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I am pleased to have the opportunity to respond to Oren, Ozminkowski, and Strake's
comments on my recent article on myths about the physical sciences. All of them in my
judgment either misperceive parts of my original argument or raise concerns that allow me to
extend that argument. To the degree that others share their views, this essay may address
widespread differences of opinion or misperceptions about these matters.

AbstractThe major dependent variable in peace science research has appropriately been death from inter-group conflict with war the major focus. However, a tenable hypothesis is that the same or similar motivations result in other risks to life. For example, the number of human deaths each year from preventable nonmilitary sources is approximately 20,000,000. Most major sources that assess the loss of life from military and related conflicts identify, over a long period of time, not more than 2,000,000/year. This dependent variable may also be extended to the non-military category. For example, evidence has emerged that approximately twenty-percent of the active duty female members of the US military are sexually assaulted by other members of the military during their period of service (Dick 2012). Thus, it seems reasonable to address a variety of phenomena that may be represented by a common set of attributes. These variables should include degree of physical injury, size of acting units, and public vs. private agents. Preventable non-military death is similar to the classification for death from war except that the agents are frequently private, such as corporations. This analysis is intended to contribute to a continuing discussion of the boundaries of the peace science domain. One function of the discussion is to foster the examination of a range of behaviors that may derive from a set of basic motives and goals. The discussion section concludes with reference to the problem of understanding a central factor in inter-group conflict – identification with the group.

This article reports on the evaluation of political science research internships and considers their costs and benefits for a political science education. Students indicated high levels of appreciation of the inaugural Political Science Research Internship Unit at the University of Western Australia in terms of its contribution to their personal development and work experience. A substantial number of interns gained insights into the policy process through this form of experiential learning. Many came to appreciate the contingency and the normative dimensions of knowledge in the policy process. Whereas about half of the students found the transition from the seminar room to the policy world difficult, the other half were more successful in applying their theoretical knowledge to practical experiences. The article also indicates how this evaluation informs future course design.

I want to dissent initially from the rather constricting frame of reference that Schubert has established in his paper. He has every right in the world to set rhetorical snares, but I have no intention of walking into them. If I may summarize, Schubert asserts that he is a spokesman for a radical new direction in the study of public law, claiming that the old ways are moribund. He further urges that we should look with envy at the creative function of the social psychologists who supplied the Supreme Court with the banners it carried in Brown v. Board of Education while we were bumbling around with historical and philosophical trivia. He concludes that instead of wasting our time with talmudic disputations on whether the Supreme Court reached the "right" or the "wrong" decisions in specific cases, we should settle down to build a firm "scientific" foundation for our discipline.Not the least amusing aspect of this indictment is that I find myself billed as the defender of the ancien régime, as the de Maistre of public law. Therefore, for the benetfit of the young and impressionistic, let me break loose from Schubert's rhetorical trap: I too think that much of the research done in public law—and, for that matter, in political science generally—has been trivial.