European Political Science Research Articles

Lombardo (Emanuela), Meier (Petra), Verloo (Mieke), eds – The Discursive Politics of Gender Equality. Stretching, Bending and Policymaking . – Oxon, Routledge, 2009 (ECPR Studies in European Political Science). 222 p. Index

Lombardo (Emanuela), Meier (Petra), Verloo (Mieke), eds – The Discursive Politics of Gender Equality. Stretching, Bending and Policymaking . – Oxon, Routledge, 2009 (ECPR Studies in European Political Science). 222 p. Index

RIGHTS CONSCIOUSNESS AND RULES CONSCIOUSNESS IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA

The claims about rights made by aggrieved workers and farmers to define rules consciousness is examined and existing definitions of rights consciousness in light of Chinese political practice is refined. Survey data is used to illustrate the four types of claims by members of one social group, related to trust in central and township leaders, to distinguish rules consciousness from rights consciousness.

Aleksandr Dugin’s transformation from a lunatic fringe figure into a mainstream political publicist, 1980–1998: A case study in the rise of late and post-Soviet Russian fascism

The paper 1 1 The paper expands on my earlier survey : Toward an Uncivil Society? Contextualizing the Recent Decline of Parties of the Extreme Right Wing in Russia, 2002. On Dugin’s fascism, see Griffin, Loh, and Umland (2006); Umland (2006b, 2006c, 2006d), reprinted in: Verkhovskii (2006), and Laruelle (2007). was completed in 2008 and complements previous analyses of post-communist Russian right-wing extremism, in general, and studies of “neo-Eurasianism,” in particular, surveying some circumstances of the emergence of its major ideologist Aleksandr Dugin (b. 1962). It introduces some teachers and collaborators of Dugin who influenced him before he became a known journalist, writer and commentator in the late 1990s. It also sketches some of Dugin’s initiatives and activities until he rose to the position of an official advisor to Gennady Seleznev, the Speaker of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, in 1998. The footnotes provide a comprehensive bibliography on Western and Russian sources on the Russian “New Right.” It concludes with some suggestion where further research into the Dugin phenomenon could go. Current position Assistant Professor of Contemporary Russian History at The Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt, Bavaria, and editor of the book series Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society ( http://www.ibidem-verlag.de/spps.html), Stuttgart and Hannover. Biographical sketch CertTransl (Leipzig), MA (Stanford), MPhil (Oxford), DipPolSci, DrPhil (FU Berlin), PhD (Cambridge). Visiting fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution in 1997–1999, and Harvard’s Weatherhead Center in 2001–2002. Bosch visiting lecturer at Yekaterinburg’s Urals State University in 1999–2001, and Kyiv’s Mohyla Academy in 2003/2005. In January-December 2004, temporary lecturer in Russian and East European studies at St. Antony’s College Oxford. In 2005–2008, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Lecturer Kyiv’s Shevchenko University. Papers in Problems of Post-Communism, East European Jewish Affairs, Osteuropa, Österreichische Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft, Politicheskie issledovaniya, European Political Science, Political Studies Review, The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, Voprosy filosofii, Obshchestvennye nauki i sovremennost’, Forum für osteuropäische Ideen- und Zeitgeschichte, Ab Imperio and other journals. Editor of The Implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights in Russia: Philosophical, Legal und Empirical Studies (Stuttgart: Ibidem 2004), Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Hochschullehre in Osteuropa. Vols. 1, 2, 3 & 4 (Frankfurt a.M. u.a.: Peter Lang 2005, 2006, 2007 & 2009), and, with Roger Griffin and Werner Loh, Fascism Past and Present, West and East: An International Debate on Concepts and Cases in the Comparative Study of the Extreme Right. With an afterword by Walter Laqueur (Stuttgart: Ibidem-Verlag 2006).

Putting European political science back together again

Political science is the product of modernity and the nation-state. A dominant tradition within it has striven for a positivistic and universal form of understanding, based on the individual actor. Developments in recent years have questioned our understanding of modernity, universalism, science, and the nation-state. Political science has responded in two ways: by reinforcing the positivist approach, or by adopting various forms of intepretivism. This has created an artificial division within the discipline. Political scientists can overcome this artificial divide by looking outside the discipline. There are promising developments in this direction but these are inhibited by trying to confine them within the dominant positivist mode. They have also responded by borrowing from neighbouring disciplines, but in doing so, they have too often appropriated concepts in simplified form or coined empty concepts. They need to take neighbouring disciplines more seriously and work across disciplinary boundaries. A pluralistic approach is possible, which neither seeks a grand synthesis of all the social sciences, nor sees them as independent and self-standing, but which encourages cross-fertilization and combinations of approaches. The existence of distinct European national and disciplinary traditions, far from being an obstacle to the development of the discipline, gives European political scientists an advantage.

The Changing European Profession of Political Science

This paper deals with the changes within the profession of political science in Europe. The first part of the paper outlines the emerging integrated academic labour market in Europe and the accompanying process of convergence around shared professional benchmarks. The main observation here is the increasing influence competitive meritocracy has on our profession. The second part of the paper deals with some of the structural barriers European political science faces in such a competitive market. The final part of the paper outlines ways by which to surpass these structural barriers and attain a competitive academic profile while doing a Ph.D. at a typical European university.

Towards a Management Model for Sport and Physical Activity Community-based Partnerships

Given the increasing popularity of the partnership concept and of sport and physical activity-based programs, this paper integrates the extensive North American and European management, sport management and political science literatures (in both French and English) to develop a partnership model for sport, community-based initiatives. The proposed model includes a three-part feedback loop: the formation of a partnership between two or more organizations (the antecedents), the management of the partnership and the partnership's evaluation, which feeds back into the antecedents and management. The partnership antecedents include the project's purpose, environment, nature of the partners and partnership planning. The partnership management aspects include the attributes of the partnership, communication and decision making. The partnership evaluation components include the type of evaluation and the determination of success/effectiveness. This paper therefore offers a comprehensive analytical framework of sport and physical activity community-based partnerships.

The Bark and Bite of International Organizations in Implementing International Agreements

International Organizations and Implementation: Enforcers, Managers, Authorities? Edited by Jutta Joachim, Bob Reinalda, Bertjan Verbeek. Routledge/ECPR Studies in European Political Science, 2008. 224 pp., $140 hardcover (ISBN: 978-0-415-39788-9). The variety of roles now played by international organizations (IOs), some new and some old, has rekindled scholarly interest in the study of IOs, resuscitating a field that in the 1980s appeared to have been abandoned as IR scholars moved on to other “broader forms of international institutionalized behavior”—in particular, international regimes—that seemed to better explain actual behavior in international relations (Kratochwil and Ruggie 1986:753–755; Rochester 1986; Senarclens 1993). This renaissance actually began with the end of the Cold War and has been spurred on by globalization and the technological revolution that have significantly altered the international political, economic and social landscape, especially the relationships between states, international business enterprises, and civil society, as well as the roles and functions of IOs within the rapidly changing international system of governance (Bruhl and Rittberger 2002). The growing interest in IOs, though, is not only among scholars of international relations, but also in other disciplines—such as policy studies, management, and public administration—that are bringing to bear new and different perspectives on and approaches to the study of IOs (Reinicke 1998; Dijkzeul and Beigbeder 2003; Muldoon 2003; Van Tulder with van der Zwart 2006). Today, research on IOs has become more inter-disciplinary …

Towards a partisan theory of EU politics

A decade ago parties were largely absent from research on and theories of EU politics. The role of parties is now a central part of the research agenda, particularly in the area of EU legislative politics. The new research on parties in EU politics has made significant theoretical contributions, led to the collection and dissemination of new datasets, and employs some of the most advanced statistical methods in contemporary European political science. What is still missing, however, is a general theory of the role and impact of political parties, which helps to explain actors' behaviour in EU politics in a range of situations. This paper sketches some of the basic elements of what might be called a ‘partisan theory of EU politics’, starting from a discussion of how the policy and office incentives of national parties are shaped by the EU's ‘upside-down polity’.

Is European Political Science different from European Political Sciences? a comparative study of the european journal of political research, political studies and the revue française de science politique 1973–2002

As far as institutions are concerned, there certainly is a European political science: the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) has now been embodying it for more than thirty years. This paper uses a comparison between three political science journals – the European Journal of Political Research, the French Revue Francaise de Science Politique and the British Political Studies – from 1973 to 2002 to show how much the ECPR political science differs from national political science traditions.

Introduction: Should Europe Adopt the American Way of Law … and Has it Done so? European Political Science and the Law

Introduction: Should Europe Adopt the American Way of Law … and Has it Done so? European Political Science and the Law

State Feminism and Women's Movements

This article offers a brief reflection on the emergence of the study of gender and politics over the past 30 years and its influence on European political science. It goes on to discuss the early results of a recently completed comparative project, the RNGS project (Research Network on Gender and the State) on the influence of women's movements on public policy decisions. The RNGS project reflects both developments in the sub-field of gender and politics and the influences of changes in approaches to the study of politics of the last 30 years or so.

Capacities: Political Science in Europe

This essay portrays the capacities of political science in Western as well as in Central and Eastern Europe. The discussion is divided into four subtopics: (1) the political and social context in which European political science developed after World War II, (2) its degree of institutionalisation as an academic discipline, (3) its professional organisation and communication structure, and (4) its capacity to represent the discipline's education and research interests in the European area. The analysis concludes with a plea to create a database which, in a comprehensive way, allows for a comparative self-description of the discipline in the European area of higher education and research.

ECPR Fourth Biennial General Conference, September 6–8, 2007, University of Pisa, Italy

The Pisa conference was also the occasion for presenting three of the ECPR's prizes. The first was the ECPR's Lifetime Achievement Award for an outstanding contribution to European political science, which went to an American: Philippe Schmitter (European University, Florence, and formerly Stanford University). Second, the annual Jean Blondel Ph.D. Prize was awarded to Tanja Aalberts (Leiden University) for her dissertation on the politics of sovereignty. Finally, the Mattei Dogan Foundation Prize in European Political Sociology went to Giovanni Sartori (professor emeritus, University of Florence and Columbia University).

Is there a european political science and, if so, what are the challenges facing it?

This article reviews Hans-Dieter Klingemann's volume, The State of Political Science in Western Europe, and uses the review to explore to what extent it can be argued that there exists a distinctively 'European' political science, and if so, what might be the challenges facing it in the Millennium.

Why is european political science so unproductive and what should be done about it: a symposium

The worldwide departmental ranking by Simon Hix and national performance evaluations have dramatically shown that European political science is not sufficiently competitive at the global level. This symposium analyses why this is the case and what kind of reform measures should be introduced to move beyond this dire state of affairs. The authors detail the problems in four domains – (i) funding of teaching and research; (ii) the ‘market’ for political science education; (iii) career development, salaries, and tenure decision-making; and (iv) the publication behaviour of European political scientists. Each contribution concludes with suggestions about how the situation could be improved.

The search for the holy grant: (mis)allocating money in european political science

This article analyses the ways in which the research management apparatus set up by the European Commission and national-level research foundations contributes to the publication gap of European political science vis-à-vis the United States. I identify four structural problems in the allocation of money to individuals and institutions and derive two main recommendations from them. First, reviewers should be members of a merit-oriented European Academy of Political Science rather than stem from a group of arbitrarily chosen scholars. Second, the European Consortium for Political Research should seriously consider the introduction of individual membership and competitive leadership elections.

Move or perish: increasing professional mobility in european academia

One reason for the low productivity of European political science and public administration departments could be a high level of national regulation, which shields departments from the forces of international competition. Higher education in Europe is not yet a single market in which students and staff compete for resources. In this article, I discuss a number of problems related to the current situation of limited competition and suggest ways to improve European political science and public administration. These include, among others, national deregulation of higher education and a Europe-wide system of assessment and accreditation.

Jean blondel and the development of european political science

This article examines Jean Blondel's contribution to the development of European – and more generally of contemporary – political science. He is primarily associated with the European Consortium for Political Research, of which he was Founding Director 1970–1979. Crucially important although the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) is, this undervalues the considerable intellectual influence he has exerted over the discipline at crucial points in it is evolution, primarily in terms of comparative research, classification, and data collection. His institutional and intellectual achievements have made him one of the most influential political scientists of the late twentieth century, fittingly recognised by the award of the Johan Skytte Prize in 2004.

Young people in the european political science profession

young people in the european political science profession

The Territorial Politics of Welfare

The Territorial Politics of Welfare, Nicola McEwen and Luis Moreno, eds., Routledge/ECPR Studies in European Political Science; New York: Routledge, 2005, pp. xxv, 252.Canada is the only non-European Union country included in this original collection about welfare regimes and nation building, sub-central states and supranational influences on solidarity. Individual chapters are also dedicated to the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium and the Nordic region. Included are two chapters on European influences on national practices.