Mainstream Political Science Research Articles

The state and radicalization: Overlooked perspectives for internationalist far-right scholarship

The purpose of this review essay is to examine four monographs that study the far-right and discuss their approaches as is relevant to the international level of analysis. This essay argues that these monographs engage with international analysis but do so in a way that has generally not been covered by the mainstream political science approaches to the far-right. This essay will first cover the mainstream political science approaches and international approaches of the far-right. Then this article will explore two overlooked approaches: (1) The statist approach to the far-right explores the transnational and domestic development of far-right ideology in specific states. (2) The radicalization approach focuses on the space and place of the far-right. This review essay will consider the international implications of these approaches and highlight key themes and methodologies that may prove useful to international far-right scholarship. This article concludes with the place of these monographs in the international far-right literature and the scope of this article.

A fundamental challenge. Are the affordances of political science being wasted?

The author recalls the reveries of the times of the creation of the journal Polis. He critically assesses three decades of attempts to nurture the achievements of world political science. He admits that the results of these efforts are far from expectations. The reasons are the haste to act and our miopic vision of the standards of world political science, as well as the awkward backwardness of these standards themselves. The generic trauma of the newly emerging political science goes with the reductive adjusting of evolving practices of political goal- attainment to the straitjacketing models of jurisprudence, philosophy and history. As Ch. Tilly has shown, the corresponding pernicious postulates were questioned only during the glorious twenty years of political science renewal in the 60s and 70s of the last century. These pernicious postulates are related to the reduction of evolving political phenomena to simplistic mechanistic schemes and abstractions. They continue to dominate mainstream political science. As for the alternative possibilities of political science, they require taking into account the spatio-temporal variability of political phenomena and using an expanding and increasingly complex researchapparatus. The author gives a number of examples of such sophisticating renewal, including the treatment of the existence of nations as everyday referendum (Renan), of diverse polities as mestorazvitiya (evo-localizings, lit. place-developments) (Savitsky), of political institutions as conceptual variables (Nettl), of crises as alternating phases of dissynchronization and resynchronization (Almond and colleagues), of center-periphery polarization (Rokkan). The article also mentions the efforts of R. Dahl and F. Schmitter to “save” modern democracy from various kinds of reductions by reinterpreting it in terms of polyarchy and accountability. It refers to the geochronopolitics of G. Modelski and further similar ventures of V. Tsimburski. It also cites efforts of A. Melville and his colleagues in correcting the reductive rendering of the global community of states by extending the factual scope multidimensionality of its analysis. Further cases include the fuller and more multidimensional consideration by G. Tsebelis and R. Putnam of alternative policies and aspirations in terms of nested, two- and multidimensional games, and finally, the efforts of W. Patzelt to instigate an evolutionary morphology of politics.

Disability in Political Science

Despite increasing interest in recent years, disability remains a neglected area of study within mainstream political science. Beginning with a brief overview of the ways that disability studies scholars have defined disability, I address the issues that have arisen in trying to measure disability as well as the limits and possibilities that follow from thinking of people with disabilities as a minority group with defined political beliefs and interests. To the extent that much of the work on disability in political science looks to the research on gender, race, ethnicity, and class as a touchstone, I consider the lessons that might be drawn from this work both as it relates to disability as a social category and regarding efforts to conceive of disability and ability in more structural and ideological terms. Turning to the literature on disability in political theory, I examine the ways that disability has been deployed to reveal the ableist assumptions that pervade canonical and more contemporary texts. I conclude by highlighting avenues for future research, including whether it is possible—or, indeed, desirable—to move beyond the civil rights and identity-based frameworks that have so defined disability politics and organizing.

Local politics as research challenge: the experience of the department for studying political institutions and processes in local practices

The article focuses on research efforts of the Department for Studying Political Institutions and Processes of PFRC UB RAS (former Perm Branch for Studying Political Institutions and Processes of Institute of Philosophy and Law of UB RAS) to study local politics in modern Russia. This research covers the last fifteen years; during some part of this period, the topic was outside the Russian political science mainstream, nowadays it is supported and developed by the Russian scientific community. The purpose of the article is to present the subject and problem field of local political research to specialists and everyone interested in local issues and politics in the territorial context.

Global Climate Policy Beyond the Paris Agreement

Although a subset of political scientists has been studying climate change for decades, the mainstream of the discipline lags behind. Journals such as Global Environmental Politics and even Nature and Science have long published political science research on climate, yet major disciplinary journals tend to marginalize climate and environmental politics more broadly (Green and Hale 2017). This trend has been changing slowly (as evidenced by this symposium), but mainstream political science still has much catching up to do.

Introduction: What Scholars Know (and Need to Know) about the Politics of Climate Change

Climate change is fundamentally a political problem; it is not merely a technical or economic challenge but rather an arena for sharp conflicts over the distribution of gains and losses and the associated ethical challenges. However, as Keohane (2015), Javeline (2014), and Green and Hale (2017) noted in PS: Political Science & Politics and Perspectives on Politics, research on climate change has not been traditionally central to mainstream political science. Field journals including Global Environmental Politics and Environmental Politics have made important contributions in this regard, and leading university presses have published important books on climate issues. However, the neglect of climate politics by mainstream journals is surprising—although we note the recent Perspective on Politics symposium on Green Political Science—because political scientists have devoted considerable attention to studying environmental politics at the community (Ostrom 1990), national (Kelemen and Vogel 2010), and international (Young 1994) levels. Indeed, there is robust literature on the management of common pool resources, national styles of environmental regulation, and environmental social movements, as well as global environmental regimes. Yet, the topic of climate change—an important subject in the study of environmental politics—too often has been neglected by mainstream political science.

Separating the Chaff from the Wheat: An Exploration of Latin American Political Regimes

This article seeks to characterize the predominant political regimes in Latin America in the 21^st century, their relative stability and endurance. It points out that even if the differences between them are less clear than in the 20^th century, the main regimes are authoritarian (autocratic), more or less liberal democracies, and populism. It goes on arguing that in contrast to the 20^th century, the role and presence of the military current authoritarian regimes is less direct, which may have created confusion. Of the three regimes, authoritarian are the more stable ones. Regarding liberal democracy, despite ups and downs, democracy has remained as the dominant regime in the region. As established in mainstream political science findings about the region, the sources of this continuity do not depend overall on the economy or social trends such as inequality or poverty levels but on political factors (the normative preferences of political actors over democracy, and on their political moderation or radicalism). Also, Latin American democracies have weathered several storms of widespread protests deriving from inner discontent. In order to make sense of the sources of instability one has to look into strictly political factors such as fragmentation, volatility, acute polarization, coalition breakdowns, rejection of critical government policies, and impeachment of presidents. The third regime type is populism, which has had a strong revival during this century, with important differences with its earlier 20^th century versions. Several scholarly works point out that present populist regimes’ most prominent features are strictly political, which they characterize as a “moment” or a movement to attain power, which may end up giving birth to more stable regimes like competitive authoritarism. I prefer to delve into populism as a regime in its own right, which has emerged frequently in the region, in some cases deriving into fully authoritarian ones (Venezuela) or moving back to liberal democracy (Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru). The paper ends calling for the need to deepen research regarding both differences between the three regimes and the specific factors affecting stability of democracies in the region.

States and new markets: the novelty problem in the IPE of finance

Finance has changed, and the study of finance needs to change with it. Previously marginal actors—hedge funds, index providers, tech firms, etc.—have become lynchpins in the global financial system. Likewise, the traditional subjects of international political economy (IPE)—states, international organizations, banks, central banks, etc.—are engaging in once-peripheral spheres. Yet, these novel trends have been largely ignored in mainstream political science and international relations venues for IPE scholarship. We demonstrate this through a discussion of two trends—the rise of shadow banking and central bank involvement in climate change—and an analysis of publications in top international relations and political science journals. While previous commentaries identify a methodological and epistemological divide in IPE, our results suggest an empirical one. We then construct a practical framework to remedy this problem by returning to the work of Susan Strange. Strange’s approach embodied a radical ontology, a focus on structures and their interaction, and an analytical eclecticism that provided keen insights into the politics of finance. We argue that these principles, often embraced in Review of International Political Economy, should be applied more broadly by IR scholars to better contribute to debates on emerging political economic issues.

Gender-Based Violence Research in Canadian Political Science: A Call to Action

AbstractGender-based violence is a prevalent and persistent societal problem in Canada that permeates all spaces, including politics. Yet sexual harassment, sexual assault and/or gender-based violence research is rarely found in mainstream political science in Canada or elsewhere. This article argues that this absence is highly problematic for a discipline that purports to centre itself on understanding power—who has it and who doesn't, and how to access it. It further argues for a normative intersectional and interdisciplinary approach, highlighting promising avenues of research in feminist institutionalism and Indigenous feminism to help achieve elusive solutions to gender-based violence in the future.

Political Participation and Request for Change: The Role of Education

The article tests the hypothesis, based on the concept of post-industrial society that people with higher education will be more politically active, especially in the manifestation of the demand for change. For this purpose, the materials of the All-Russian poll, organized in March 2021 by the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, are used to analyze the sociopolitical characteristics associated with political activism and the formation of a demand for change among different educational groups of Russians. The conclusion is made that, first, education in modern Russia does directly affect an individual's preparedness for political action: more educated Russians are more interested in the political life of the country and are more aware of their ability to influence the "rules of the game". Second, education does directly affect actual involvement in social and political activism. However, concerning conscious political participation, this effect relates not so much to everyday, regular, as to its extreme protest forms. Third, the education of Russians has no discernible correlation with the presence/absence of a liberal demand for change. In terms of meeting the minimum requirements for political participation, Russian educational groups currently correspond to the Western political science mainstream theory and the practices of developed countries. Nevertheless, the highlighted features of the political characteristics of Russians with higher and post-higher education (not all of the examined indicators are stable in dynamics, not all differences between educational groups are clearly expressed, and, in general, the participation of highly educated Russians in the political life of the country is rather formal) lead to the need for a more careful study of the findings not only of the Western scientific mainstream but also of alternative concepts of Third World researchers. In addition, it has been suggested that the emancipation of a group of highly educated Russians from the state is incomplete. Consequently, they are aware of their objectively central place and leading role in political life.

‘Empty signifier’: The concept of ‘populism’ in the contemporary mainstream political science

The paper aims to clarify the origins of contemporary populism, as well as to outline the prospects for further research on this matter. The author examines this phenomenon within the framework of the dominant mainstream in political science. The latter imply the totality of approaches to conceptualization of the key modern social, economic, political and cultural issues. The author advances a hypothesis that both the extreme diversity of the views regarding the nature of populism and the impossibility to develop an all-encompassing defi nition of this paradoxical phenomenon directly stem from the characteristic features of this dominant discourse. The paper shows that this discourse emerged from the overlapping narratives of transition, modernization, free market, unlimited economic growth and ‘the end of history’ and establishes an hierarchy of global knowledge based on three principles: Western dominance, capitalism and liberalism. The author emphasizes that within this theoretical framework non-Western populism is portrayed as a relatively progressive phenomenon, as a means and an indicator of progress towards capitalism and democracy. In this case populism is interpreted as an element of transition to a ‘proper’ Modernity. However, identical political movements, practices and rhetoric of the Western populists are usually portrayed as a deviation from the norm, from Modernity in general and the ideals of liberal democracy in particular. Meanwhile, the paper argues that as Western liberal democracies transform into ‘conciliatory democracies’ (‘oligarchies’) and increasingly resemble ‘defective democracies’, they themselves start to deviate from the normative ideal, just as any regime they label ‘populist’. Therefore, the existing concepts of populism signify not only a certain deviation from the ideal but also the birth of a new reality which cannot be conceptualized within the framework of the contemporary mainstream political science. The concept of populism appears as an ‘empty signifier’ and as a collective term for all inconvenient and troubling social-political phenomena that mainstream political scientists are unable or unwilling to explain.

Brahmin Left Vs. Merchant Right: The Miscellaneous Causes and Consequences

Abstract In his recent book, Capital and Ideology, French economist Thomas Piketty devotes the final chapter to the changing dimensions of political conflict in Western democracies. The goal of this article is to confront some of his findings with mainstream political science. Piketty’s arguments are confronted with the findings of scholars within political science. To begin the article, we establish two research questions in the introduction. We then delineate the gradual reversal of the educational cleavage and subsequent emergence of the multi-elite system according to Piketty. He demonstrates how the classist conflict prevailing in the 1950s and 60s morphed into the Brahmin Left versus the Merchant Right system, with the “Left” being supported by the more educated electorate and the “Right” being supported by the relative well-offs. In the following two sections, we deal with his arguments regarding the causes and the outcomes of this gradual shift. Firstly, he proposes two hypotheses regarding the metamorphosis of the Left: the social and nativist hypotheses. We argue that neither of the two hypotheses is actually a comprehensive explanation and we propose alternative that takes into account the changing structure of social classes. Secondly, with regards to the outcomes of the reversal of the educational cleavage, Piketty considers one of the consequences of this shift to be a social-nativist trap, a combination of pro-redistribution policies and cultural nativism. We have concluded that the social-nativism is not a trap per se as much as an inevitability resulting from the less advantaged class feeling abandoned in the multi-elite political conflict.

Edward Vidaurre and the Politics of the Cholo Strut

ABSTRACT I chart paths for navigating the contemporary political moment via the work of the working-class barrio poet Edward Vidaurre. The take-away from his work is a form of confrontational poetic activism or what I call the politics of the cholo strut. Vidaurre creates a counterculture via poetry to resist white-racist-capitalist propaganda and ideology. The cholo strut is not a criminal act but flags defiant subjectivity and points to an emancipatory politics that enacts militancy and yearning for utopia. Via the politics of the cholo strut, I seek to explode the limits of mainstream political science research on Chicanx politics in terms of whose voices are included and what counts as legitimate knowledge. Vidaurre’s work, I argue, opens new vectors for radical political reflection via code-switching and bridging while also staring into the abyss via the poetry of poverty.

Political Science Scholarship on the Middle East: A View from the Journals

ABSTRACTBased on an original dataset of all articles on the Middle East in major political science journals during the past two decades, we assess trends in publishing on the region to explore whether it remains underrepresented in political science and how the field has evolved. We focus on the evolution of the total share of Middle East and North Africa (MENA)-focused articles, research topics, methods employed, and patterns of authorship by gender. The proportion of MENA-focused articles has increased, particularly after the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, but remains strikingly low. With respect to topics and methods, research on the Middle East is increasingly integrated in mainstream political science, with articles addressing core disciplinary debates and relying increasingly more on statistical and experimental methods. Yet, these shifts may come at the expense of predominantly qualitative research, and primary topics may reflect the priorities of Western researchers while underplaying the major concerns of Middle Eastern publics.

Thirty years of Regional and Federal Studies

ABSTRACT Regional and Federal Studies’ 30th anniversary offers an opportunity to take stock of the state of the discipline and of the journal. We make four claims. First, the multi-level nature of the political world has intensified in the last 30 years. Second, the approaches to studying this changing world have evolved through a quantitative and comparative turn. Regional and Federal Studies has embraced these developments whilst remaining faithful to its tradition of rich conceptual and case-study work. Third, the journal has contributed to the ‘territorialization’ of mainstream political science as many fields of study have gradually recognized the limitations of national- or single-level analyses. Finally, the journal itself has diversified in terms of approaches, methods, geographical coverage, and gender balance of author profiles, although we recognize there is more to do. We view further comparative research on the Global South as a particularly important research avenue.

Deconstruyendo el yo disciplinar

Este artículo reflexiona sobre el vínculo entre ciencia política y teoría política en América Latina. Por un lado, argumentamos que, en el modo en que trata a ‘la teoría’, la ciencia política dominante revela algunos de sus ‘rasgos de personalidad’ más problemáticos. Por otro lado, proponemos que la teoría política —siempre y cuando se le permita— puede contribuir a custodiar y cultivar el pluralismo de la disciplina y, por ende, a potenciar su imaginación democrática. En otras palabras, hay mucho en juego en el vínculo en cuestión. El texto se nutre de nuestras agendas de investigación en teoría crítica y sobre la relación entre poder y conocimiento en la ciencia política. Pero el trabajo tiene asimismo una dimensión experiencial y subjetiva que no solo no pretendemos disimular, sino que queremos subrayar. Nuestro objetivo es incitar al debate y contribuir a generar las condiciones para que la teoría política latinoamericana sea escuchada sin que tenga que alzar la voz.

Clientelism from the Client’s Perspective: A Meta-Analysis of Ethnographic Literature

Mainstream political science literature on clientelism tends to focus on its supply side and on vote-buying, whereas ethnographic work often emphasizes client agency and incentives and paints a more diverse image of clientelism. We bridge the gap between these literatures by conducting a meta-analysis of ethnographic literature on clientelism from the client perspective. We code characteristics of clientelistic exchanges described in this work. We use cluster analysis and principal component analysis to systematize these data. Cluster analysis groups exchanges into three core subtypes of clientelism (“vote-buying”, “relational”, and “collective”); principal component analysis delivers two fundamental dimensions of clientelism: equal-unequal and individual-universal. We show that the two dimensions are associated with different aspects of client welfare and trade-offs from the client perspective. Our results reaffirm and reconcile existing deductive typologies of clientelism and can serve as a basis for a structured study of the demand side of clientelism.

Contribution to a Historical-Structuralist Understanding of Latin American Democracy

Mainstream views for the study of democracy and of democracy in Latin America tend to center around a restricted model of democratic systems, which decides to ignore the wider social environment in which they exist. This article seeks to contribute toward a more sociological understanding of democracy and democratization in Latin America and the world. It does that through a review of structuralist and neo-structuralist theories of democracy and of Latin American democracy, which is put in dialogue and confrontation with mainstream political science views of democracy and more recent critical views of really existing democracy. From that exercise the article proposes what it calls a historical-structuralist view of Latin American democracy based on looking at the interaction of social structures, political institutions, and sociopolitical actors, to understand its democratic systems as determined by the possession or lack of sociopolitical power through resources within the inequalities of capitalist and global structures.

Taking emigration seriously: a new agenda for research on free movement and welfare

ABSTRACT Free movement of persons (FoM) is a key topic in current research on European integration’s effects on social justice and national welfare states. These debates have focused almost exclusively on FoM as the right to entry, and neglected the correlative right to exit. As a consequence, mainstream political science and public policy research has paid very little attention to welfare state-related implications of extensive emigration in several EU member states. This article argues that emigration should be incorporated into the FoM and welfare states research agenda, so as to better comprehend the relationship between FoM and welfare policy and politics, and to advance our understanding of how FoM alters national welfare boundaries. It discusses some of the conceptual limitations resulting from studying FoM exclusively in terms of entry, and advances more specific proposals for including emigration into the wider research agenda.

Теоретические модели политического участия женщин

The article is devoted to the analysis of theoretical approaches to the study of women’s political participation. In the development of political science in this subject field, one can distinguish three major paradigms, among which the political science mainstream, the alternative of which are Marxist and Feminist approaches. In Russia, research on women’s political participation is characterized by a wide palette of concepts, which considers various aspects of the gender gap, and the relatively weak integration of women into politics and political institutions.