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Includes bibliographical references (p. 403-415) and index. ; Mode of access: Internet.

In this collection of essays, John Dunn brings his characteristically acute and penetrative insight to a wide range of political issues. In the first essay, 'The history of political theory', Professor Dunn argues for the importance of a historical perspective in the study of political thought. Other pieces engage with central concepts of political philosophy such as obligation, trust, freedom of conscience and property. A group of studies tackle specific contemporary problems and future dangers, for example racism and the dilemma of humanitarian intervention. The volume as a whole articulates the many dangers, but also the huge importance of, contemporary politics, and provides a representative collection of work by one of the most astute political commentators writing today

When it emerged as a discipline a century ago, the historical and comparative description of political institutions dominated political science. The self-consciously rigorous analysis of behavior inspired by psychology and the physical sciences began to displace historical analysis in the 1920s. By the 1950s and 1960s the behavioral revolution came to dominate the discipline's research agendas. Leading practitioners acknowledged that the discipline's tone was predominantly ahistorical.

Die vorliegende Ansprache des Präsidenten zum jährlichen (achtzehnten) Treffen der Social Science History Association (SSHA) rekapituliert die Geschichte dieser Vereinigung mit folgenden Schlußfolgerungen: (1) Auch Sozialhistoriker können ihre eigene Geschichte prinzipiell nicht voraussagen. Dies zeigt sich z.B. an den kühnen und optimistischen Prognosen in den 70er Jahren zur Entwicklung des eigenen Fachs. (2) Die Entwicklung der Disziplin ist von der Größe und den 'Zufälligkeiten' der jährlichen Treffen entscheidend mitgeprägt. (3) Die Wirkungen sozialgeschichtlicher Forschungen sind eher langfristig und kaum an den eher 'modischen' Schwankungen der Themenwahl und deren öffentlicher Diskussion abzulesen. (pmb)

I am pleased to be able to address this, the eighteenth annual meeting of the Social Science History Association. I have many valued memories of presidential addresses, but my favorite was Jerry Clubb's 1984 talk in the Chinese restaurant in Toronto, where speakers, waiters, and many other patrons all competed in a cacophonic, noisy free-for-all. Jerry did not even try to finish the talk, so we had to wait until it appeared in the journal (Clubb 1986).