Empowering citizens, engaging the public : political science for the 21st century / Rainer Eisfeld.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Eisfeld, Rainer, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political science.

Political science--Public opinion.

Physical Description:

xxvi, 199 pages ; 21 cm

Place of Publication:

Singapore : Palgrave Macmillan, [2019]

Summary:

This book is the first comprehensive study to respond to the ongoing debates on political sciences' fragmentation, doubtful relevance, and disconnect with the larger public. It explores the implications of the argument that political science ought to become more topic-driven, more relevant and more comprehensible for "lay" audiences. Consequences would include evolving a culture of public engagement, challenging tendencies toward liars' rule, and emphasizing the role of "large" themes in academic education and research, the latter being identified as those areas where severe democratic erosion is occurring - such as escalating income and wealth disparities pushing democracy towards plutocracy, ubiquitous change triggering insecurity and aggression, racist prejudice polarizing societies, and counter-terrorism strategies subverting civil liberties. Political science needs to address these pressing problems ahead of other issues by in-depth research and broadly accessible public narratives, including solution-orientated normative notions. This need provides the final justification for evolving a discipline where problems would take priority over methods and public relevance over sophisticated specialization.

Contents:

Commitments. Improving the human condition ; What is the current human condition? ; Coming to grips with change ; Serving citizens ; The civics of friendly persuasion ; A determination to blow the whistle

Issue arenas. Affirming ethno-cultural diversity, avoiding tribalized segmentation ; Low income, inferior education ; Robust regulatory policies for capitalism ; Global warming, power structures, and living conditions ; Radicalization, terrorism, subversion of civil liberties

Partisanship. Twenty-first-century political science : politicization of a discipline?

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9789811359279

981135927X

OCLC:

1078727910