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A professor in public law discusses her experience with interdisciplinary sciences, especially between public law and political science regarding peace and conflict research. Public law and political science are unified in many ways, especially after the increasing influence of the highly politicized EU-law, and have yielded good results within the study of soft law (i.e. informal rules), conflict, human trafficking, and the power of the EU jurors. However, maybe the most ambitious project of them all is the research of how states of war and dictatorships can be transferred into states of peace and democracy. Despite its many opportunities, interdisciplinary science has its problems, such as a lack of a mutual scientific language and different theoretical structures. Luckily, many of these problems can be countered with thorough planning. L. Pitkaniemi

Is it really meaningful to talk about "good" science? We hesitate. We desire good (state) science stumbling near a positivist scientific view. We wish for political science theory -- and practice as much as possible to emulate natural science theory and methodology -- to be objective, to look for hard facts, causal relationships, universal laws, and by using the "right" methods to reach the "right" or "true" knowledge and thus make us the "real" knowledge producers. At the same time we believe it is important to keep the discussion on good science not only alive but also always ongoing. Perhaps this is an ongoing discussion about our research efforts and research ideals of what constitutes good science? It is our guiding principle when we formulated the following manifesto for the good of science. Adapted from the source document.

This article contains an overview of how the study of human rights issues has developed into a separate multidisciplinary field of academic study & education in Sweden. Its relationship to the different fields of political science is outlined, as well as general problems of a multidisciplinary subject. Three contributions to an edited volume containing Swedish & foreign scholarship on human rights issues drawn from the Swedish Forum for Human Rights, a biannual gathering of practitioners & scholars, are discussed. Those contributions deal with the tensions between universalist & relativist approaches to the character of human rights, the tensions between the development of international law & power relations in international politics, & tensions between group rights & individual rights. 25 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.

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

The nation is often portrayed as a natural political unit, a bearer of common values facilitating democracy & equality. However, the construction & reproduction of nations is also intimately tied to hierarchies & mechanisms of power, not least gender power. This article shows how nation & gender arc construed simultaneously in ideas & symbols, as well as in everyday practices. The article argues that memory work is a possible way to gain insight into the everyday construction of gender & nation, & to develop new theoretical understandings. An overview of central themes of the discussion on gender & nation is presented. Memory work makes explicit the ambivalent processes by which women as acting subjects are denied agency & turned into objects of the nation. References. Adapted from the source document.

Introduces two articles on the role of Swedish political science internationally and on equality in Swedish political science. While both topics have been previously discussed, they are still considered important and sensitive. L. Pitkaniemi

Political science research in Sweden is heavily dependent on external financing. Two institutions have long had a special position in regards of financing research in traditional core areas of political science, namely Research Council and National Bank Jubilee Fund. The competition for research grants is now solid and the projects awarded grants may thus in some sense be regarded as representing "leading-edge research" in Swedish state sciences. Adapted from the source document.

Good political science is about making true and important statements about politics. Its first task is to allow this objective to guide practical research -- and teach how to work. Good political science is not paralyzed by the difficulties of reaching one's own ideals. Nor is it more difficult to achieve those ideals than those of anybody more important. Good political scientists note that difficulties are reflected on them, but never let them reduce involvement in political science tasks. Only by way of exception may good political science consist of a discussion of good political science. 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.

Political science, it is often said, is the scientific study of politics. In all its simplicity, this is probably both true and reasonable. At the same time, the description is fairly meaningless. It leads to two direct questions: What is science? and What is politics? A good political science manifesto would require a fairly precise answer to both these questions. Adapted from the source document.

A eulogy for Susan Marton who was born in March 29, 1965 in New York as the youngest child in a family of five children. She got a B.A. in political science and French from DePauw University and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Gothenburg. After her dissertation she taught political science first at Seffield University and then at the University of Karlstad. Since her immigration to Sweden in August 1992, Marton became fluent in Swedish and a well known expert commentator on politics in North America. Marton passed away in 2009 after a short battle with an unexpected illness. L. Pitkaniemi

Manifest is an application, a declaration, the given, the obvious, direct or by observable and clear notice. But the manifesto also get their meaning by the non-manifest non-manifest: its meaning is created in relation to all this that the manifest is not. Therefore contains the manifesto also what is excluded by an inherent negation of its manifest importance, and that which has been in line with the structuralist laws, conditions manifest's very existence. Without the latent, not manifest. The latent, that is precisely the precondition for the manifest manifest importance, thus becomes a part of the manifesto by defining it. The manifesto is thus always more than what is observable and clear notice, it holds a surplus. This excess, surplus or net is in theory unlimited, and may in economistic terms, compared to a profit. A great gain for the good political science. Adapted from the source document.

Research should not support authority by asking questions of the power that is already set. Science should never be a guide to the art of deception and control. Political science should not provide solutions for legitimate power and efficiency problems. Adapted from the source document.

Six candidates for a political science professor position open at Lund University are evaluated. Among factors considered are their political science, education, and administrative expertise. Finally, each is given a brief, overall assessment. Adapted from the source document.