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Overview
Do political scientists in a liberal democracy bear a special responsibility that goes beyond their academic pursuits? Ceaser, a scholar of American political parties, argues that they do, and he challenges colleagues and students to reexamine what they do as political scientists. He observes that liberal democracy is a compound of two elements not easily wed: constitutionalism and republicanism. The role of political science is to perform the "superintendent" function of keeping these parts together.Synopsis
Do political scientists in a liberal democracy bear a special responsibility that goes beyond their academic pursuits? In Liberal Democracy and Political Science James W. Ceaser, a well-known scholar of American political parties and the presidency, argues that they do, and he challenges colleagues and students to re-examine what they do as political scientists.
Ceaser begins with the observation that liberal democracy is a compound of two elements not easily wed -- constitutionalism and republicanism. As such, it has a problem maintaining itself. The role of political science, he argues, is to perform the "superintending function" of keeping these parts together. Ceaser shows how traditional political science -- an amalgam of historical sociology, a general political science of regimes, and a specific political science of different countries -- once provided a foundation for performing this function. He then describes the failings of contemporary political science, both predicative and what Ceaser calls the "new normativism," in this regard. What is needed, Ceaser argues, is a reconstruction of political science that borrows freely from both past and present-day practice.
Ceaser concludes with a case study that puts his theory to work -- an analysis of the susceptibility of our political culture to the influence of intellectuals and to contemporary critics of the Constitution.
Booknews
Ceaser recommends that political scientists (of which he is one) take a more active role in superintending the government. He describes traditional political science as an amalgam of approaches, and declares that its purely academic role is inadequate in the contemporary world. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Editorials
Journal of Politics
A welcome candidate for a prospective list of texts for introductory courses in American politics and political theory.— Avery Leiserson
Review of Politics
An illuminating and forceful defense of Tocquevillian or traditional political science against its two contenders within the profession, a scientific political science increasingly equated with rational choice theory and an activist moralistic political science, which Ceaser terms the 'new normativism.'.Journal of Politics
A welcome candidate for a prospective list of texts for introductory courses in American politics and political theory.
— Avery Leiserson
Review of Politics
"An illuminating and forceful defense of Tocquevillian or traditional political science against its two contenders within the profession, a scientific political science increasingly equated with rational choice theory and an activist moralistic political science, which Ceaser terms the 'new normativism.'.