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Postgraduate quality management can be carried out from two approaches: the first, (competitive) is based on compliance with academic, scientific and administrative standards, and the positioning of universities in world lists of best institutions; the second (humanist-social) in the commitment of the universities with the solution of the problems of sustainable development. The objective of this article is to review the recent information backing the competitive and social-humanist approaches to quality in postgraduate studies, and on this basis support what should be the meeting point between both approaches in Latin American universities. For this purpose, articles published predominantly in Latin America, and also from Asia and Africa, were analyzed. From the points of view expressed in the reviewed documents, reflections on quality management in postgraduate studies were formulated from the Latin American perspective. It was found that the competitive approach predominates in postgraduate quality management worldwide, and that the social responsibility of universities, and of postgraduate studies in particular, implies a commitment to solving local, regional and national problems, only achievable with a solid social-humanist approach. Latin American universities must combine compliance with competitive standards with postgraduate social responsibility objectives, and assign greater weight to the latter in accreditation systems.

Argues that because of its international status, the English speaking world has an overly dominant position in formulating theories, models and research problems, which the Swedish political science merely copies. Repeating studies and applying the same methods is hardly a sign of a mature and cumulative science. Swedish political science could offer much more by studying fields such as Nordic social democracy, Swedish criminal policy or Nordic far right parties with unique theories and methods. L. Pitkaniemi

This article examines five common misunderstandings about case-study research: (1) Theoretical knowledge is more valuable than practical knowledge. (2) One cannot generalize from a single case; therefore the single case study cannot contribute to scientific development. (3) The case study is most useful for generating hypothesis, while other methods are more suitable for hypothesis testing & theory building. (4) The case study contains a bias towards verification. (5) It is often difficult to summarize specific case studies. The article explains & correct these misunderstandings one by one & concludes with the Kuhnian insight that a scientific discipline without a large number of thoroughly executed case studies is a discipline without systematic production of exemplars, & that a discipline without exemplars is an ineffective one. Social science may be strengthened by the execution of more good case studies. 1 Table, 59 References. Adapted from the source document.

The relationship between actors & structures is an important ontological aspect in social sciences. Today, the notion that this relationship should be seen as categorized by mutual interdependence, & consequently that both actors & structures should be considered primary ontological categories, is not a very controversial one. More controversial, however, is the phenomenon in social as well as natural sciences commonly known as social constructionism (or constructivism). In this article, the actor structure thinking is related to different constructionist conceptions. In connection with this, it is argued that if constructionism is primarily seen as an epistemological approach, it is in fact a natural consequence of the actor structure thinking. From the actor structure perspective then, the constructionist advocacy for contextualism -- ie, the ambition to accentuate the temporally & spatially distinctive character of reality in the analysis -- can be viewed as an important methodological guideline. 1 Table, 1 Figure, 35 References. Adapted from the source document.

The aim is to offer an overview in queer theory designed for political scientists. First of all queer theory is placed in a context of feminist studies, gay and lesbian studies, the discursive turn in social science, postmodern approaches to identity, postcolonial theory and Foucault's ideas of power. Then I highlight the political theorist Shane Phelan and her considerations in citizenship. Taking a critical stance against the Modern use of binaries, Phelan argues that acknowledgement of strangeness/strangers should be given priority in ethical aspects of citizenship. In the third section I refer to Butler's theories about gender performativity and the heterosexual matrix, Sedgwick's approach to the concept of homosexuality as well as Rubin's theory about sexual hierarchies. Finally queer theory is neither antifeminist nor profeminist. Yet this theory may support feminist goals. Adapted from the source document.

What is good politics? It is both a knowledge of philosophical, organizational and normative questions. It is about how and where the political science branch of the social science tree grows, of what political scientists really should do and how political science education should be conducted. By extension, it is also about which frames political order, power and social organization can best be analyzed within. There are big questions. Are there any good answers or just bad? Or could it even be that the question of what distinguishes good from bad politics leads to awkward enough paradigmatic, epistemological, and other difficult or insoluble problems that maybe we should refrain from imposing or even trying to answer it? Well, it would actually be pretty bad. Adapted from the source document.

This article presents a way of dealing scientifically with the problem of comparison among dynamically evolving units of analysis in social science, namely by using methods from theoretical, computational & mathematical biology & phylogeny (evolutionary tree) analysis. First, the standard political science & static method of comparative analysis is criticized. Second, some important aspects of the dynamic comparison are presented from its multidisciplinary & historic context, commenting on the compatibility with evolutionary institutional as well as universal Darwinian theoretical perspectives. Third, dynamic comparison is approached using first techniques from standard social science statistical software (SPSS) & then from molecular genetics (MEGA, Molecular Evolutionary Analysis). Examples of evolutionary tree analyses of the European nations are presented & discussed. Similarities & dissimilarities between social science & biological applications of the dynamic comparison techniques are discussed, emphasizing the importance of openness to new techniques & application of panel data for elaboration of new methods of dynamic comparative analyses in social sciences. 2 Tables, 9 Figures, 68 References. Adapted from the source document.

In 1870, political science was established as an academic discipline, attached to history, at the Lund University. In 1877, a chair in history and political science was created. Twenty-five years later, it was transformed into a chair in political science and statistics. In 1926, that symbiosis was put to an end and political science was awarded a chair of its own. Pontus Fahlbeck, professor from 1889 to 1917, was a historian who developed into a social scientist with broad interests: political science, statistics, economics, and sociology. Several of his books were also published in foreign languages and he had many contacts with colleagues abroad, particularly in France and Germany. However, the critical period in the modernization of political science in Lund happened just after the middle of the 20th century, with Nils Stjernquist, holding the chair from 1951 to 1983, at helm. The dependence of history and legal science waned; the influence of social science, especially in its American version, increased. The result was a modern political science department with broad interests and worldwide contacts. References.

An obituary for Jorgen Westerstahll. Adapted from the source document.

Legitimacy, as one of the most important concepts in political science, is analyzed from a theoretical and empirical perspective. A study will be conducted in Swedish municipalities by surveys and case studies, which are trying to explain the variations in legitimacy between municipalities and if these variations are mainly contextual or individual. L. Pitkaniemi

Comparative politics is the only one of the political science subdisciplines that is defined in methodological rather than substantive terms. Since, however, scientific enterprises are always and unavoidably comparative, any emphasis on comparison and comparative method is certainly less than helpful in attempts to grasp the meaning of the term "comparatie politics". According to general usage in political science, comparativists are engrossed in political similarities and differences between countries; this lexical definition, however, corresponds poorly with stipulative definitions embedded in the practice of research. For one thing, by performing important hypothesis-generating and similar tasks, studies of one case form a central and integrated feature of comparative politics. Furthermore, much comparative research moves on the levels of individuals and groups, and makes use of countries as contexts rather than units. As political science has matured to be a nomotetic discipline, aiming at the building of empirically falsifiable explanatory theory, the crossing of borders in space and time has become a necessity, and comparative politics is today much more than an isolated political science compartment only. References.

The thesis of this article is that logic/science does not exclude but requires knowledge of rhetoric. Rhetoric is not merely a technique for persuasion but, more importantly, a science of how we structure our knowledge through language. Logic & science are nothing but instruments that natural language constructs to handle observable factual circumstances, something that became possible with the invention of the alphabet & written language. A positivistic, reductive science is suitable only by research on given facts. Alongside the knowledge of facts, we must also handle the knowledge of action, which is impossible to do only with the positivistic methods of conventional social science. Drawing on his personal experiences of municipal politics & communal planning the author suggests that rhetorical conceptions & methods of research can play a big role in community planning research & in sciences of man, which necessarily brings facts & actions together. The article refers to a rhetorical based theory called 'human-scientific theory of action.' While science helps us to know (knowledge of causes), rhetoric helps us to understand (knowledge of intentions & meanings). 40 References. Adapted from the source document.

Albert O. Hirschman has observed a specific pattern of reactions against any attempt to change society. According to Hirschman, the rhetoric of reaction is limited to three alternatives -- perversity, futility, or jeopardy -- that will be the unintended & unavoidable effects of attempts to make changes in society. Therefore, say the so-called reactionaries, changes should not be realized. The objective of this study is to test the validity of the theory of Albert O. Hirschman. This is made by a case study of the media reaction of the call of the Attac movement for a currency transaction tax, the so-called Tobin tax. The study comprises an argument analysis of the editorial pages of five Swedish newspapers during the first three months of 2001, selected to represent main political & geographical dimensions: Aftonbladet, Dala-Demokraten, Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet, & Vasterbottens-Kuriren. The result of the study is that all of the arguments are against the Tobin tax & that most of them follow the pattern of perversity, futility, or jeopardy. Arguments that do not follow either of these patterns are irrelevant or marginal. The study gives no support to questioning the reaction theory of Albert O. Hirschman. 3 Tables, 3 Figures, 2 Appendixes, 105 References. Adapted from the source document.