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History of Political Science

History of Political Science. Traditional Historical, Legalism, Philosophy, Descriptive Modern – “Behavioralism” Political science as “science” Facilitated by development of technology, computers. Card Reader (1960’s-70’s). Tape Unit (1960’s-70’s). Other “Revolutions” in Political Science.

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History of Political Science

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  1. History of Political Science • Traditional • Historical, Legalism, Philosophy, Descriptive • Modern – “Behavioralism” • Political science as “science” • Facilitated by development of technology, computers

  2. Card Reader (1960’s-70’s)

  3. Tape Unit (1960’s-70’s)

  4. Other “Revolutions” in Political Science • Post-behavioral Revolution (late 1960s) • Perestroika Movement

  5. Is Political Science Arcane?

  6. Science • Effort to understand the world (explain various phenomena) by systematically examining causal relationships among variables • Scientific explanation must have both logical and empirical support

  7. Who Uses Science? • Natural sciences – Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Astronomy, etc. • Social sciences – Psychology, Sociology, Economics, Criminology, Anthropology, Political Science

  8. The Business of Social Research • Where – universities (teaching vs. research universities), research institutes, government • Who – people with Ph.D.’s (with help from graduate students at universities) • Outlets for research – conferences, journals, books

  9. The Business of Social Research • Grants • NSF • Research Foundations

  10. Why Do Research? • To get paid! • Because you like it

  11. Types of Academic Departments • Ph.D. Granting Departments • 6-year tenure clock for assistant professors • >100 departments in the U.S. • 2-2 teaching load is the norm • All require significant research output to get tenure • 6-9 refereed journal articles • Book = 3-5 articles • Publications must be in respected publication outlets

  12. Types of Academic Departments • M.A. Granting Departments • 5-6 year tenure clock for assistant professors • > 2-2 teaching load is the norm • All require some research output to get tenure

  13. Types of Academic Departments • B.A. Granting Departments (LAC’s) • 5-6 year tenure clock for assistant professors • 4-4 teaching load is the norm • Many (if not most?) require some research output to get tenure

  14. PS Journals • Discipline-wide: American Political Science Review, Journal of Politics, American Journal of Political Science • Many specialized journals for different fields

  15. Subfields in Political Science • American Politics • Political Institutions • Behavior • Comparative Politics • Regional specialists • International Relations • IPE • International Conflict/Security • Etc. • Political Theory • Public Administration • Public Policy

  16. Specialized PS Journals • International Relations • World Politics (also comparative politics) • International Organization • International Studies Quarterly • Journal of Conflict Resolution

  17. Specialized PS Journals • Comparative Politics • World Politics (also IR) • Comparative Politics • Comparative Political Studies • Many more (some are region specific)

  18. Ranking PS Journals • Garand and Giles 2003 • Representative sample of political scientists • Subjective evaluations • Journal rankings vary by subfield • Journal rankings vary by methodological orientation

  19. What Separates Top Journals from the Rest? • The peer-review process (for all peer-reviewed journals) • Author sends article to journal editor • Editor sends anonymous copy of manuscript to 3 reviewers (other political scientists) • Editor makes a decision and informs the author (and sends the three anonymous reviews to author). Possibilities are: • Accept • Revise and Resubmit • Reviewed again by same reviewers, possibly others • Reject

  20. How to be successful in graduate school • This is your career – start treating it like one! • Treat graduate school like a full time job • Join the APSA – now! • Start reading job ads – now! • Start browsing journals and reading the ones that interest you • Start going to conferences • Read the PSJR blog

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