Problems and methods in the study of politics

Abstract

Introduction: problems and methods in the study of politics Ian Shapiro, Rogers Smith and Tarek Masoud Part I. Description, Explanation and Agency: 2. Problems, methods and theories in the study of politics, or: what's wrong with political science and what to do about it Ian Shapiro 3. Of problems and methods: identities, interests, and the tasks of political science in the 21st century Rogers M. Smith 4. Political science as a vocation Anne Norton 5. The politics of policy science Frances Fox Piven 6. The study of black politics and the practice of black politics: their historical relation and evolution Adolph Reed 7. External and internal explanation John Ferejohn Part II. Redeeming Rational Choice Theory?: 8. Lies, damned lies and rational choice analyses Gary W. Cox 9. On problems and methods Alan Ryan 10. An analytic narrative approach to puzzles and problems Margaret Levi 11. The methodical study of politics Bruce Bueno de Mesquita Part III. Possibilities for Pluralism and Convergence: 12. The illusion of learning from observational research Alan S. Gerber, Donald P. Green and Edward H. Kaplan 13. Concepts and commitments in the study of democracy Lisa Wedeen 14. Problems chasing methods or methods chasing problems, research communities, constrained pluralism, and the role of eclecticism Rudra Sil 15. Method, problem, faith William E. Connolly 16. Provisionalism in the study of politics Elisabeth Ellis 17. What have we learned? Robert Dahl, Truman Bewley, Susanne Hoeber Rudolph and John Mearsheimer.