Eine Disziplin auf der Suche nach Wissenschaftlichkeit: Entwicklung und Stand der Methoden in der deutschen Politikwissenschaft

The article takes stock of methods use in German political science. Based on an analysis of articles published in four German political science journals it is shown that only a minority takes an explicit theory-guided empirical perspective on research. A large share of publications can be better characterized as a knowledgeable discussion of a particular topic. This finding is amended by a placement of Germany in the international context and a glance into the political science curricula at some German universities. The finding is then nuanced by exemplary references to methodologically innovative work by German political scientists in four research areas. This work, however, has only seldom been published in German scholarly journals but has been preferably sent to international ones. The article closes by referring to the specific character of research questions in political science compared to neighbouring disciplines.