The World of Political Science: A Critical Overview of the Development of Political Studies around the Globe: 1990-2012

How well is the field of political studies doing and where is it headed? Such questions are examined and answered in this broad world overview of political science, along with the advances and shortcomings, as well as the recommended prescriptions for the future decades of the new century. The volume includes three world regional assessments of the discipline, along with an in-depth survey of various sub-disciplinary fields and a concluding critical essay on the future of political studies.

This book consists of a brief introduction on the development of the book series and the objectives of the final volume (Michael Stein), followed by three geographically-based studies on disciplinary developments in the global regions of east Asia (Takashi Inoguchi), Europe (Erkki Berndtson) and the United States (Michael Stein). John Trent's synthesis then examine trends, issues and perspectives, and covers both advances and shortcomings of the discipline. A concluding critical analysis by John Trent of contemporary political science focuses on problems such as relevance, over-specialization, western ethnocentrism, male dominance in the field, and scientism and quantification, with the objective of promoting new research paradigms for political studies.