimism & hopelessness which the majority of the world population already feels about their deteriorating conditions & justify their 'solutions' to poverty, hunger, violence, overpopulation & pollution, which are consistent with the interests of powerful groups fighting to maintain the status quo. Those solutions include interrogation techniques based on the findings about sensory deprivation; psychodrugs, & electrical stimulation of the brain (ESB) to suppress violence which is really caused by objective conditions (the class antagonism eg), but which is viewed as a mere reflection of precultural 'instinctive' or 'innate' aggressiveness by the leaders of ESB research; the mystification of the powers of artificial intelligence. When intelligence is viewed in terms of 'genetic endowment' or 'the secondary instructions derived from fetal life' (John C. Eccles, THE FUNCTION OF THE BRAIN, New York, NY, 1972), ie, apart from any consideration of the environment (the fact eg, that 2,000 million people are hungry) as determinant in the creation of intelligence, this underscores how much science shares the values of the system in which it develops. K. Schmitt.
In the past twenty years, social scientists have produced a substantial literature in English on Taiwan's domestic politics. In a review of more than 150 books, articles, & chapters, this article traces the development of that literature & identifies its main themes & topics -- including political economy, social change, critical Taiwan studies, ethnicity & national identity, democratization & democratic consolidation, constitutional issues, institutional development, election studies, political parties & coalitions, & policy making. The article finds the field of Taiwanese politics divided into area studies, theoretically driven or policy-oriented research. The author advocates more integration of these approaches as well as more cross-fertilization between qualitative & quantitative work, & between US-based & Taiwan-based researchers. The author also identifies topics in need of additional research, including partisanship & party realignment, institutional reform, legislative politics, bureaucratic politics, & pre-1945 political development. 2 Tables, 1 Figure, 156 References. Adapted from the source document.
One of the specific historical and cultural characteristics of the Russian political discourse is its orientation to precedents. It is considered correct to follow the behaviouristic models shown by one of the "heroes" (Peter I, Lenin, Stalin, etc.), to reproduce standard texts, and to compare the present situations with past situations (The Time of Troubles, Weimar Republic, NEP "New Economic Policy" (1921-1928), etc.). One of the peculiarities of the present time in Russia is the deep conflict between different social groups orientated to different precedents. Each group has its own variant of the national myth using the same means of the language for actualisation of this myth. Therefore, it is very important to analyse changes in the national cognitive foundation. Precedential phenomena are the central components of this foundation.
The emergence or reemergence of academic disciplines in the Soviet Union has frequently been signalled or accompanied by the publication of comprehensive critical studies of their "bourgeois" counterparts in the West. Thus, for example, Soviet empirical research in sociology and the subsequent tentative and limited official recognition of sociology as an academic discipline were preceded by the appearance of a number of monographs devoted to a critique of Western sociology. Perhaps it is against this background and from this perspective that one must interpret the publication, in 1969, of the first major Soviet study and critique of American political science.
AbstractWe report the results of hypotheses tests about the effects of several measures of research, teaching, and service on the likelihood of achieving the ranks of associate and full professor. In conducting these tests, we control for institutional and individual background characteristics. We focus our tests on the link between productivity and academic rank and explore whether this relationship reveals a gender dimension. The analyses are based on an APSA-sponsored survey of all faculty members in departments of political science (government, public affairs, and international relations) in the United States.
For several years, the European Union (EU) has faced two major crises at the same time – a global financial crisis that spilled over to the Eurozone countries and an immigration crisis. Those countries more negatively affected complain that the EU is ineffective in providing solutions, while better-off countries are reluctant to share the costs of the most exposed countries. In this critical context, radical populist parties have had specific incentives to offer extreme policy stances on the EU, signalling clear Eurosceptical positions as a means of breaking into the electoral market; their stance is now represented in the national parliament of many member states. The article examines the attitudes of national political elites towards the EU. It shows that the feelings towards the EU have largely survived acute changes (induced by the crises or changes to elite composition). Although Euroscepticism is a growing phenomenon within society and party systems, it is less on the rise among the elites holding public office. However, due to the unprecedented success of radical populist parties in some countries, Euroscepticism is now on the rise, also among this segment of elites, and some limited signs of contagion to the mainstream are already visible.
Field experiments -- randomized controlled trials -- have become ever more popular in political science, as well as in other disciplines, such as economics, social policy and development. Policy-makers have also increasingly used randomization to evaluate public policies, designing trials of tax reminders, welfare policies and international aid programs to name just a few of the interventions tested in this way. Field experiments have become successful because they assess causal claims in ways that other methods of evaluation find hard to emulate. Social scientists and evaluators have rediscovered how to design and analyze field experiments, but they have paid much less attention to the challenges of organizing and managing them. Field experiments pose unique challenges and opportunities for the researcher and evaluator which come from working in the field. The research experience can be challenging and at times hard to predict. This book aims to help researchers and evaluators plan and manage their field experiments so they can avoid common pitfalls. It is also intended to open up discussion about the context and backdrop to trials so that these practical aspects of field experiments are better understood. The book sets out ten steps researchers can use to plan their field experiments, then nine threats to watch out for when they implement them. There are cases studies of voting and political participation, elites, welfare and employment, nudging citizens, and developing countries.--
