Developments in European political science journal and electronic literature during 1997

Abstract. This article continues the annual review of developments in European political science periodical literature. The review covers not just traditional print media but also electronic publishing, and therefore begins with an overview of a pilot project in integrated electronic publishing, the lsquo;SuperJournal' project, which links a range of British–published political science journals in an electronic cluster that facilitates ease of access by individual users. We continue with a summary of developments in political science journal publishing in central and eastern Europe in the aftermath of the political upheavals after 1989. The article concludes with a listing of the contents of the 1997 issues of selected European political science journals from a range of European countries (normally, those published by national political science associations) and comments on their content.     

In Defence of Associative Political Obligations: Part One

Part One of this article seeks to defend the idea of associative political obligations against a number of criticisms that have been advanced opposing it. The purpose of this defence is not to demonstrate that the associative account is therefore the best explanation of political obligations, but only that the principal reasons which have been given for rejecting it are much less compelling than its critics maintain. The argument focuses in particular on the various criticisms advanced by A. John Simmons. Two general lines of defence figure especially prominently. First, it is shown how many of the criticisms in one way or another ultimately rest on the assumption that political obligations must be voluntarily acquired, when it is just this assumption that is contested by an associative account. Secondly, it rebuts the charge that the idea of associative obligations faces a particular problem because it entails the view that members must have obligations to associations or groups that are evil. While it is not claimed that the idea of associative political obligations is entirely without difficulties, it is contended that stories of its demise are greatly exaggerated, and in this respect the ground is laid for Part Two of the article, which sketches a particular account of associative political obligations.     

The Emergence of Science as a Political Brand

This article seeks to explain how science has emerged as political brand. While science and politics have intersected for centuries, more recent social, cultural, and political events led to increased attention to the role of science in everyday life and how science is used in policy decision-making. This led to a tipping point in 2017 when the March for Science was formed, following what many in the U.S. and countries around the world viewed as anti-science stances by political leaders. The political spectacle of the March for Science not only brought increased attention to the scientific community, but also emerged to define the brand of science in society. Drawing on research from the role of brands in consumer culture – including political marketing, brand resonance, and brand community – I describe the implications of the science brand for the scientific enterprise, and the ways in which the scientific community consider the strategic communication of their brand within the political marketplace.     

Besting Monarchy: The Anti-Classism Argument

Following the death of a monarch and the crowning of another, this article considers monarchy as a topic in political theory. It seeks to revitalise the topic, which has been given limited attention by political theorists in recent years. It identifies traditional objections to monarchy, alongside newer objections that attack it (particularly the British institution) for being racist and imperialist. However, those objections—though increasingly common—are not fatal to monarchy as an idea. This article develops an argument against monarchy based on the concept of classism: discrimination based on a person's class. Reframing familiar criticisms of monarchy for being elitist and snobbish, the anti-classism argument draws on discrimination theory to outline the best objection to monarchy at the conceptual level.     

SoTL as a Subfield for Political Science Graduate Programs

This article offers a theoretical proposal of how political science graduate programs can emphasize teaching in the discipline by creating the subfield of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). Currently, these programs neither prepare their students for academic positions where teaching is valued nor participate in a disciplinary trend that emphasize SoTL. Furthermore, the recent political pressure for political science programs to demonstrate their public worth might be alleviated by the scholarship in teaching and learning, which is more understandable to the public than traditional non-SoTL work. The article concludes with some of the challenges political science programs may confront in institutionalizing a subfield of SoTL and how they can overcome them.     

主题、类型和规范:国内政治学研究的状况分析--以近十年复印报刊资料《政治学》中的论文为对象

目前，政治学研究的主体队伍在高等院校，研究的领域以政治理论为主，多侧重于规范性研究。经验研究由于本身水准的制约，使之尚难以上升至本科学专业刊物的主流位置。值得重视的问题还在于：不管是经验研究，还是规范研究。其规范性程度均有待大力提高。相当部分论文既缺少必要的“文献评论”，也不作任何“文献引证”；既缺失“问题意识”，更不能提出自身的理论假设。不过，近年间《政治学》论文规范性程度的大步提升，或许既显示了主流专业学术刊物对学术规范的重视，也预示了本学科研究中业已出现的值得鼓舞和追求的努力。     

The Shifting Politics of Climate Science

The global warming controversy has experienced a tumultuous period, with the credibility of climate science repeatedly questioned and a lack of international solidarity on the issue. While climate science institutions have accomplished much in their history, the current impasse highlights the limits of previous approaches. Determined critics have contested the authority of established scientific institutions, which have failed to measure up to their mythic ideals. While the imperfections of climate science have exposed some avenues for reform, they also suggest that the public stands to benefit from a more accurate understanding of science as both a process and body of knowledge. Uncertain and incomplete knowledge need not be an obstacle for action, and climate science can be made more robust and credible if it is removed from the center of what are largely political disagreements.     

Criticism of multiparty democracy: Parallels between Wamba‐dia‐Wamba and Arendt

Abstract

The IMF, World Bank, and former colonial powers have put pressure on African countries to adopt multiparty democracy. Because of this pressure, many formerly one‐party states as well as some military dictatorships have embraced Western and Parliamentarian democratic forms. But does this mean that democracy has succeeded in Africa? Ernest Wamba‐dia‐Wamba of the University of Dar‐es‐Saalam and CODESRIA argues that embracing Western paradigms in an unthinking fashion will not bring real democracy, i.e. people's liberation. He advances criticisms of party politics and statism, and suggests that African palaver and people's movements are a surer site of political action. In his criticisms of representative government he parallels the thoughts and criticism of Hannah Arendt. Arendt advocated a council system that shares many of the attributes of African palaver communities. By consulting the criticisms of Arendt and Wamba‐dia‐Wamba, we can see that an easy optimism about the multiparty system is unfounded.     

历史政治学的功能分析

历史政治学的提出引发了中国政治学界的广泛关注。作为一种新型研究路径的历史政治学不但具有客观的分析主义特征,而且和其它政治理论的研究路径一样,还具有鲜明的功能主义特征。历史政治学首先回答了政治理论的知识来源问题,从而为建构中国自主性政治学知识体系提供了可能。基于政治学取向的政治史研究有助于避免因“文化转向”而导致的历史研究的碎片化问题,这意味着历史政治学研究既追求“真相”也关怀“真理”。历史政治学的知识功能自然有其政治实践价值,那就是为治国理政提供历史解释与现实论述,并为认识合法性政治提供一套不同于理性人假设的历时性方案。     

Party Propaganda in Motion: Finland 1954–1991

This study addresses itself to the election campaigns of political parties in Finland and the changes which have taken place over time. Political parties are no longer strictly defined by ideology-rigid class structures have disappeared; and the primary hypothesis is that the parties have grown increasingly similar with respect to propaganda techniques and voter orientation. The empirical data in this study are based on the election platforms and campaign posters of the four largest parties in preparation for the parliamentary elections of 1954, 1966, 1975, 1987 and 1991. In order to elucidate the election propaganda of the political parties even further, a partial examination has been made of election campaign advertising by individual parties and candidates in four political affiliated newspapers as well as in an independent daily newspaper.
The primary hypothesis is clearly supported by this research: political parties have structured their rhetoric to appeal to all voters as opposed to having earlier directed their message to a traditional voter class/category, such as farmers, manual workers and white collar workers. The Communist party platform of 1975, which displayed a high degree of class/category specific orientation, constitutes an exception from this rule. The use of offensive propaganda has decreased, but there are exceptions from this rule as well. This article serves as a summary of the main findings of my licentiate thesis in political science at the Abo Academy University.     

The Effects of Majoring in Political Science on Political Efficacy

This study tests, and finds support, for the hypotheses that a student who majors in political science will have stronger feelings of political competence and will be more willing to engage in hypothetical political actions than two peer groups: (a) those who major in other fields and (b) those who show an interest in politics but have not studied it. In a study of 1,083 undergraduates at two different universities, we find that senior political science majors have higher feelings of internal political efficacy than comparison groups and are more willing than their peers or than interested freshmen to say that they would engage in meaningful political action, especially joining organized groups.     

Vote Oswego: Developing and Assessing the Campaign-as-Course Model

College campuses have taken on increased responsibility for mobilizing young voters. Despite the discipline’s commitment to civic engagement, political science departments play a minimal role in this programming. This article outlines a course structure—including learning objectives, course outline, and assessments—that treats a campus-wide voter mobilization drive as the basis of an applied political science course. Transforming a campus voter mobilization program into a political science practicum offers advanced skill-building for students seeking political careers and links learning objectives to real world activities. Participants report gains in both knowledge of campaigns and grassroots campaign skills. We argue this type of course particularly benefits students attending colleges and universities in geographic areas that receive little attention from political campaigns as well as those students for whom the traditional route of gaining political experience—an unpaid, off-campus internship—is impractical or even impossible.     

Let One Hundred Flowers Bloom,Let One Hundred Thoughts Contend: Political Science with Chinese Characteristics

The development of Chinese political science was not a relatively neat and tidy event. It was profoundly impacted by two revolutions, war, civil war, and political turmoil throughout most of the 20th Century. In the first three decades of New China, political science suffered from both ideological rigidity and political suspicion. With the heralding of Reform and Opening-up, Chinese political science has experienced a renaissance, influenced as much by the concept of indigenization (ben tu hua) as Western ideas. Much like its American counterpart, Chinese political science is now experiencing a healthy debate about the primacy of the discipline’s contending intellectual influences and traditions, as well as its core functions and future direction. The on-going debate suggests that Chinese political science is developing, in the words of Deng Zhenglai, “its own plurality of methodological approaches to the study of politics”. This article examines the rise and growth of contemporary Chinese political science, with particular emphasis devoted to the influence that a burgeoning political science with “Chinese Characteristics” will have on the discipline both within and outside China.     

How Democratic Is “Governance”? Lessons from Swiss Drug Policy

Public action increasingly takes place in self-organizing networks that are remote from direct governmental control. While these transformations have been subject to scrutiny in regard to their efficiency, less attention has been paid to their democratic quality. This article discusses governance-induced problems of democracy by isolating two major criticisms. Deliberative criticism argues that governance, rather than allowing for true deliberation in the public space, may lead to a loss of accountability. Participatory criticism stresses that governance impinges on participatory venues. The article discusses these criticisms theoretically and empirically, drawing from research on drug policy in Switzerland. The findings show that the criticisms are relevant, albeit not entirely justified.     

Trade, Harmonization, and Domestic Autonomy in Environmental Policy

This article evaluates the environmental criticisms of free trade that have been such an important part of the critique of globalization. The first section briefly surveys the range of criticisms environmentalists have brought against the new economic order. The second section examines the available literature on the race to the bottom, one of the key concerns. The third section analyzes the World Trade Organization trade rules and how they have been interpreted by dispute resolution panels involving environmental issues. The fourth section turns to the specific rules of the North American Free Trade Agreement and examines several case studies of environmental issues in that region. The final section provides a summary evaluation of the environmental criticisms. The article argues that the environmental criticisms are exaggerated. Trade agreements leave far more room for domestic environmental measures than is frequently argued. The political globalization of the environmental movement has helped counter the threat to environmental policy created by the economic and trade aspects of globalization. Environmentalists do need to be careful about how they advance this critique of globalization, however, because their arguments risk becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.     

Public Meetings and the Democratic Process

Public meetings are frequently attacked as useless democratic rituals that lack deliberative qualities and fail to give citizens a voice in the policy process. Do public meetings have a role to play in fostering citizen participation in policy making? While many of the criticisms leveled against public meetings have merit, I argue that they do. In this article, I explore the functions that city council and school board meetings serve. While they may not be very good at accomplishing their primary goal of giving citizens the opportunity to directly influence decisions made by governing bodies, they can be used to achieve other ends, such as sending information to officials and setting the agenda. As a complement to deliberative political structures, public meetings have a role to play by offering a venue in which citizens can achieve their political goals, thereby enhancing governmental accountability and responsiveness.     

Building Political Participation: The Role of Family Policy and Political Science Courses

This mixed-methods study examined the long-term associations between two kinds of politics courses—required political science courses and required family policy courses—and the political participation, knowledge, skill, efficacy, and politically engaged identity of child and family studies alumni. Two special cases were examined: those who remembered their required political science and policy courses compared with the other groups. Additionally, open-ended responses were coded and analyzed. Together, the quantitative and qualitative data suggest that college courses impacted alumni political awareness in college but political awareness did not translate as strongly into later political participation as previous literature has assumed. Findings highlight the importance of postcollege personal connections and work experience in shaping political participation. Educators and researchers should consider this complex relationship between what students learn in college and what they may later experience in adulthood when developing curriculum for students who are not political science majors.     

To ��Fall in Line�� or to ��Grab��: Thoughts on the Indigenization of Political Science

The purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical and practical basis for the indigenization of political science in the context of China. In particular, it attempts to address the three related questions: Is it necessary to indigenize political science? Is it possible to indigenize political science? How should political science be indigenized? It argues that that indigenization is not an easy task even for indigenous academics. Therefore a project of indigenization requires a conscious and active effort on their part. Without critical introspection, indigenization is impossible.     

Does the ‘Monitorial Citizen’ Exist? An Empirical Investigation into the Occurrence of Postmodern Forms of Citizenship in the Nordic Countries

Various authors have claimed that in contemporary Western societies postmodern concepts of citizenship are becoming more prevalent. A new generation of 'critical citizens' are said to be more critical of the political system and less likely to participate in conventional politics, but they remain strongly interested in politics and social life. Michael Schudson has developed the concept of a 'monitorial citizen', who is interested in politics, has high levels of political efficacy and turns to political action if needed, but stays outside the traditional political organizations. Based on the European Social Survey (2004), this article investigates whether this type of citizenship actually occurs in Scandinavia. While the authors find that this form of citizenship is present in the Nordic countries, the characteristics of this group do not fit the theoretical expectations. In Scandinavia, 'monitorial citizens' do not have exceptionally high education levels and their trust in traditional political institutions remains quite elevated. The authors discuss the reasons why the concept of 'monitorial citizens' does not seem to flourish all that well in the Nordic countries, and what this implies for the theoretical debate about the political consequences of this postmodernization process.     

The legitimation of local knowledges: introducing the postmodern into laboratory science

The idea that science simply mirrors nature has been challenged by postmodernism that has considered the way it contructs the world, our bodies and identities. But such criticisms, apart from the odd exception, have been directed at science in general with little insight or attention to actual empirical procedures that take place in laboratories, for example. This article investigates the idea that Enlightenment is not redundant, and that in fact laboratory procedures are not so different to those used in the humanities. The article shows that scientific procedure shares much with the way narratologists might analyse story. It likens representations of cancer development and cell cycles to the narratological models used by Barthes and Greimas. Science does not so much make nature reveal its secrets but offers an epistemological opportunity for examination, expression and ultimately creativity.