Lowndes, Theory and Methods in Political Science by Macmillan International Higher Education

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Contents Lists of Figures, Tables and Boxes

xiii

Preface to the Fourth Edition

Notes on Contributors

xvi

1 Introduction Vivien Lowndes, David Marsh and Gerry Stoker

What is politics? What is it that political scientists study? What is a scientific approach to politics? The discipline of political science: a celebration of diversity?

1 7 9 11

PART 1 THEORY AND APPROACHES

Introduction to Part 1 Vivien Lowndes, David Marsh and Gerry Stoker

Behavioural Analysis David Sanders

The rise of the behavioural movement and its core characteristics 21 Criticisms of the behavioural approach 25 Objections to the positivist claim that statements which are neither definitions (useful tautologies) nor empirical are meaningless 25 The tendency towards mindless empiricism 26 The assumed independence of theory and observation 28 The strengths of the behavioural approach: an example 30 Conclusion: the behavioural legacy in the twenty-first century 37 Further reading 38 3

Rational Choice Andrew Hindmoor and Brad Taylor

Introduction The methods of economics (and rational choice) The logic of collective action Collective action and the environment What’s wrong with rational choice theory? From imperialism to peaceful co-existence Conclusion Further reading v

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39 39 40 43 46 48 52 52 53

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The ‘traditional’ institutional approach 55 The emergence of the ‘new institutionalism’ 57 The ‘three new institutionalisms’ 58 Core features of new institutionalism 59 Institutions as rules not organisations 60 Institutions as informal as well as formal 61 Institutions as dynamic as well as stabilising 62 Institutions as embodying values and power 62 Institutions as contextually embedded 63 New institutionalist dilemmas 64 What is an institution anyway? 64 Where do institutions come from, and how do they change? 67 Are the normative and rational choice approaches compatible? 70 Conclusion 73 Further reading 74 5

Constructivism and Interpretive Theory Craig Parsons

Origins of constructivism What is and isn’t distinctive about constructivism? Variations within constructivism Epistemological variations Different mechanisms and different social constructs Different methods Conclusion Further reading

76 78 83 83 85 87 90 91

Feminist and Gendered Approaches Meryl Kenny and Fiona Mackay

What is feminism? Political science: gendered foundations Women in political science Gender and political science Political representation Feminising political parties Gendering the state and state feminism Dilemmas and challenges Conclusion Further reading

92 93 96 97 102 103 104 105 107 107

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Marxism: A Global Perspective Ray Kiely

109

Marxism and capitalism: structuralist economism or agency-led contingency? 110 Marxist economism and base and superstructure 110 Marx and capitalism 112 Marxism, capitalism and nationalism 114 Marxism and globalisation: economistic unilinearity or contingent uneven development? 115 Marxist economism and capitalist diffusion 115 Marx and the unequal international order 116 Marxism, imperialism and uneven development as dependency 118 Marxism and hegemony: the significance of Gramsci 119 Debating globalisation in the twenty-first century 120 Contemporary globalisation defined 120 The continued relevance of Marxist ideas I: globalisation as uneven and combined development 121 The continued relevance of Marxist ideas II: hegemony and the international order 122 Conclusion 123 Further reading 124 8 Poststructuralism Mark Wenman

125

French structuralism 127 From structuralism to poststructuralism 129 Poststructuralism in politics and international relations 130 The ontological and epistemological assumptions of poststructuralism 133 Criticism and evaluation 137 Conclusion 140 Further reading 141 9

Political Psychology Frank Mols and Paul ‘t Hart

An interdisciplinary enterprise 142 Political conflict and contention 144 Political leadership and followership 146 Who leads matters 147 How groups create leaders, and leaders gain followers 147 Political beliefs and voter attitudes 151 Perceiving the political world 151

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142

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Causes and consequences of political attitudes 152 Radicalisation and extremism: pathology or politics? 152 Understanding political decision-making 154 From homo economicus to homo psychologicus 154 Groups as asset or problem in policy decision-making? 155 Methods and prospects of the field 155 Further reading 157

10 Normative Political Theory Chris Armstrong

158

Introduction Methods in normative political theory Rawls on reflective equilibrium Cohen on facts and values Normative theory and global justice Political ideals and feasibility Further reading

158 159 159 162 164 166 170

PART 2 METHODS AND RESEARCH DESIGN

Introduction to Part 2 Vivien Lowndes, David Marsh and Gerry Stoker

11 A Skin Not a Sweater : Ontology and Epistemology in Political Science David Marsh, Selen A. Ercan and Paul Furlong

173

177

Ontology and epistemology introduced 178 The meaning of ontology and epistemology (and methodology) 178 The relationship between ontology and epistemology 179 Distinguishing ontological and epistemological positions 181 Distinguishing broad ontological positions 182 Distinguishing broad epistemological positions 183 Interrogating different approaches to ontology and epistemology 185 Positivism 186 Interpretivism 189 Critical realism 193 Ontology and epistemology in empirical research 194 Empirical research on deliberative democracy – positivism versus interpretivism 195 Conclusion 197 Further reading 198

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Meta-Theoretical Issues David Marsh

199

Conceptualising structure, agency and the ideational realm Structure Agency The ideational realm Dialectical approaches to the relationships between structure and agency and the material and the ideational Structure and agency: the dialectical approaches Structuration theory The Morphogenetic approach The strategic-relational approach Bourdieu and habitus The material and the ideational: thin and thick constructivism Stability and change Hay: a linear conception of time Tonkiss: a non-linear conception of time A flexi-time model: a circadian conception of time More on punctuated evolution Conclusion Further reading

200 201 202 204

Research Design Dimiter Toshkov

219

What is research design? The research process The elements of research design Research questions and research goals Theory and empirical research Conceptualisation and operationalisation Types of research methodologies Case and variable selection for different types of research Experimental research Large-N observational research Comparative research Single-case studies and within-case analysis Conclusion: the power and promise of research design Further reading

219 220 222 222 225 227 228 230 230 232 233 234 235 236

Qualitative Methods Ariadne Vromen

237

204 204 205 205 206 208 209 211 212 212 213 213 217 218

Debates on qualitative methods: the rediscovery of qualitative analysis 237 What is distinctive about qualitative methods and analysis? 243

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Qualitative research techniques 244 Primary research: interviews, group discussion and ethnography 246 Secondary research: using text/document-based techniques 249 Conclusion: the use and future use of qualitative methods in political science 252 Further reading 253 15

Quantitative Methods Peter John

254

The collection and management of data The power of description Tables and inferential statistics Multivariate analysis Testing and reporting models Recent developments Conclusion Further reading

255 257 259 261 265 268 269 270

16 The Comparative Method Matt Ryan

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Introduction Comparative politics and comparative method – politics beyond the armchair? Comparative method and the scientific method – why small-N research strategies? Mill’s methods of experimental inquiry and their influence on comparative political science Method of agreement Method of difference Joint method Most different and most similar strategies The changing nature of comparative research strategies – qualitative comparative analysis Case studies, within-case comparison and process-tracing Case selection Within-case analysis Conclusion: evolving comparison in response to challenges Further reading

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17 The Experimental Method Helen Margetts and Gerry Stoker

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290 292 293

What is the experimental method? The rise of experimentation Learning from laboratory experiments

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271 272 274 274 276 277 279 280 284 284 286 288 289

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Learning from field experiments Learning from internet-based experiments Learning from natural experiments Pitfalls in the experimental method Ethical challenges Practical problems Conclusion Further reading Acknowledgements

296 297 299 300 300 302 304 305 305

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Big Data: Methods for Collection and Analysis Michael J. Jensen

Introduction Defining big data Big data and data collection Data formats Extensible markup language (XML) Application programming interfaces (APIs) Web crawling Web scraping Big data and data analysis Combining heterogeneous kinds of data Limitations to big data Conclusion: big data and the future of social science Further reading

306 307 309 310 310 311 313 314 315 317 317

19 The Relevance of Political Science Gerry Stoker, B. Guy Peters and Jon Pierre

321

Position 1: political science should do good science and if the science is good it will be relevant Position 2: political science should be better at communicating its results; if it were it would be more relevant Position 3: political science should be prepared to have its agenda set by problem-solving or puzzle-solving concerns that matter to policymakers and citizens; if it did it would be more relevant Position 4: political science should be prepared to develop a capacity not just for analysing problems but also for developing solutions; that move would enhance its capacity for relevance Position 5: political science needs to develop a more engaged co-production approach to research, working alongside actors outside academia to address their concerns and so advance the relevance of research

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322 323

324

325

327

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328 330

Bibliography 332 380

Index

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Chapter 1

Introduction VIVIEN LOWNDES, DAVID MARSH AND GERRY STOKER

This book introduces the theories and methods that political scientists use, which we think tells us a great deal about the nature of political science. To us, political science is best defined in terms of what political scientists do. Of course, there are thousands of political scientists around the world and we have tried to capture and clarify the variety of ways they seek to understand, explore and analyse the complex processes of politics in the modern era. We are interested in how they differ in their approach, but also in what they share. Our book identifies nine approaches used by political scientists and then explores some of the specific research methods, which are used in different combinations by scholars from these different approaches. All disciplines tend to be chaotic, to some extent, in their development (Abbott, 2001) and political science is certainly no exception. However, we would argue that the variety of approaches and debates explored in this book are a reflection of its richness and growing maturity. When trying to understand something as complex, contingent and chaotic as politics, it is not surprising that academics have developed a great variety of approaches. For those studying the discipline for the first time, it may be disconcerting that there is no agreed approach or method of study. Indeed, as we shall see, there is not even agreement about the nature of politics itself. But, we argue that political scientists should celebrate diversity, rather than see it as a problem. The Nobel Prize winner Herbert Simon makes a powerful case for a plurality of approaches, which he sees as underpinning the scientist’s commitment to constant questioning and searching for understanding: I am a great believer in pluralism in science. Any direction you proceed in has a very high a priori probability of being wrong; so it is good if other people are exploring in other directions – perhaps one of them will be on the right track. (Simon, 1992: 21) Studying politics involves making an active selection among a variety of approaches and methods; this book provides students and researchers with the capacity to make informed choices. However, whatever your choice, we hope to encourage you to keep an open mind and consider whether some other route might yet yield better results. 1

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Copyrighted material – 9781137603517 2 Introduction The study of politics can trace its origins at least as far back as Plato (Almond, 1996); as such, it has a rich heritage and a substantial base on which to grow and develop. More specifically, it has been an academic discipline for just over a century; the American Political Science Association was formed in 1903 and other national associations followed. As Goodin and Klingemann (1996) argue, in the last few decades the discipline has become a genuinely international enterprise. Excellent and challenging political science is produced in many countries and this book reflects the internationalisation of the discipline in two senses. First, we have authors who are based in the UK, elsewhere in Europe, the USA and Australia. Second, many of the illustrations and examples provided by authors offer up experiences from a range of countries, or provide a global perspective. Our authors draw on experiences from around the world and relate domestic political science concerns to those of international relations. This makes sense in an ever more globalised world. The increasing influence of global forces in our everyday lives makes globalisation a central feature of the modern era. Debates about collective decisions which we observe at the international, national and local levels take place through a dynamic of governance (Chhotray and Stoker, 2009). In the world of governance, outcomes are not determined by cohesive, unified nation states or formal institutional arrangements. Rather, they involve individual and collective actors both inside and beyond the state, who operate via complex and varied networks. In addition, the gap between domestic politics and international relations has narrowed, with domestic politics increasingly influenced by transnational forces. Migration, human rights, issues of global warming, pandemics of ill-health and the challenges of energy provision cannot, for example, be contained or addressed within national boundaries alone. A new world politics (different from ‘international relations’) is emerging, in which non-state actors play a vital role, alongside nation states (Cerny, 2010). The study of world politics is not a separate enterprise, focused on the study of the diplomatic, military and strategic activities of nation states. Non-state and international institutions, at the very least, provide a check to the battle between nation states. At the same time, the role of cities and sub-national regions has expanded, as they make links across national borders in pursuit of economic investment in a global marketplace, while seeking also to collaborate in tackling complex governance challenges (such as migration and global warming), which do not themselves respect national boundaries. Indeed, some analysts go as far as to suggest that cities may become the ‘new sovereign’ in international orders in which both nation states and multilateral bodies are challenged (Barber, 2013; Katz and Bradley, 2013). Moreover, the breadth of the issues to be addressed at the international level has extended into a range of previously domestic concerns, with a focus on financial, employment, health, human rights and poverty reduction issues. At the same time, the nature of politics at the international

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Copyrighted material – 9781137603517 Vivien Lowndes, David Marsh and Gerry Stoker 3 level has become more politically driven, through bargaining, hegemonic influence and soft power – rather than driven solely by military prowess and economic strength, although the latter remain important. However, the questions to be asked about politics at local, national and global levels are fundamentally the same. How is power exercised to determine outcomes? What are the roles of competing interests and identities? How is coordination and cooperation achieved to achieve shared purposes? How are issues of justice and fairness of outcome to be identified and understood? Consequently, the examples and illustrations of the academic study of politics in this book reflect the growing interlinkage of domestic politics and international relations. This book focuses upon the ways of thinking or theorising offered by political scientists and the methods they are using to discover more about the subject at the beginning of the twenty-first century. It is inevitable that the book will neither be fully comprehensive in its coverage of political science, nor able to provide sufficient depth in approaching all of the issues that are considered. Rather, our intention is to provide an introduction to the main approaches to political science and a balanced assessment of some of the debates and disagreements that have characterised a discipline with several thousand years of history behind it, and many thousands of practitioners in the modern world. The book is divided into two broad parts. The chapters in the first part map the broad ways of approaching political science that have had, and are likely to have, a major effect on the development of political science: behaviouralism, rational choice theory, institutionalism, constuctivism, feminism, Marxism, poststructuralism and political psychology (see Table 1.1). Each of the approaches focuses upon a set of issues, understandings and practices that define a particular way of doing political science. We asked each of our authors not simply to advocate their approach, but also to explore criticisms of that approach. In this respect, we hope that each author offers a robust, but self-aware and critical, understanding of his or her way of doing political science. We have also asked authors to provide ‘worked examples’ of their approach in action within political science. As such, our understanding of theory is neither abstract, nor abstruse. In our experience, students often regard theory as a burden, something that gets in the way of studying real-life politics. We want to show how theory facilitates, rather than obstructs. The approaches discussed in this book show how theory frames new questions and provides important leverage for understanding political puzzles. Theory allows us to see things we wouldn’t otherwise see. Each of our approaches could be seen as a different pair of spectacles; when we put them on our focus changes, and different aspects of a phenomenon come into view. Beyond the academy, political science not only influences the world of politics and governance by providing evidence from research, but also has the potential to shape the way in which political actors themselves regard their opportunities and develop their strategies (as reflected, for example, in the influence of rational choice theory on

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Concentrates on processes of politics associated with mainstream politics and government

Concerned with conditions for collective action in mainstream political world

Focus is on the rules, norms and values that govern political exchanges, tends to look at institutional arrangements in mainstream political world

Politics is driven by the meanings that actors attach to their actions and their context. Politics can be broad in scope, reflecting people’s diverse world views about what it involves

Behaviouralism

Rational Choice Theory

Institutionalism

Constructivism

Scope of Political Studies

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Science is the production of organised knowledge. The best political science is empirically grounded, theoretically informed and reflective

The generation of general laws and in particular laws with predictive power

The generation of general laws and at a minimum the development of theoretical statements that can be falsified. Keen to subject claims to empirical test through direct observation

Understanding of the Scientific Claim

Tends towards the view that there is fusion between all types of theorising. Political analysis is essentially contested and has a necessarily normative content

Keen to make connections between empirical analysis and normative theory

Gives recognition to the value of political theory but focus is less on what could be and more on what is feasible

In early phase keen to emphasise difference between the new science and old armchair theorising. Now gives due recognition to the value of political theory

Attitude to Normative Political Theory

Table 1.1 Approaches to political science

A mixed range of responses but tendency is towards wry commentary on the narrative battles of the political world

Keen to make connections, sees itself as working alongside the practitioners of politics

Claims to be able to offer value-free expert advice about how to organise politics

Claims to be value free, neutral and detached

Relationship to the Practice of Politics

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4 Introduction

Views politics through the lens of the personality and cognition of the individuals who engage in its practice, primarily within the mainstream political world

A broad process definition that recognises that the personal can be political

Politics is a struggle between social groups, in particular social classes

Politics takes place and achieves impact across a range of social institutions and environments and in a variety of ways

Psychological approaches

Feminism and gendered approaches

Marxism

Poststructuralism There can be no scientific claim as our experience of ‘reality’ is intrinsically mediated by language or discourse

Critical realist: the discovery of below-the-surface forces that guide but do not determine historical events

A mixed range of responses to this issue but with strong tendencies towards antifoundational and critical realist perspectives

How individuals identify and frame the political challenges they face can be studied in a way that allows for theoretical generalisations to be tested by empirical investigation

Some criticise it for ethical relativism. But the approach does sustain a normative critique of power and domination and promotes agonistic theories of democracy

Normative theory is at its most useful when it provides a guide to action: the point is to change the world

Normative theory, like all aspects of political studies, needs to take gender issues seriously

Tends to view assumptions made about human nature in much political theory as inadequate. Generally not oriented towards normative theory

Arguably a major impact through popular culture and a strong capacity to develop a critique of others’ truth claims

Committed to engagement in struggles of suppressed social groups or classes

Political engagement is strongly part of the feminist impulse

Often seeks to offer insights into how politics works and how it could be made to work better

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Vivien Lowndes, David Marsh and Gerry Stoker 5

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Copyrighted material – 9781137603517 6 Introduction many right-wing governments, or of institutional approaches like governance on transnational bodies and development agencies). The final chapter in this first part of the book explores the issue of normative theory, although it is important to recognise that there are normative elements in all approaches. This is one of the most traditional approaches to political science, but it remains relevant today. Political science should be (and is) interested in understanding both ‘what is’, usually seen as the empirical dimension, and also ‘what should be’, the normative dimension. Further, we agree with Baubock (2008: 40) that ‘empirical research can be guided by normative theory; and normative theory can be improved by empirical research’. The distinctiveness of normative theory is clear, but the dialogue between normative theory and the other approaches is crucial. Empirical theorists can benefit from the specification and clarification of arguments provided by normative theory and, in our view, normative theorists need to look to empirical research, as well as hypothetical arguments, to help support their case. Moreover, the emergence of new empirically driven theoretical insights, for example those associated with the governance school (Chhotray and Stoker, 2009), may open up new issues and challenges for normative theory. The second half of the book moves to issues of methodology and research design. We begin, in Chapter 11, by introducing debates about the ontological and epistemological positions which shape our answers to the crucial questions of what we study, how we study it and, most significantly, what we can claim on the basis of our research. These ontological and epistemological positions also underpin what in Chapter 12 we term meta-theoretical issues, specifically, the relationships between structure and agency, the material and the ideational and continuity and change, which cut across all the different approaches. Subsequently, in Chapter 13, we turn to the important question of how we design our research project or programme. Finally, in the last five substantive chapters we examine different research methods. We examine the range of both qualitative and quantitative techniques that are available and how these techniques can be combined in meeting the challenge of research design, before moving on to consider the potential and limitations of the comparative (often cross-national) method for understanding political phenomena. We then turn to two methods which have come to prominence in political science more recently, experimental methods and ‘big data’. In an increasingly digital age enormous volumes of data are generated outside the academy and can be used to reveal patterns of human behaviour and interaction that have political significance. The final chapter in the book assesses the utility of political science not in terms of its methods, but by examining whether it has anything relevant to say to policymakers, public servants and, most importantly, citizens. In the remainder of this introductory chapter we aim to provide an analysis of the term ‘political’ and some reflections on justifications of

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Copyrighted material – 9781137603517 Vivien Lowndes, David Marsh and Gerry Stoker 7 the term ‘scientific’ to describe its academic study. We close by returning to the issue of variety within political science by arguing that diversity should be a cause of celebration rather than concern.

What is politics? What is it that political scientists study? When people say they ‘study politics’ they are making an ontological statement because, within that statement, there is an implicit understanding of what the polity is made up of, and its general nature. They are also making a statement that requires some clarification. In any introduction to a subject it is important to address the focus of its analytical attention. So, simply put, we should be able to answer the question: what is the nature of the political that political scientists claim to study? A discipline, you might think, would have a clear sense of its terrain of enquiry. Interestingly, that is not the case in respect of political science. Just as there are differences of approach to the subject, so there are differences about the terrain of study. As Hay (2002: chapter 2) argues, ontological questions are about what is and what exists. Ontology asks: what’s there to know about? Although a great variety of ontological questions can be posed (discussed in Chapters 11 and 12), a key concern for political scientists relates to the nature of the political. There are two broad approaches to defining the political, seeing politics in terms of an arena or a process (Leftwich, 1984; Hay, 2002). An arena definition regards politics as occurring within certain limited ‘arenas’, initially involving a focus upon Parliament, the executive, the public service, political parties, interest groups and elections, although this was later expanded to include the judiciary, army and police. Here, political scientists, especially behaviouralists but also rational choice theorists and some institutionalists, focus upon the formal operation of politics in the world of government and those who seek to influence it. This approach to the political makes a lot of sense and obviously relates to some everyday understandings. For example, when people say they are fed up or bored with politics, they usually mean that they have been turned off by the behaviour or performance of those politicians most directly involved in the traditional political arena. The other definition of ‘politics’, a process definition, is much looser than the arena one (Leftwich, 2004: 3) and reflects the idea that power is inscribed in all social processes (for example, in the family and the schoolroom). This broader definition of the political is particularly associated with feminism, constructivism, poststructuralism and Marxism. For feminists in particular there has been much emphasis on the idea that the ‘personal is political’ (Hanisch, 1969). This mantra partly originated in debates about violence against women in the home, which had traditionally been seen as ‘non-political’, because they occurred in the private

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Copyrighted material – 9781137603517 8 Introduction rather than the public realm. Indeed, in the UK at least, the police, historically, referred to such violence as ‘a domestic’, and therefore not their concern. The feminist argument, in contrast, was that such violence reflected a power relationship and was inherently ‘political’. Marxists have also generally preferred a definition of politics that sees it as a reflection of a wider struggle between social classes in society. Politics in capitalist systems involves a struggle to assert the interest of the proletariat (the disadvantaged) in a system in which the state forwards the interests of the ruling class. Constructivists tend to see politics as a process conducted in a range of arenas, with the main struggles around political identity (hence the focus on identity politics). Poststructuralists take this position further, arguing that politics is not ‘contained’ within a single structure of domination; rather, power is diffused throughout social institutions and processes, and even inscribed in people’s bodies. Process definitions are usually criticised by those who adopt arena definitions, because of what is termed ‘conceptual stretching’ or the ‘boundary problem’ (see Ekman and Amnå, 2012; Hooghe, 2014). If politics occurs in all social interactions between individuals, then we are in danger of seeing everything as political, so that there is no separation between the ‘political’ and the ‘social’. The alarm bells might be ringing here since it appears that political scientists cannot even agree about the subject matter of their discipline. Yet our view is that both ‘arena’ and ‘process’ definitions have their value; indeed, the relationship between process and arena definitions may be best seen as a duality, that is interactive and iterative, rather than a dualism, or an either/ or (Rowe et al., 2017). Moreover, all of the different approaches to political science we identify would at least recognise that politics is about power and that we need to widen significantly an arena definition of politics. Goodin and Klingemann (1996: 7) suggest that a broad consensus could be built around a definition of politics along the lines: ‘the constrained use of social power.’ The political process is about collective choice, without simple resort to force or violence, although it does not exclude at least the threat of those options. It is about what shapes and constrains those choices and the use of power and its consequences. It would cover unintended as well as intended acts, and passive as well as active practices. Politics enables individuals or groups to do some things that they would not otherwise be able to do, while it also constrains individuals or groups from doing what they might otherwise do. Although the different approaches to political science may have their own take on a definition of politics, contesting how exactly power is exercised or practised, they might accept Goodin and Klingemann’s broad definition. It is clear that politics is much broader than what governments do, but there is still something especially significant about political processes that are, or could be, considered to be part of the public domain. In a pragmatic sense, it is probably true to say that most political scientists tend to concentrate their efforts in terms of analysis and research on the

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Copyrighted material – 9781137603517 Vivien Lowndes, David Marsh and Gerry Stoker 9 more collective and public elements of power struggles. But, it is important that we develop a sense of the collective or public arena that takes us beyond the narrow machinations of the political elite.

What is a scientific approach to politics? As Goodin and Klingemann (1996: 9) comment, ‘much ink has been spilt over the question of whether, or in what sense, the study of politics is or is not truly a science. The answer largely depends upon how much one tries to load into the term “science”.’ If you adopt what they call a minimalist approach the question can be answered fairly straightforwardly, namely that political science is science in the sense that it offers ordered knowledge based on systematic enquiry. There is no reason to doubt that political science in all its forms has achieved, or could achieve, that level of knowledge. But, beyond such a basic agreement, the approaches that we consider in this book take diverse views on the issue of ‘science’. What is at stake here is the various ontological and epistemological positions taken by the different approaches. As Marsh, Ercan and Furlong argue in Chapter 11, ontology is concerned with what we can know about the world, and epistemology with how we can know it. There is a fundamental ontological difference between realists (or foundationalists) and constructivists (or anti-foundationalists). The former argue that a real world exists independently of our knowledge of it and can be discovered as such if we use the right methods in the right way. Constructivists, on the other hand, view the world as socially constructed and capable of being interpreted in different ways. Crucial for a constructivist is the idea that there is a double hermeneutic (Giddens, 1987), that is, two levels of ‘understanding’. From this perspective, the world is interpreted by the actors (one hermeneutic level), and their interpretation is interpreted by the observer (a second hermeneutic level). For researchers, the aim becomes to explore their own interpretation of the interpretations made by actors about their behaviour. If ontological realists are epistemological positivists rather than critical realists (see Chapter 11), they are concerned to identify causal relationships, developing explanatory, and, most often, predictive models (following natural scientists). Critical realists, in contrast, do not privilege direct observation; rather, they posit the existence of deep structures, which cannot be directly observed but shape the actions of agents. Constructivists can draw upon a long tradition within social and political studies, but it is fair to say that this is an approach of growing importance in the discipline which has seen a growth in research within the interpretivist school (see Chapter 5), alongside broader intellectual currents associated with poststructuralism (see Chapter 8). It is by no means straightforward to divide the various approaches considered in this volume on the basis of their epistemological position.

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Copyrighted material – 9781137603517 10 Introduction The behavioural and rational choice approaches are those that most obviously claim the positivist position. The former aims to identify general laws about political action/life, while the latter places more of an emphasis on the predictive capabilities of its models. At the same time, the epistemological positions underpinning the different approaches reviewed in this book have been subject to change and development. As Sanders points out in Chapter 2, behaviouralists have increasingly acknowledged the first level of the hermeneutic, acknowledging that an individual’s action may reflect the way in which s/he thinks about the world, as much as any external ‘reality’. So, in explaining voting behaviour, they would recognise that a voter’s subjective perception of his/her class position is as important as his/her objective class position. Nevertheless, a positivist, whether a behaviouralist or a rational choice theorist, does seek to establish causal relationships between political phenomena, which are reproducible and generalisable – a position which would be questioned by any constructivist. At the same time, as Marsh, Ercan and Furlong argue in Chapter 11, a positivist has great difficulty in accepting the second level of the hermeneutic, which emphasises that the researcher’s interpretation of what s/he discovers is partial, in both senses of the word. Most positivists would defend the idea that a researcher can be objective, with their conclusions unaffected by those partialities. A similarly nuanced stance on epistemological positions is taken by Parsons in relation to constructivist approaches. There are, as Parsons points out in Chapter 5, several different positions within the broad school of constructivism. One view argues that our concern should be with understanding, not explanation, thus challenging the scientific pretensions of positivists. In this view, there is no ‘real world’, independent of the social construction of it, for political scientists to study. As such, social science involves an interpretive search to understand the meanings attached to actions, rather than a scientific search for explanation, establishing causal relations between social phenomena. However, other constructivists do not break so sharply with science and causality, allowing for greater dialogue and exchange. Such constructivists would argue that, although action depends on meaning, this does not necessarily imply that there can be no explanation of why certain people do certain things. If we can show that people’s action is shaped by meaningful social constructs, then a careful observer can show this to be the case, thus offering an explanation of that action (while being circumspect about the possibility of generalising from the case). Of the other approaches that we cover in the first part of the book it is clear that institutional, psychological and feminist approaches all include scholars who take different ontological and epistemological positions. The psychologists lean towards positivism, but many would be comfortable with the modern behaviouralist position outlined by Sanders (Chapter 2). In contrast, institutionalism and feminism are marked by ontological and epistemological debates, as Lowndes shows in relation to institutionalism in Chapter 4. As for feminism, many contemporary

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Copyrighted material – 9781137603517 Vivien Lowndes, David Marsh and Gerry Stoker 11 scholars adopt a constructivist position, while other feminist researchers consider how gender explains political action in a way that would fit with a positivist perspective (see Chapter 6). Poststructuralists, however, see epistemology as prior to ontology, and argue that our experience of ‘reality’ is intrinsically mediated by language and discourse; as such, we can never get beyond appearances to underlying essences (Chapter 8). We certainly cannot assume that (political) ‘reality’ takes the form of law-like relationships, nor are there any criteria (following Parsons) to establish the veracity of certain modes of interpretation or interpretations; hence, this is a radical form of constructivism. The critical realist position dominates the Marxist camp (Chapter 7), although it is also evident among historical institutionalists; indeed, both approaches have given some ground to constructivist arguments. We finish this section by emphasising again that the different approaches reviewed in this book have been, and are, subject to change and development. Different parts of the discipline have listened to, and learnt from, each other. We strongly support the idea of further dialogue. The contributions in this book suggest that there may be more common ground than we usually acknowledge. In particular, we would emphasise the need to be sensitive to the importance of meaning in explaining human action, and a willingness to explore arguments in a rigorous empirical manner, where appropriate.

The discipline of political science: a celebration of diversity? Read many of the reviews of political science and they agree that political science has become more diverse and more cosmopolitan in character (see, for example, Almond, 1990; Goodin and Klingemann, 1996; and on the social sciences in general, see Della Porta and Keating, 2008). Some of those who pioneered what they called the scientific treatment of the subject expected that the scientific revolution would lead to a unity in the understanding of political science (Weisberg, 1986: 4). There can be little doubt that those ambitions have not been realised; indeed, constructivists would say they can’t be realised. There is a basis for some common agreement about what constitutes ‘minimal professional competence’, but as Goodin and Klingemann (1996: 6) note, when it comes to judging the value of work beyond some agreed baseline of coherence and craftsmanship ‘the higher aspirations are many and varied’. Consequently, there is a de facto plurality of views about the nature of political science endeavour. So, has peace broken out in the political sciences? There is a grudging public acceptance of plurality, but in private there is a quiet war going on. Some positivists are very dismissive of the ‘storytelling’ approaches of others. Some constructivists imply that philosophical ignorance and

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Copyrighted material – 9781137603517 12 Introduction naivety about human behaviour are associated with the ambitions of positivist, big data-driven and experimental political science. As James Mahoney and Gary Goertz (2006: 227–228) suggest, when it comes to the cultures of quantitative and qualitative methods each ‘is sometimes privately suspicious or skeptical of the other though usually more publicly polite. Communication across traditions tends to be difﬁcult and marked by misunderstanding. When members of one tradition offer their insights to members of the other community, the advice is likely to be viewed (rightly or wrongly) as unhelpful and even belittling.’ Our hope is that political science can move from at best grudging acceptance to something closer to a celebration of diversity. We started the chapter with Herbert Simon’s argument that, if you are not sure of what the answer is, then there is inherent value in having the option of several paths being travelled at the same time. Beyond this, we can think of three factors to support the case for a plurality of approaches. First, there is evidence of epistemological gain through the richness of approaches. Broadly, as Sanders shows in Chapter 2, behaviouralists have had to rethink and improve their approach under challenge from constructivist perspectives. Equally, as Parsons notes in Chapter 5, constructivists have been encouraged to be more explicit about data collection and methods of analysis under pressure from those coming from a more positivist tradition. Second, although there is a danger of too much plurality – in the sense that there could be so many varieties of political science that fragmentation makes effective dialogue impossible – such a point has not yet been reached. There is the opportunity to learn from different approaches at present, although this is certainly challenging, given the enormous range and variety of journals, research outputs and books. Of course, part of the aim behind this book is to enable political scientists with different approaches to understand one another better. Perhaps we need more effective rules of engagement. There are implicit shared standards in most work – whatever tradition within which we are working – but we need to make these more explicit. Good work, whatever its approach, should be clear about its conceptual framing and also transparent, and reflective, about its methods of data collection and analysis. It should frame its arguments in the context of work that has gone before and, where relevant, it should aim to address (or at least engage with) concerns held by stakeholders and actors within society. Our third argument for a plurality of approaches concerns the relevance of political science to the wider world, which is the focus of the final chapter of the book. There are, as noted in Chapter 19, several ways for political scientists to address relevance; but what cannot be avoided is a commitment to addressing it. Political science exists in a society where politics plays a vital role and as such its findings should be made accessible (and of value) to our fellow citizens. At times, it has been argued that political scientists suffer from economist-envy. Because that discipline has a promoted a strong one-size-fits-all approach to

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Copyrighted material – 9781137603517 Vivien Lowndes, David Marsh and Gerry Stoker 13 understanding policy problems, it has often been more successful in gaining the ear of policymakers (Bowles, 2016). Yet that strength has also proved to be a significant weakness, as the limits to the role of incentives and self-interested behaviour in steering good public policy have been increasingly exposed (Thaler and Sunstein, 2008; Bowles, 2016). Economists’ perceived capacity to make effective predictions has been challenged, notably in relation to the global financial crisis of 2008 (Wilson, 2015). As political science steps up its commitment to relevance, having a plurality of approaches could be an advantage. Reaching out to a pluralistic world, where there is no one prince, principal or governor – as economists tend to imagine – seems likely to require a diversity of approaches. We believe that, at this stage in its development, it is important for political science not to depict itself as a small club of like-minded people. Rather, it is a broad church with different starting points and concerns, which also shares a commitment to developing a better understanding of politics. The key challenge is not to launch a campaign for unity, but to argue in favour of diversity, combined with dialogue. Almond (1990, 1996) warns that the discipline should avoid constructing itself into an uneasy collection of separate sects. There is a plurality of methods and approaches out there that should not be denied but, at the same time, there should be interaction between the approaches rather than isolation within an approach. Political science should be eclectic and synergistic; this is why we think it is important to celebrate diversity. We argue that political science is enriched by the variety of approaches that are adopted within the discipline. Each has something of considerable value to offer, but each can benefit from its interaction with other approaches. In giving space to a variety of ways of doing political science, our book aims to provide the essential ingredients for an ongoing exchange that can enable different approaches to gain a baseline understanding of one another. In this introduction we have briefly addressed two questions. What is the scope of political studies? And can it claim the label of science? We conclude that, while political scientists are divided on these issues, there is scope for identifying some common ground. We argue that diversity within the field should be embraced at the present time. Utilising a plurality of approaches is the best way to face up to the challenging task of understanding a core human activity such as politics.

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Index Abdelal, R., 84 action explanation vs understanding arguments, 78 norms/beliefs and, 85 Adam, B., 213 Adler, E., 79 Adorno, T.W., 145 Affordable Care Act, 325 agency conceptualising, 202–3 poststructuralist perspective, 137 structure and the concept, 200 Giddens’ coin analogy, 205, 207 habitus, 208–9 morphogenetic approach, 205–6 structuration theory, 205 voluntarism and, 137 Algeria, 116 Almond, G.A., 13, 94, 273 Alsop, A., 328 Altemeyer, R., 145 Althusser, L., 129, 137 altruistic behaviour, accounting for, 49 Amazon Mechanical Turk, 293, 303 American Journal of Political Science, 239 American Political Science Association approval of DA-RT, 267 experimental research section, 292–93 formation, 2 ‘Perestroika’ movement, 240, 327 American Political Science Review, 239 Antonsich, M., 248–49 Apple Inc., 121 Archer, M., 201–2, 205 Arendt, H., 148 Armstrong, C., 19 Armstrong, F., 328 austerity, 42, 71 Australia, 239 Australian Green Party, qualitative study, 247

banality of evil, 148 Bananas, Beaches and Bases (Enloe), 95 Barry, B., 160 Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 264 Bates, D.W., 213–14 Baubock, R., 6 Bay of Pigs, 155 Bayesian models, 269, 287 Becker, Gary, 42 Beckwith, K., 98 behavioural economics, 154, 331 Behavioural Insights Team, 154 behaviouralism, 17, 20–21 characteristics and rise of the behavioural movement, 21–25 criticisms, 25–30 legacy in the 21st-century, 37–38 strengths, 30–37 Bell, S., 202 Bennett, A., 240, 287 Berkeley Initiative for Transparency in the Social Sciences (BITSS), 242 Bevir, M., 79, 191–92, 225 bias in research results, correcting for, 256 biased sampling, method of agreement and, 276 big data accelerating rate of information production, 306 accessing, 310, 312 analysis, 315–17 challenges for application of statistical techniques, 269 collection, 309 data formats application programming interfaces (APIs), 311–13 extensible markup language (XML), 310–11 web crawling, 313–14 web scraping, 314–15

380

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Copyrighted material – 9781137603517 Index 381 defining, 307–9 ethical perspectives, 313–14, 319 examples, 311, 313 and the future of social science, 318–19 heterogeneous kinds of data, 317 limitations, 317–18 Billig, M., 145 Bjarnegård, E., 100 Blair, Tony, 216 Bleiker, R., 252 Blyth, M., 71 Bond, R., 298, 303 Bourdieu, P., 208–9 bourgeoisie, 110, 113–16, 119–20 Bourque, S., 94 Bouwman, R., 292 Brady, H., 286 Bray, Z., 249 Brazil, 69–70 Brexit, 128, 199, 215–16, 223, 284, 286, 299, 321, 323, 329 bricolage, 70, 86–87 British Political Tradition (BPT), 215–16 Buhaug, H., 30–31 Bukharin, N., 118 Burtless, G., 297 Butler, J., 131, 138 Cambridge Handbook on Experimental Political Science (Druckman et al.), 293 capillary power, 203 Capital Rules (Abdelal), 84 capitalism the capitalist state, 29 Weber on, 76 case study selection strategies comparative research, 233, 284–86 experimental research, 230–31 observational research, 232–33 single-case studies and within-case analysis, 234–35 Caterino, B., 79, 241 ‘causes-of-effects’ approach, vs ‘effects-of-causes,’ 243–44 Cederman, L.-E., 30–31 change circadian conception of time, 213 linear conception of time, 212

non-linear conception of time, 212–13 punctuated evolution model, 213–17 stability and, 211 Chappell, L., 104 Chesters, J., 203 Childs, S., 103 China, 110, 121–22 choice architectures, smart, 154 Chomsky, Noam, 139 Chweiroth, J., 90 citizen social science, 328 citizenship education, impact of, 329 The Civic Culture (Almond/Verba), 76, 94, 273 civic culture, importance of political science’s contribution, 328–29 civil war, effects of inequality on the occurrence of, 31–35, 37 climate change, 46–47, 62, 164–65 Cohen G. A., 159 G.A., on facts and values , 162–64 collective action and the environment, 46–48 logic of, 43–46 Collier, D., 36, 286 commons management, Ostrom’s study, 47–48 communication, importance of good communication for political science, 323–24 The Comparative Method (Ragin), 280 comparative method case study selection strategies, 233, 284–86 development of, 271–72 as evolving and adaptable approach, 288–89 vs experimental and statistical methods, 273–74 Mill’s methods and influence, 274 agreement method, 274–76 concomitant variation method, 278 difference method, 276–77 joint method, 277–79 most different and most similar strategies, 279–80 process-tracing, 286–87

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Copyrighted material – 9781137603517 382 Index comparative method (cont.) qualitative comparative analysis, 280–84 small-N research strategies, 272–74 within-case analysis, 286–87 Comparative Political Studies, 242 comparative politics, work on gender in, 106–7 ‘Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method’ (Lijphart), 273 concepts, the meaning of, 227 Connolly, W., 131 constructivism, 75–76, 90–91 contingency’s role, 82–83 epistemological variations, 83–84 features of, 78–83 mechanisms of social construction, 85 bricolage, 86–87 persuasion, 86 socialisation, 85 meta-theoretical issues, 209–11 methodological diversity, 87–90 modern vs postmodern, 84 origins, 76–77 constructivist institutionalism, 70, 209 content analysis, 238, 246, 250, 252, 256, 268 contingency, constructivist role, 82–83 A Contribution to a Critique of Political Economy (Marx), 113 control, importance for experimentation, 291 Crenshaw, K., 101 Crichlow, S., 156 Crick, B., 328–29 critical realism, 193–94 Crouch, C., 65, 68 Crowdflower, 293 crowdsourcing platforms, 303 Cuban Missile Crisis, 155 Daniels, N., 162 Data Access and Research Transparency (DA-RT), 242–43, 267 data collection/management, 255–57 Dawes, R.M., 294 De Goede, M., 84 De Meur, G., 280

deception, as ethical issue in experimental design, 300–2 Deleuze, G., 125 deliberative democracy, 177, 194–97 positivism vs interpretivism, 195–97 democracy, defining, 97 democratisation, research strategies, 276–77 dependency, imperialism and uneven development, 118–19 descriptive measures, the power of, 257–58 Designing Democracy in A Dangerous World (Reynolds), 325 Designing Social Inquiry (King et al.), 240, 254 direct foreign investment, 120 Discipline and Publish (Foucault), 131 discourse analysis, 88, 240, 246, 251–53 discursive formations, 201 diversity, importance of in political science, 331 Dixon, D., 180 doubly decisive test, 287 Douglas, M., 68 Dowding, K., 284 Druckman, J.N., 293 Dryzek, J., 243 Duffield, M., 65 Dunleavy, P., 68 Durkheim, É., 76 Eastern Europe, effect of democratic transitions on institutions, 62–63 economic models, 41 economics distinction from politics, 49 failure to predict financial crisis, 331 influence on laboratory-based experimentation, 294 place of in the rational choice approach, 39–43 political scientists’ envy of the discipline, 330–31 role in the study of intergroup conflict and atrocity, 145 Edward, P., 122 Eichmann, Adolf, 148, 152

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Copyrighted material – 9781137603517 Index 383 The Elementary Structures of Kinship (Lévi-Strauss), 129 Emirbayer, M., 202 Engels, F., 110, 113 Enloe, C., 95–96 the environment, collective action and, 46–48 epistemic fallacy, Spencer on, 180 epistemology, 177–78 constructivist variations, 83–84 deliberative democracy, 195–97 in empirical research, 194–95 epistemological positions anti-foundationalism, 182–83 constructivism, 182–83 critical realism, 193–94 distinctions, 183, 185 foundationalism, 182 interpretivism, 189–93 objectivism, 182 positivism, 184, 186–89 realism, 182 relativism, 182–83 scientific vs hermeneutic approaches, 183–84 the meaning of ontology and, 178–79 relationship between ontology and, 179–81 equality, Rawls on the salience of, 161 Ercan, S.A., 9, 134 Erikson, R., 299 Escher, T., 291 Essex School, 131–32 Estlund, D., 168 ‘ethical relativism,’ 136, 139 ethnography association with hypothesisgenerating case studies, 285 big data and, 307, 319 ethnographic techniques, 191 as primary research technique, 249 European Election Studies, 224 European identity, focus group orientated study, 248–49 European Union (EU), 20, 57, 85–87, 249, 284, 322; see also Brexit evidence, testing the value of, 287 Evidence in Governance and Politics Network (EGAP), 242, 267 expansionary fiscal contraction theory, 42

experimental method case study selection strategies, 230–31 ethical challenges, 300–2 field experiments, 296–97 ingredients and characteristics, 291 internet-based experiments, 297–99 laboratory experiments, 293–96 Lijphart’s assertion, 290 natural experiments, 299–300 nature of, 290–92 practical problems, 302–4 rise of experimentation, 292–93 explanation, Hume’s definition, 79–80 exploitation, capitalist, 110, 113–15, 132, 137 extremism, radicalisation and, 152–53 Ezzy, D., 251 Facebook, 293, 298, 302–3, 305, 311, 317 Fairclough, N., 251 Falleti, T., 69 Farage, Nigel, 199 Fascism Scale, 145 Fearon, J., 36 feminism, 18, 92 defining, 92–93 dilemmas and challenges, 105–7 feminist institutionalism, 60, 63, 106 gendering the state, 104–5 importance of qualitative approaches for, 239–40 origins, 92 political parties, 103–4 political representation, 102–3 political science gender and, 97–102 gendered foundations, 93–96 women in, 96–97 qualitative methods and, 239–40 Feyerabend, P., 136 field experiments, 68, 255, 269, 293–98, 303, 305 file drawer problem, 264, 266 financial crisis of 2007/08, 42, 51, 123, 204, 331 Finer, H., 56 Finnemore, M., 89 Flinders, M., 324 Flyvbjerg, B., 79, 241, 279 focus groups, 174, 247–48

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Copyrighted material – 9781137603517 384 Index Ford, Henry, 119 Fox, C., 60 Frankfurt School, 144 Freakonomics (Levitt/Dubner), 42 free riders, 43 free trade, Marx on, 115–16 freedom, Rawls on the salience of, 161 Freidenvall, L., 68 Freud, S., 144 Frey, B.S., 296 Furlong, P., 9, 134 Fuzzy-Set Social Science (Ragin), 281 game theory, 44–45, 47, 238 Geertz, C., 191–92, 225 gender, defining, 99 Gender and Party Politics (Lovenduski/ Norris), 103 Gender Trouble (Butler), 131 The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (Keynes), 42 genocide, 146, 148 Gerber, A., 266, 292, 297 Germany, 144 Giddens, A., 205, 207 Gladwell, M., 154 Gleditsch, K.S., 30–31 global financial crisis of 2007/08, 42, 51, 123, 204, 331 global justice, normative theory and, 164–65 globalisation as central feature of the modern era, 2 defined, 120–21 ideational approach, 211 literature on, 210 as uneven and combined development, 121 Goertz, G., 12, 243 Goodin, R., 2, 8–9, 11, 59, 69, 73 Google Consumer Surveys, 293 governance, determinants of outcomes, 2 Gramsci, A., 77, 112, 133, 194 Great Depression, 42, 71, 144 Green, D. P., 292, 297 Greenberg, D., 302 Grimmelikhuijsen, S., 292 Grossholtz, J., 94 group conflict, research into the origins of, 146

groupthink theory, 155–56 Guba, E., 182 Guinjoan, M., 95 Guth, W., 301 Habermas, J., 138–39 habitus, 208–9 Haiti, slave rebellion, 112 Hall, P.A., 58–59, 65–66, 214 Hamilton, V.L., 148–49 Hardin, G., 46, 71 Hart, H. L. A., 160 ‘t Hart, P., 19, 142–43, 145, 147–49, 151, 153, 155, 157, 160 Hawkesworth, M., 101 Hay, C., 7, 70–71, 179, 201, 204, 206–7 health care reform, in Brazil, 69–70 health insurance, US experiment, 297 hegemony consent and, 194 Gramsci’s understanding, 111, 119–20, 133 and the international order, 121–23 Hegemony and Socialist Strategy (Laclau/Mouffe), 131 Held, D., 120 Hendriks, C.M., 197 Hermann, M.G., 143 heuristics, 154, 197 Hilferding, R., 118 Hindmoor, A., 17, 202 historical institutionalism, 58–59, 193, 209, 252 historiography, 246, 250–52 History of the Peloponnesian War (Thucydides), 39 Hitler, Adolf, 144 Hoeffler, A., 36 Hollis, M., 184 Holocaust, 145–46 hoop tests, 287 Horiuchi, Y., 298 Hovland, C. J., 145 Howarth, D., 126, 131 Huntington, S.P., 62, 96–98 hypothesis, the meaning of, 226 ideational realm, conceptualising, 204 Immergut, E., 65 imperialism, Marxist perspective, 118–19

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Copyrighted material – 9781137603517 Index 385 incentivisation, as logistical challenge for experimentation, 303 India, 116, 121, 316 inequality constraints on as an ideal, 160–61 effect on the occurrence of civil war, 31–35, 37 horizontal vs vertical, 31 at the intersection of race and gender, 101 voter responses, 152 informal institutions, impact on equal opportunities, 61, 63 information-oriented sampling, 279, 288 Instagram, 303 institutionalism, 17–18, 54–55 feminist institutionalism, 60, 63, 106 historical institutionalism, 58–59, 193, 209, 252 new institutionalism, 54–55 cleavages, 58–59 core features, 59–64 contextual embeddedness, 63–64 dynamism, 62 embodiment of values and power, 62–63 informal focus, 61 institutions as rules, 60–61 dilemmas, 64–73 compatibility of normative and rational choice approaches, 70–73 defining an institution, 64–67 genesis and transformation of institutions, 67–70 emergence, 57–58 methods, 68 strands of, 60 traditional approach, 55–56 intergroup hostility, competition over scarce resources and, 145 international order, hegemony and the, 121–23 international relations, narrowing of the gap between domestic politics and, 2 interpretive filters, 18, 75 interpretivism, 84, 179, 181, 188–93, 195–96, 246, 251 intersectional identities, 18, 102 intersectionality, 96, 101–2, 106

Iraq, 65, 155–56 Isaac, J., 242 Italy, 144 Janis, I.L., 155–56 Jasmine Revolution, 234 Jenkins, L., 258 Jennings, W., 329 Jensen, M., 175 Jessop, B., 205 Johal, S., 201, 203 Johnson, Boris, 199 Johnson, M., 182 Johnson, N., 56 Jones, J. P., III, 180 Journal of Experimental Political Science, 293 justice, Rawls’s theory of, 160–62 Kedar, A., 79 Kelman, H., 148–49 Keohane, R. O., 188–89 Keynes, J.M., 42 Kiely, R., 18 Kinder, D.R., 292 King, D., 266 King, E., 240 King, G., 188–89, 191, 254, 263–64, 297 King, L., 300 King, Martin Luther, 149 Kiser, L., 63 Klingemann, H-D., 2, 8–9, 11, 54, 73 Kristeva, J., 125 Krook, M., 68 Lacan, J., 77, 130 Laclau, E., 131–33, 137 Laitin, D., 36 Lakoff, G., 182 Lane, R., 94 Lanzara, G., 70 Lasswell, H.D., 144, 326 Lenin, V., 118 Lévi-Strauss, C., 127 Levitt, S., 42 Lewis, C., 203 Lewis, D., 85 Lijphart, A., 273, 302 Lincoln, Y., 182 Lindblom, C., 201 Lipset, S.M., 272–73

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Copyrighted material – 9781137603517 386 Index List, F., 116 Locke, J., 115 Lodge, M., 329 The Logic of Collective Action (Olson), 43 Lupton, D., 324 Lynch, C., 79 Madness and Civilisation (Foucault), 131 Making Political Science Matter: Debating Knowledge, Research and Method (Schram/Caterino), 241 Making Social Science Matter: Why Social Inquiry Fails and How It Can Succeed Again (Flyvbjerg), 241 Malhotra, N., 266 March, J.G., 55, 57, 62, 69, 74 Margetts, H., 175, 299, 303 marginal seats, study into resource allocation, 265 marriage, the lived experience, 188 Marx, K., 112–13, 116 Marxism, 18–19, 109 capitalism Marx and , 112–14 and nationalism, 114 continued relevance of Marxist ideas, 121–23 globalisation defined, 120–21 as uneven and combined development, 121 hegemony Gramsci’s concept, 119–20 and the international order, 121–23 imperialism and uneven development as dependency, 118–19 and inequality in the international order, 116–18 Marxist economism and base and superstructure, 110–12 and capitalist diffusion, 115–16 preferred definition of politics, 8 and realism, 193 and realism in IR, 82 masculinity, in politics, 100 May, Theresa, 216

‘May 68’ movement, 125 McAnulla, S., 201 McGrew, A., 120 Meier, S., 296 meta-theoretical issues agency, 202–3 constructivism, 209–11 the ideational realm, 204 stability and change, 211 circadian conception of time, 213 linear conception of time, 212 non-linear conception of time, 212–13 punctuated evolution model, 213–17 structure, 201–2 structure/agency debate, 204 habitus, 208–9 morphogenetic approach, 205–6 strategic-relational approach, 206–8 structuration theory, 205 Mexico, 116, 297, 300 Milgram, S., 148–49, 301 militarism, masculinity and, 99 Mill, J. S., 115, 274 Miller, D., 168 Miller, G., 60, 165, 168, 270, 293 Miller, H., 60 Miller, W. L., 293 Mintz, A., 302 Mische, A., 202 Mitchell, T., 79 Mols, F., 19 Montreal Protocol, 47 Moran, M., 202 morphogenetic approach, 205–6 Morton, R., 291, 293 Mouffe, C., 131 Mudde, C., 216 Mueller, D., 40 multiculturalism, 152 multinational corporations, 20, 121 multivariate analysis, 261–65 Murray, R., 99 Mussolini, Benito, 144 Mutz, D.C., 195–96 nationalism, 96, 114, 169 natural experiments, 269 natural language processing, 315 new social movements, 125, 133, 153 Nietzsche, F., 131, 135

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Copyrighted material – 9781137603517 Index 387 non-academic research, importance of inclusion for political science: 327, 327–28 normative theory compatibility with rational choice approaches, 70–73 facts and values , 162–64 and global justice, 164–65 institutionalism and, 58, 62, 69 normative wing of the new institutionalism, 61 political ideals and feasibility, 166–70 poststructuralist approach, 131 reflective equilibrium, 159–62 Norris, P., 103 nudge approach, 154 obedience to authority, Milgram’s experiments, 148–49, 301 observational research, 37–38, 219, 228, 231–32, 265, 268, 291 case study selection strategies, 232–33 Of Grammatology (Derrida), 129 Offe, C., 62 Olsen, J.P., 55, 57, 62, 69, 74 Olson, M., 43, 45–46 ontology, 177 deliberative democracy , 195–97 in empirical research , 194–95 epistemological positions the meaning of epistemology and, 178–79 ontological positions anti-foundationalism, 182–83 constructivism, 182–83 critical realism, 193–94 distinctions, 183, 185 foundationalism, 182 interpretivism, 189–93 objectivism, 182 positivism, 184, 186–89 realism, 182 relativism, 182–83 scientific vs hermeneutic approaches, 183–84 relationship between epistemology and, 179–81 ordinary least squares model (OLS), 261–63, 267 outsourcing, 120 ozone depletion, collective action and, 47

Pachirat, T., 79 Palfrey, T., 292, 294 panel data analysis, 268–69 paradox of thrift, Keynes’ concept, 42 Parsons, T., 76 path dependency, 63, 67, 209, 318 patriarchy, 130, 132, 184 Paxton, P., 96 Payne, A., 202 Peltzman, Sam, 41 ‘Perestroika’ movement, 240–42, 318, 327 Perspectives on Politics, 241–42 persuasion, constructivist argument, 86 Peters, B.G., 55, 62, 66–67, 176 Pierre, J., 63, 176 Pierson, P., 65, 243 Plato, 2 Podemos, 19, 124, 132 Poletta, F., 197 policymaking, politics of, 327 political analysis, principal approach in the early 20th century, 272 Political Life (Lane), 94 Political Man (Lipset), 272–73 Political Psychology (Journal), 142 politics as academic discipline, 1 approaches to political science, 3 diversity of political science, 11–13 internationalisation of political science, 2, 120 the nature of, 7–9 origins, 2 scientific approach, 9–11 world politics, 2 Politics and Markets (Lindblom), 201 Polsby, N., 56 populism, 19, 216, 234, 322, 329 positivism, 94 post-behaviouralism, 37–38 poststructuralism, 19, 125–26 criticism and evaluation, 137–40 defining, 125–26 emergence, 127, 129 the Essex School, 132 French structuralism, 127–28 ‘normative deficit,’ 139 ontological and epistemological assumptions, 133–36 in politics and international relations, 130–33 from structuralism to, 129–30

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Copyrighted material – 9781137603517 388 Index post-truth politics, 329 post-war period, dominance of positivist epistemology, 185 Pouliot, V., 79 poverty reduction, 121 power capillary power, 203 constraints on the use of, 8 Foucault on, 138 pre-registration, 242–43 Preston, T., 147 prisoner’s dilemma game, 44–47, 51 privatisation, 57 process-tracing, 88–89, 235, 252, 286–87 productive forces, 113–15, 117 proletariat, 8, 110–11, 113–15, 120 The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Weber), 76 psychology, 19 attitudes causes and consequences of political attitudes, 152 political beliefs and voter attitudes, 151–53 case for importing into political science, 142 the field of political psychology, 142–44 homo economicus to homo psychologicus, 154 methods and prospects of the field, 155–57 political conflict and contention, 144, 146 political decision-making and ‘groupthink,’ 155–56 understanding, 154–55 political leadership/followership, 146–50 charismatic leadership, 150 nature of the psychological contract, 147–50 personality traits of leaders, 147 potential of identity-based issue framing, 151–52 radicalisation and extremism, 152–53 Psychopathology and Politics (Lasswell), 144 punctuated equilibrium, 67, 212 purposive sampling, 247, 279, 280 p-values, 264

qualitative methods core attributes, 245 debates about quantitative methods and, 237–43 distinctiveness, 243–44 ethnography, 246–49 feminist approaches and, 239–40 group discussion, 246–49 interviews, 246–49 the label of qualitative methodology, 229 more detailed recording of research design, 255 primary research , 246–49 rediscovery, 237–43 research techniques, 244–46 secondary research, 249–52 use and future use, 252 quantitative methods data collection/management, 255–57 debates about qualitative methods and , 237–43 descriptive measures, 257–58 divide between qualitative methods and, 254 multivariate analysis, 261–65 non-parametric models, 263 recent developments, 268–69 tables and inferential statistics, 259–61 testing and reporting models, 265–68 quasi-experiments, 269 Quattrone, G.A., 296 Quine, W., 187 race-gendering, mechanisms, 101 racism, institutional, 63 Ragin, C.C., 280–82 Randall, V., 93 randomised controlled trials/ experiments, 154, 228, 268, 273–74, 299 rational choice theory, 17, 39–40 collective action and the environment, 46–48 logic of, 43–46 compatibility with normative approaches, 70–73 constructivism and, 80 criticisms, 48–51

Copyrighted material – 9781137603517

Copyrighted material – 9781137603517 Index 389 institutionalism and, 50, 58, 62 methods, 40–43 organising perspective, 52 prisoner’s dilemma, 44–45, 51 and the puzzle of the Trump victory, 325 and theoretical ‘border crossing,’ 40 Rawls, J., 159 on reflective equilibrium, 159–62 Realistic Conflict Theory, 145–46 Reed, M., 192 reflective equilibrium, 159, 162 reflexivity, 190–91, 245, 251–52 relevance of political science better communication position, 323–24 civic culture contribution position, 329 good science position, 322–23 importance of diversity and cross boundary engagement, 331 non-academic research co-production position, 327–28 problem-oriented focus position, 324–25 recommendations for the future of the discipline, 330 solution-seeking position, 325, 327 replication, 30, 242, 255, 264, 266–67 research case-oriented vs variable-oriented, 280–81 non-academic, 328 qualitative methods primary research , 246–49 secondary research, 249–52 research techniques , 244–46 testing the value of evidence, 287 text/document-based techniques, 249–52 research design, 219 case/variable selection strategies comparative research, 233 experimental research, 230–31 observational research, 232–33 single-case studies and within-case analysis, 234–35 conceptualisation and operationalisation, 227–28 detailed recording of in qualitative research, 255

levels of generality, 219–20 methodological choices, 228–30 overview of the process, 220–22 the power and promise, 235–36 questions and goals, 222 description, 223–24 explanation, 224–25 interpretation, 225 theory and empirical research, 225–27 Research Network on Gender, Politics and the State (RNGS), 104 resources, conflict over and intergroup hostility, 145 Reynolds, A., 325–26 Richardson, L., 328 Right-Wing Authoritarianism scale, 145 Rittberger, V., 65 Robbers Cave experiment, 145 Roberts, M.E., 71 Robinson, B., 120 Robson, J., 56 Rodon, T., 95 Rogowski, R., 322 Rorty, R., 135 Rothstein, B., 62, 65 Rubinstein, A., 41 rules-in-form, 66 rules-in-use, 66–67 Russia, 79, 110, 119 Ryan, M., 175 Rydgren, J., 145 Salganik, M., 294 Sanders, D., 10, 17, 189 Sapiro, V., 105 Saussure, F. de, 132 Savigny, H., 239 Sayer, A., 202 Scarbrough, E., 264 Schafer, M., 156 Schmidt, Eric, 306 Schneider, C.Q., 282 Schram, S., 79, 241 Schwartz-Shea, P., 79, 239, 242 Schwindt-Bayer, L., 106 Scotland, DevolutionMax, 217 Scott, J., 98 Sears, R.R., 145 Seawright, J., 286 Second World War, 118–19, 145–46

Copyrighted material – 9781137603517

Copyrighted material – 9781137603517 390 Index secularism, 57 Segerberg, A., 314 selection bias, 232, 250 Shapiro, I., 324 Sherif, M., 145 Skocpol, T., 278 slavery, and its abolition, 112 Smirnov, O., 294 Smith, N., 214 Smith, S., 184, 193 smoking gun tests, 287 Snapchat, 304 social capital, volunteering as a measure of, 259 social class, Bourdieu’s conception, 209 social construction mechanisms, 85–87 bricolage, 86–87 persuasion, 86 socialisation, 85 social media academics’ use of, 324 and collection of data, 317 and discourse analysis of visual images, 252 ethical challenges of using in experimentation, 302 social revolution, Skocpol’s study, 278–79 social science experiments, public image, 301 socialisation, constructivist perspective, 85 socialism, 111, 113–14 sociological institutionalism, 60, 77, 88 solutions, importance of political science’s capacity for development of, 325, 327 South China Sea, 122 sovereignty, 81, 132 Spain, 316 spatial models, 269 Spencer, N., 180–81 stability and change, 211 circadian conception of time, 213 linear conception of time, 212 non-linear conception of time, 212–13 punctuated evolution model, 213–17 standard operating procedures (SOPs), 66 States and Social Revolutions (Skocpol), 278

Steinmo, S., 65, 68 Stewart, M., 31 Stoker, G., 175–76, 299, 325 strategic-relational approach, 206–8 Strauss, Anselm, 247 straw-in-the-wind tests, 287 structuration theory, 205 structure and agency the concept, 200–202 Giddens’ coin analogy, 205, 207 habitus, 208–9 morphogenetic approach, 205–6 structuration theory, 205 Sumner, A., 122 Superfreakonomics (Levitt/Dubner), 42 superstructure, 81–82, 110, 120 elements, 111 survey experiments, 269 Switzerland, 97 Syriza, 19, 124, 132 Taiwan, 122 Tajfel, H., 145 Tanenbaum, E., 264 Taylor, B., 17 Taylor, R., 58–59 terrorism, research strategies, 275–76, 279 Thailand, 100 Thatcherism, 132 A Theory of Justice (Rawls), 159–60 ‘thick’ description, 191, 225, 237, 242, 245, 249 Thiem, A., 281 Thies, C., 250 Think Like a Freak (Levitt/Dubner), 42 thrift, Keynes’ paradox, 42 Thucydides, 39 Tilly, C., 250 time circadian conception of, 213 linear conception of, 212 non-linear conception of, 212–13 Time-Sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences, 298 Tonkiss, F., 212–13 Toshkov, D., 174 ‘The Tragedy of the Commons’ (Hardin), 46 transformational leadership, 149–50

Copyrighted material – 9781137603517

Copyrighted material – 9781137603517 Index 391 transparency, 236, 242, 255, 267, 298 Trotsky, L., 112, 118–19 Trump, Donald J., 199, 234, 321, 325 truth, poststructuralist reflections on the status of, 135 Tunisia, 234 Tversky, A., 296 Twitter, 300, 303, 305, 310–12, 316, 318, 324 ultimatum game, 49–50 United Kingdom (UK) airport expansion, 132 British Political Tradition (BPT), 215–16 compulsory methods courses introduced, 239 devolution, 216–17 feminist activism, 93 New Labour, 216 and the punctuated evolution model, 212, 215–16 referendum on leaving the EU (see also Brexit), 223, 284, 286, 299 treatment of violence against women in the home, 7–8 UKIP, 216 ‘Winter of Discontent,’ 214 United Nations, 79 United States of America (USA) annexation of part of Mexico, 116 and climate change, 47 election of Donald Trump, 199, 234, 321, 325 exercise of hegemony, 123 experimental tradition, 297, 302 feminist activism, 93 Health Insurance Experiment, 297 liberalism in, 71 lynchings, 145 presence of qualitative methods in political science, 240 relationship with China, 122 social movements, 197

Van Evera, S., 287 Verba, S., 94, 189, 254, 273 Verge, T., 95 Vietnam War, 299 voluntarism, and agency, 137 volunteering quantitative study, 259, 261 relationship between wealth and, 261 voter attitudes, elections and, 153 voter turnout, research strategies, 277–78, 282, 297 voting behaviour internet-based experimentation, 298 researching, 20, 200 Vromen, A., 174 Wade, R., 331 Wagemann, C., 282 Weaver, R., 298 Weber, M., 76, 78–79 Wedeen, L., 79 welfare state, capitalist perspective, 111 Wenman, M., 19 Westminster model, 56, 63 WhatsApp, 303 Wildavsky, A., 322 Williams, E., 112 Williams, K., 112, 201, 203, 228, 291–93, 296–97, 305 Wilson, Woodrow, 56 Winch, P., 79 Wincott, D., 70 ‘Winter of Discontent,’ 214 women, exclusion from the state, 104 women’s suffrage, role in democratic transition, 97–98 working class, 110–11, 113–15, 119 World Bank, 120 Writing and Difference (Derrida), 129 Yanow, D., 79, 239, 242