Introduction à la science politique, Yves Schemeil, Livres, LaProcure.com

Introduction à la science politique, Yves Schemeil, Livres, LaProcure.com

EN BUSCA DE UNA IDENTIDAD CIENTÍFICA EL FÚTIL DEBATE METODOLÓGICO EN LA CIENCIA POLÍTICA.

 Pablo A. Valenzuela.

You may have heard the world is made up of atoms and molecules, but it's really made up of stories. When you sit with an individual that's been here, you can give quantitative data a qualitative overlay. — William Turner.

INTRODUCCIÓN.

Pareciera ser que cada cierto tiempo la ciencia política, en particular, pero las ciencias sociales en general intentan retomar un camino de positivización

Mediante el cual buscan rechazar las metodologías cualitativas para entronizar los métodos cuantitativos como única forma de acercarse a la realidad. En el presente ensayo intentamos defender la idea que el debate en torno a las metodologías resulta insulso para la el trabajo científico y disciplinar de la ciencia política y, si bien la metodología que se use resulta importante, sería secundaria cuando se evalúan también las necesidades epistemológicas de la investigación y el sustento teórico que posee.

SOBRE LA IDEA DE CIENCIA PARA LA CIENCIA POLÍTICA.

Resulta interesante cuando Sartori (2004: 350) señala las ideas que lo llevaron a promover hace más de 50 años la idea de ciencia política, en lugar de estudios políticos o de gobierno a los que se aferran las universidades británicas y de Europa continental. La existencia de un lenguaje común y especializado entre la comunidad científica y las bases metodológicas ad hoc y rigurosas son parte esencial del trabajo científico, señala Sartori.

 Toda ciencia que se precie como tal debe aspirar al menos a tener esos componentes. Lo que Sartori no toma en cuenta en su crítica al realce de los métodos cuantitativos a partir del auge de la ciencia política americana es que la ciencia desde un punto de vista estrictamente positivo, y por tanto vigente en los años 40 y 50, debe ser capaz de generar teorías explicativas generales y leyes que den cuenta de relaciones constantes entre variables, de modo que permitan trascender a los hechos experienciales del observador(Bunge, 2005. 18-20) De ahí se desprenden una serie de principios que para las ciencias sociales terminan actuando como barreras de entrada, cuál más alta que la anterior, en su camino por aspirar a ser reconocidas por las ciencias positivas como igual de rigurosas en la creación de conocimiento. Por ejemplo, la sola posibilidad de formular leyes ya invalida el intento se positivizar a las ciencias sociales. Landman (2008: 15) dice que la naturaleza de la evidencia que podemos recolectar en ciencia política hace que existan sólo tres leyes reconocidas: La ley de hierro de la oligarquía, la ley de Duverger en cuanto a sistemas de partidos y magnitud de distrito, y la ley de la paz democrática.

Entonces, parece un hecho que en un intento por ajustarse al paradigma positivista, en el que sólo los hechos sensibles y por derivación medibles puede ser objetos de estudio científico (Alvesson & Sköldberg, 2009), las ciencias sociales viraron hacia el cuantitativismo aplicando la filosofía de la ciencia propia de la ciencias naturales (Salas,2011), lo que queda en evidencia en las críticas que Sartori hace a la escuela norteamericana de ciencia política y su obsesión por cuantificar. Y es que claro, el positivismo dirá que sólo lo cuantificable puede ser fuente de conocimiento científico. La idea que se instala al autodenominarse ciencia es el prototipo al que se debe aspirar, ya sea con la economía como modelo significante‒aspecto con el que no comulgamos‒o con las ciencias naturales y su método y filosofía. Por tanto, no es extraño que al interior de la ciencia política, pero también en la sociología, los métodos estadísticos y el conductismo como enfoque se hayan empezado a instalar como hegemónicos. Sin embargo, al asumir esa noción de ciencia –positiva y dura– debemos tomar en cuenta que también se constituye como un ideal de conocimiento, es decir, aquel que es capaz desconocer todo cuanto hay en el universo mediante el planteamiento de ciertas leyes, algo como el demonio de La place que conocería el devenir de todo lo que existe en un mundo completamente determinado por unas cuentas ecuaciones. Estas ideas en las ciencias originarias, asentados sobre las ideas newtonianas y el positivismo lógico se han superado –o están en una etapa muy avanza de superación (Acevedo, 2011)Habiendo dicho esto, parece plausible señalar que tiene poco sentido intentar darle un cuerpo positivo a las ciencias sociales y en particular a la ciencia política, en la medida quelas propias ciencias duras están renunciando a esas ideas, asumiendo tanto una realidad más azarosa y caótica en ciertas porciones de la realidad, como también el rol que el observador juega en su papel de investigador de esa realidad (Acevedo, 2011: 279).

 En consecuencia si hemos de discutir la identidad científica de la ciencia política, derivar por el método pareciera llevarnos por derroteros inciertos que retrotraen la discusión más general sobre las ciencias y cuyo aporte es escaso al fortalecimiento epistemológico de la ciencia política. Lo llamativo de este tránsito desde el positivismo lógico hacia formas menos rígidas de buscar el conocimiento es que se salta al extremo opuesto y se rechaza todo cuanto huela a mediciones cuantitativas de la realidad, en un intento aparente por capturar toda la complejidad social. Tampoco creemos que eso sea lo correcto y que tengamos que abanderarnos por las metodologías cuantitativas o cualitativas, incluso, denostando a las segundas por poco científicas (King, Keohane, & Verba, 2000), pues pareciera ser que lo cierto es que cada uno de los métodos nos ofrece un acercamiento particular a la realidad observada y son más las bases epistemológicas que los métodos en sí mismos los que nos permiten estudiar una porción de la realidad. Así por ejemplo, cuando Colomer (2004: 357) nos habla de la enorme cantidad de ejercicios estadísticos sin rumbo que no tienen en cuenta ni la hipótesis ni la teoría que los sustenta, no nos está diciendo que cuantificar los fenómenos sea un hecho negativo per se, sino más bien, como señala luego el autor (2004: 359) el problema está en la ausencia de definiciones y clasificaciones adecuadas. Resistir la cuantificación puede ser tan dañino como cuantificar todo, y avanzar en un trabajo cualitativo sin la suficiente generación teórica yde definiciones y clasificaciones adecuadas puede terminar siendo igual de perjudicial para la generación de una identidad al interior de la ciencia política y de un conocimiento riguroso de lo político, aspecto al que aluden tanto Sartori como Colomer. Más todavía, pues siguiendo a Boix y Stokes (2007) las preguntas que la ciencia política yque en general, las ciencias sociales, buscan responder parecen demasiado complejas comopara restringirlas a sólo un método, lo que no quiere decir que todo valga, sino más bien que es necesario tomar en cuenta las ventajas y dificultades de cada uno de los métodos para acercarse a la realidad y analizar los procesos políticos. Huelga responder, en consecuencia, que si no es por los métodos que una disciplina puede ser clasificada como más o menos científica, cuáles son los elementos que permiten construir esa identidad.

Es interesante partir, por ejemplo, de tres premisas generales que podrían ser aplicables a todas las ciencias sociales (Pennings, Keman, & Kleinnijenhuis, 2006: 5). Primero, desarrollar conocimiento sistemático que trascienda la mera descripción y permita la generalización, es decir, validez externa. En segundo lugar, derivarres puestas a las preguntas sobre la base de teoría existente o, de ser posible, de hipótesis plausibles. Como tercer punto, la búsqueda de la información exacta y de indicadores comparables que estén abiertos a la replicación. Así también, en Landman (2008: 21) se señala que el debate metodológico es falso en la medida que a través de ambos métodos se pretenden hacer inferencias válidas con la información disponible. Llegamos, por lo tanto, a concluir que lo que necesitamos en el trabajo científico es rigurosidad epistemológica y, a partir de esa rigurosidad, sería posible derivar los métodos que sean adecuados para el desarrollo de inferencias válidas. De lo contrario, la discusión metodológica termina asimilando la disciplina a un castillo en el aire sin ninguna fundación y, peor aún, pues si invalidamos una forma de acercarse a la realidad, sea cualitativa o cuantitativa, generamos voluntariamente un punto ciego que puede llegar a ser muy significativo y que quizás nos prive de muchas de las respuestas que deseamos elaborar para terminar construyendo algo parecido a una identidad en la ciencia política. Pues, a modo de conclusión, es interesante señalar, como dice Turner, que el mundo, más que de moléculas y átomos, está hecho de historias.

Bibliografía

Acevedo, C. (2011). Acuerdos comunes de validez: Diálogo entre la metodología cualitativa y cuantitativa.

Cinta de moebio, 276-287.Alvesson, M., & Sköldberg, K. (2009).

Reflexive Methodology: New Vistas for Qualitative Research.

Londres: SAGE Publications.Boix, C., & Stokes, S. (2007). Introduction. En C. Boix, & S. Stokes,

The Oxford Handbook of comparative politics

(págs. 3-23). New York: Oxford University Press. Bunge, M. (2005).

La ciencia: Su método y su filosofía.

Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana. Colomer, J. (2004). La ciencia política va hacia adelante (por meandros tortuosos). Un comentario a Giovani Sartori.

Política y gobierno, 355-359.King, G., Keohane, R., & Verba, S. (2000).

El diseño de la investigación social: La inferencia científica en los estudios cualitativos.

Madrid : Alianza editorial. Landman, T. (2008).

Issues and methods in comparative politics: An introduction.

Londres -Nueva York: Routledge. Pennings, P., Keman, H., & Kleinnijenhuis, J. (2006).

Doing research in political science: An introduction to comparative methods ans statistics.

Londres: SAGE Publications. Salas, H. (2011). Investigación cuantitativa (monismo metodológico) y cualitativa(dualismo metodológico): El status epistémico de los resultados de la investigación en las disciplinas sociales.

Cinta de moebio, 1-21.Sartori, G. (2004). ¿Hacia dónde va la ciencia política?

Política y gobierno V.11 N.2, 349-354.

Notable political scientists.

Estos son los politólogos modernos que se dedicaron a la investigación. cada uno con sus aportes en las sub-campos de la Ciencia Política.

[edit]A

§  Alan Abramowitz - Expert in American politics, political parties, ideological realignment, elections, and voting behavior.

§  David Adamany - Public law specialist and President of Temple University

§  John Aldrich - Political parties expert at Duke University, author of Why Parties?

§  Graham Allison - Early proponent of the bureaucratic politics model, author of Essence of Decision, national security specialist, former Dean of Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

§  Gabriel A. Almond - Originator of the culturist movement in Comparative Politics.

§  Gar Alperovitz - political economist

§  Nayef Al-Rodhan - philosopher, neuroscientist and geostrategist, and author of Sustainable history and the dignity of man,Emotional Amoral Egoism and Symbiotic Realism

§  Ambedkar - Jurist, Economist and Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution of India

§  William Anderson (political scientist) - Specialist in public administration

§  Robert Axelrod - Expert on game theory and complexity theory, wrote extensively on the Prisoner's Dilemma, former president ofAmerican Political Science Association.

[edit]B

§  Fatih Baja - Gar Yunis University teacher and member of the National Transitional Council in charge of political affairs.

§  Benjamin Barber - proponent of participatory democracy and local governance teaching at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland College Park.

§  James David Barber - developed a classification system of the personality types of American presidents, successfully predictedRichard Nixon's resignation from the office of the president

§  Stephen Barber - Noted for his work on political strategy and political economy, author of Political Strategy

§  Michael Barnett - Specialist in international relations

§  Thomas P.M. Barnett - security strategist

§  Simion Bărnuţiu - Noted for his work on political strategy in Austria and Romania.

§  Larry Bartels - Democracy and voting expert at Princeton University.

§  Gad Barzilai - Law and Politics, Human Rights and Politics, Communities and Law at University of Washington .

§  Duncan Black - Responsible for unearthing the work of many early political scientists, including Charles Dodgson.

§  Hans T. Blokland - Author of Freedom and Culture in Western Society and Modernization and its political consequences.

§  Jean Blondel - Comparative politics at University of Siena, emeritus at European University Institute.

§  Jean-Charles de Borda - 18th century mathematician who devised the Borda count.

§  Steven Brams - Expert on voting systems.

§  Ahron Bregman - Expert on the Arab-Israeli conflict.

§  Ian Bremmer - Political risk specialist.

§  Stephen Brooks - International relations scholar.

§  Robert X. Browning - Specialist in American politics and chief archivist for C-SPAN

§  Bruce Bueno de Mesquita - Pioneering game theorist with applications to international relations, author of selectorate theory, seminal book The War Trap.

§  Walter Dean Burnham - Expert in the field of realigning elections, emeritus at University of Texas at Austin.

§  David Butler, pioneer of modern British political science, invented the concept of swing.

[edit]C

§  George Catlin - (1896–1979) was an English political scientist and philosopher. A strong proponent of Anglo-America cooperation, he worked for many years as a professor at Cornell University.

§  Ira Carmen - Co-founder of the social science subdiscipline of genetics and politics.

§  Edward Hallett Carr - Noted international relations theorist.

§  Alfredo Castillero Hoyos - Democracy and Human Rights. Former member of the United Nations's Human Rights Committee.

§  Partha Chatterjee - Indian postcolonial critic, political and social scientist

§  John Coakley - specialist in ethnic conflict and Irish politics

§  Benjamin Cohen - leader in the field of International Political Economy

§  Stephen P. Cohen - Middle East specialist

§  James Smoot Coleman, early Africanist, founded the UCLA African Studies Center

§  Josep Colomer - Institutionalist, comparativist, and game theorist scholar.

§  Marquis de Condorcet - 18th century mathematician and philosopher who contributed the often used Condorcet criterion and devised the concept of a Condorcet method.

§  David P. Conradt - West European politics, German political system

§  Timothy E. Cook - politics and media

§  Satyabrata Rai Chowdhuri - International Relations, Indology at Institute of Commonwealth Studies

§  Philip Converse - Public opinion scholar, author of The Nature of Belief Systems in Mass Publics.

Christopher Mwila - Paglory College of Education - St. Bonaventure College. "Globalization and its impact on the State"

§  Clyde Coombs - Voting systems expert, designed "Coombs' method"

§  Philip Cowley - Author of Revolts and Rebellions.

§  Ralph W. Conant - Author of The Prospects for Revolution and Toward a More Perfect Union: The Governance of Metropolitan America.

[edit]D

§  Robert A. Dahl - American politics specialist, author of On Democracy (Yale University Press)

§  Daniel Deudney - Writer and associate professor at Johns Hopkins University; author of Bounding Power: Republican Security Theory from the Polis to the Global Village

§  Karl Deutsch - Political scientist, focused on political communication.

§  Larry Diamond - Comparative democratization specialist. Professor at Stanford University.

§  Jouke de Vries - Frisian politician and professor at the university of Leiden.

§  Thomas Diez - Chair in International Relations at the University of Birmingham

§  John DiIulio - American politics expert at the University of Pennsylvania; first director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Groups

§  Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (also known as Lewis Carroll) - Author of Alice in Wonderland and professor of mathematics at theUniversity of Oxford; devised Dodgson's method of voting.

§  Robert Donaldson - Professor at University of Tulsa and specialist in US/Russian foreign policy.

§  Anthony Downs - has contributed to democratic theory, elections studies.

§  Donald Downs - Professor at University of Wisconsin; researcher for Independent Institute

§  Maurice Duverger - French lawyer and sociologist responsible for Duverger's law.

§  Michael W. Doyle - International Relations theorist, author of Empires.

§  Daniel Drezner - Professor at Tufts University, specializing in international politics

§  Murray Dry - Professor at Middlebury College, specializing in constitutional law

§  John Dryzek - Professor at the Australian National University, specializing in deliberative democracy and environmental politics.

§  John Dunn - Political theorist at the University of Cambridge.

§  Rand Dyck - Canadian politics expert and professor at Carleton University.

§  Thomas R. Dye - Elite theory vs. Pluralism; author of The Irony of Democracy and Who's Running America?

[edit]E

§  David Easton - Originator of systemic theory

§  Daniel J. Elazar - American federalism and political culture scholar, founder of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, political science professor at Bar Ilan (Israel) and Temple University

§  Jean Bethke Elshtain - American political philosopher focusing on gender, ethics, American democracy, and International Relations.

§  Jon Elster - Norwegian social and political theorist authored works in the philosophy of social science and rational choice theory and a notable proponent of Analytical Marxism.

§  Cynthia Enloe - International Relations scholar focusing on Feminism in international relations, editor for such scholarly journals asSigns and the International Feminist Journal of Politics.

[edit]F

§  James D. Fearon

§  Peter D. Feaver - International security expert.

§  David Fellman - Constitutional scholar

§  Richard Fenno - Congress scholar, author of Home Style: House Members in their Districts

§  Thomas Ferguson - Politics and economics

§  Samuel Finer - Academic and author on political science and history of government.

§  Norman Finkelstein - Author on political science, notable for The Holocaust Industry

§  Morris P. Fiorina American Politics. Proposed retrospective vote theory.

§  Peter Fishburn - Operations analysis and probability theory expert.

§  Keith Fitzgerald - Immigration politics expert.

§  James H. Fowler - Expert on political participation, the evolution of cooperation, and social network theory (UCSD)

§  Ernst Fraenkel

§  Francis Fukuyama - International political theory and biopolitics.

§  Archon Fung

[edit]G

§  Scott Gates (academic) - Specialist in international relations

§  Anthony Giddens - Noted political sociologist originator of the Third Way.

§  Robert Gilpin - International political economy specialist.

§  Benjamin Ginsberg - Professor at Johns Hopkins University focusing on American politics.

§  Sheldon Goldman - Expert on American federal courts, Professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst

§  David F. Gordon - Political risk specialist, former US Director of Policy Planning.

§  Harold Foote Gosnell - Research and writings on American politics, elections, and political parties in political science.

§  Colin Gray - international security

§  Donald P. Green - public opinion, experimental methodology, field experimentation- Professor at Columbia University

§  Ted Robert Gurr - Specialist on conflict and violence

§  Amy Gutmann - political theory expert; (2004–present) President of the University of Pennsylvania

[edit]H

§  Jacob Hacker - Professor of Political Science at Yale University.

§  Harry Harding - China specialist.

§  Thomas Hare - Devised Single Transferable Vote (also known as Hare's method).

§  Jeremy Harris - American Politics Specialist

§  Michael Hart - British twentieth century politics specialist.

§  Louis Hartz - American author of The Liberal Tradition in America (1955).

§  Colin Hay - influential British political scientist

§  Marc Hetherington - Author of Why Trust Matters and offered new participation paradigm.

§  Christopher J. Hill - International Relations scholar, Professor and Director of the Cambridge Centre of International Studies.

§  Roger Hilsman - Aide TO John F. Kennedy, Columbia University Professor, and prolific author.

§  Thomas Holbrook - Public Opinion and Elections Research, author Do Campaigns Matter?

§  Donald L. Horowitz - Pioneered political science models for assessing ethnic conflict.

§  Michael P. Howlett - Canadian political economy.

§  Mark Huddleston - former President of Ohio Wesleyan University and President of the University of New Hampshire

§  Samuel P. Huntington - Author of "Clash of Civilizations" and a noted comparativist.

[edit]I

§  Kancha Ilaiah - Dalit scholar and social scientist

§  Ronald Inglehart - Professor at the University of Michigan and director of the World Values Survey

[edit]J

§  Gary Jacobson - United States Congress expert.

§  Robert Jervis - International security specialist.

§  Chalmers Johnson - Comparative theorist.

§  Jason A. Johnson - Campaign management

§  Loch K. Johnson - United States intelligence expert.

§  Charles O. Jones - Specialist in American politics

§  Bertrand de Jouvenel - French political scientist. Co-founder of Mont Pelerin Society

[edit]K

§  Peter Katzenstein - Professor at Cornell, former president of the American Political Science Association

§  Ira Katznelson - Specialist in American and Comparative politics

§  Dennis Kavanagh

§  Michael Keating - Specialist in nationalism, European integration and regionalism

§  Edmond Keller - Specialist in African politics

§  Willmoore Kendall, noted political theorist and teacher of William F. Buckley, Jr.

§  Robert O. Keohane - Interdependence theory author.

§  Ben Kerkvliet - Specialist in Comparative politics

§  Cornelius Kerwin - President of American University

§  V.O. Key, Jr. - Elections, parties and public opinion scholar.

§  Gary King - Professor at Harvard, political methodologist.

§  John W. Kingdon - Specialist in American politics

§  Grayson L. Kirk - Specialist in international relations and President of Columbia University

§  Henry Kissinger - Former Secretary of State and National Security Advisor to President Richard M. Nixon.

§  Herbert Kitschelt - author on new radical right parties

§  Stephen D. Krasner - International regimes author, Director of Policy Planning under Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and professor at Stanford University.

§  Michael Krassa - Elections, social context, architecture and society. Lobbyist, consultant, political sociologist and Chair of Human Dimensions of Environmental Systems department at University of Illinois at Urbana.

§  Oskar Krejčí - Theory of international relations, elections and political psychology, former advisor to two Czechoslovak premieres.

§  James Kurth

§  Will Kymlicka - Originated the theoretical foundations of multiculturalism.

[edit]L

§  Guy Laforest - Liberalism (John Locke) scholar and Quebec and Canadian politics specialist

§  Harold Lasswell - Political communications, pioneered early efforts to establish the policy sciences and influential contributor to the Stages Heuristic

§  Jack Layton - Former leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, had a Ph.D in Political Science.

§  Richard Ned Lebow - Noted constructivist, Cold War expert, author of Tragic Vision of Politics.

§  Michael Leifer - International Relations, South Asian Studies, London School of Economics

§  Arend Lijphart - Originator of consociationalism.

§  Dan Lipinski - US House of Representatives (IL-D, 3rd)

§  Juan Linz - Democracy specialist

§  Seymour Martin Lipset - Renowned political theorist on democracy and development and parties. Taught at Stanford University.

§  Ramon Llull - Discoverer of Condorcet Criterion and Borda Count

§  Theodore Lowi - Major scholar of American politics at Cornell University

§  Ian Lustick - State territoriality ethnic conflict and computer modelling in political science; University of Pennsylvania

[edit]M

§  Niccolò Machiavelli - considered to be the originator of historically based political science. Author of The Prince

§  Harvey C. Mansfield - Political philosophy (Harvard University)

§  Donald Manzullo - Congressional Representative of Illinois' 16th District.

§  Zeev Maoz - Arab-Israeli Conflict and international relations expert

§  Jose M. Maravall - Political economist.

§  David Marsh - influential British political scientist

§  Juraj Marusiak - Slovak expert for Central and Eastern Europe

§  David R. Mayhew - US legislative behavior and political parties expert.

§  John McCormick - specialist in European Union politics.

§  Michael McFaul - Russia specialist, professor and director of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law atStanford University

§  John McGarry - Ethnic conflict specialist

§  John Mearsheimer - Noted international relations theorist and national security expert.

§  Thierry Meyssan - Political theorist of anti-imperialism

§  Samuel Merrill III - Voting behavior and party competition.

§  George Michael - specialist in right-wing extremism.

§  Peter Middlebrook - political economist specialising in transition economies.

§  David Miller - Political Philosopher specialized in theories of social justice

§  Charles Mills- Political Philosopher specialising in race relations. Author of The Racial Contract

§  Terry M. Moe - Specialist in American politics

§  Malcolm Moos - Former President of the University of Minnesota

§  Andrew Moravcsik - Professor at Princeton University, noted liberal IR theorist, specialist on European Union politics.

§  Hans Morgenthau - Noted realist, international relations specialist.

§  James Morrow - International relations expert and game theorist.

§  Michael Munger - trained as an economist, chair of political science at Duke University, running for governor of North Carolina as aLibertarian

§  Clark A. Murdock - Senior Adviser, Center for Strategic and International Studies

[edit]N

§  Arthur Naftalin - Specialist in American politics and former Mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota

§  Franz Leopold Neumann - known for analysis of National Socialism.

§  David Nolan (libertarian) - founder of the United States Libertarian Party

§  Douglass North - Nobel laureate

§  Philip Norton - British politics expert

§  Pippa Norris - Harvard comparative political scientist

§  Joseph Nye - "Soft power" international security specialist; Kennedy School Dean.

[edit]O

§  Brendan O'Leary - Ethnic conflict specialist

§  Cornelius O'Leary - Irish historian and political scientist

§  Bertell Ollman - political theorist

§  Mancur Olson - International political economy specialist. Expert on collective action problems. Taught at the University of Maryland, College Park.

§  A.F.K. Organski - Developed power transition theory in his 1958 book "World Politics".

§  Elinor Ostrom - Specialist on common pool resources, and winner of 2009 Nobel Prize for Economics.

[edit]P

§  Thomas Pangle - Political theorist at University of Texas at Austin

§  Michael Parenti - Political Scientist and Author

§  Vilfredo Pareto

§  W. Robert Parks - Former President of Iowa State University

§  Gianfranco Pasquino Italian political scientist. Electoral systems, comparative politics.

§  Gleb Pavlovsky - Russian political scientist.

§  Nelson W. Polsby - American politics scholar.

§  Karl Popper - Theorist who invented the Open Society

§  Samuel L. Popkin - Early expert on rational choice theory.

§  Sergei M. Plekhanov - Russia relations expert

§  Adam Przeworski - Democratic transitions theorist, author of Democracy and Development. Member of the September Group.

§  Robert D. Putnam - Social capital theorist, author of Bowling Alone.

[edit]R

§  Douglas W. Rae - Equality theorist

§  Mahesh Rangarajan - Indian political analyst and researcher with a focus on contemporary Indian politics and the politics of wildlife conservation in India

§  R. A. W. Rhodes - Public administration scholar

§  Condoleezza Rice - Former National Security Advisor, former Secretary of State. Professor at Stanford University.

§  Floyd M. Riddick - Parliamentarian of the United States Senate from 1964 to 1974, and developer of Riddick's Senate procedure.

§  William H. Riker - 20th century political scientist who applied game theory to political science.

§  Patrick T. Riley - political theorist and Kant scholar

§  David Rohde - Congress scholar

§  Stein Rokkan - Expert on political parties and movements, founder of the Institute for Comparative Politics.

§  Richard Rose - American political scientist, Professor of Politics at the University of Aberdeen

§  Richard Rosecrance - International relations and political economy expert.

§  Clinton Rossiter - American government and constitutional history theorist.

§  John Ruggie - International relations theorist, social constructivist.

§  John Rawls - Political philosopher.

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§  Larry Sabato - University of Virginia professor, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, and popular political analyst.

§  Scott Sagan - Stanford professor and notable critic of deterrence theory.

§  Ismail Salami - Iranian Middle East expert

§  Slobodan Samardžić - Research includes political ideas and institutions, federalism, constitutionalism, and European Union.

§  David Samuels - Comparativist scholar of Brazilian politics and political institutions.

§  Austin Sarat - Public law specialist

§  Giovanni Sartori - Comparativist, expert on constitutional theory and party systems; author of Parties and Party Systems.

§  E.E. Schattschneider - Early political parties expert, author of Party Government and The Semisovereign People: A Realist's View of Democracy in America

§  Cliff Schecter, political commentator and operative

§  Steven Schier - Specialist in American Politics

§  Gesine Schwan – Political scientist, president of the Viadrina European University, and nominated twice as a candidate for thefederal presidential elections of Germany.

§  James C. Scott - political economist, Southeast Asia area specialist

§  Hossein Seifzadeh - Iranian Professor of Political Science at University of Tehran and expert on strategic and security issues in theMiddle East

§  Mitchell A. Seligson - Centennial Professor of Political Science Vanderbilt University and founder of Latin American Public Opinion Project and AmericasBarometer

§  Donna Shalala - Former United States Secretary of Health and Human Services

§  Beth Simmons - Prominent international relations scholar focusing on human rights.

§  Theda Skocpol - Comparative sociologist, former president of American Political Science Association, (Harvard University)

§  Stephen Skowronek - Presidency and American political development scholar (Yale University)

§  Anne-Marie Slaughter - Scholar of international relations, former president of the American Society of International Law.

§  Matthew Soberg Shugart - Scholar of constitutional design and electoral systems.

§  Daniel Šmihula - Specialist for international and European law and security studies (Institute of Political Science of SAS)

§  Jean Edward Smith - political economist, biographer, international relations, constitutional law.

§  Rogers Smith - Pulitzer Prize finalist, American politics expert at the University of Pennsylvania

§  Steven S. Smith - American politics, congressional politics, Russian politics; Director, Weidenbaum Center

§  Herbert A. Simon - Nobel Prize winning professor at Carnegie Mellon. A founder of artificial intelligence research, he received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago

§  Peverill Squire - Americanist

§  Michael Steed - British political scientist, developed the concept of "Steed swing" as distinct from "Butler swing"

§  Alfred Stepan - Comaparativist, Wallace S. Sayre Professor of Government at Columbia University

§  Zeev Sternhell - Theorist, political historian of political ideology.

§  John G. Stoessinger - International relations theorist, author of "The Might of Nations: World Politics in our Time".

§  Donald Stokes -- Former Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton, expert on elections.

§  Herbert Storing - American politics expert.

§  Susan Strange - British expert in international relations, taught at the London School of Economics

§  Surain Subramaniam - professor and prolific author, realist school of international relations

§  Carol Swain - Professor of Law and Political Science at Vanderbilt University, expert of immigration and race.

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§  Rein Taagepera - Comparativist, expert on electoral systems and history of government.

§  Dennis Thompson - Political theorist at Harvard University

§  Virginia Tilley - specialist on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

§  Charles Tilly - Professor at Columbia University, his work includes contentious politics and evolution of modern states

§  Herbert Tingsten - Professor of political science at Stockholm University

§  J. Ann Tickner - Feminist international relations theorist and current president of the International Studies Association (ISA).

§  George Tsebelis - Game theorist notable for his general theory of Veto players and for describing the Robinson Crusoe fallacy.

§  Jeffrey K. Tulis - University of Texas at Austin, author of The Rhetorical Presidency.

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§  Stephen Van Evera - MIT international relations expert, known for proposing Offense-Defense theory

§  Sidney Verba

§  Eric Voegelin - Major work, "Order and History" in five volumes, he rejected the notion that political science should become a positivistic social science.

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§  Helen Wallace - International relations specialist.

§  Stephen Walt - International relations specialist.

§  Kenneth N. Waltz - Founder of the neorealist international relations school

§  Michael Walzer - International relations, just war theory

§  Ken Ward - Constitutional Law, Texas State University

§  Alexander Wendt - Social constructivism proponent

§  Darrell M. West - Specialist in electronic government, Brookings Institution director of Governance Studies

§  John Henry Whyte - Specialist in Northern Irish politics

§  Alan Whaites - States/State-building theorist, DFID [1]

§  Aaron Wildavsky - Author of "Risk and Culture"

§  Bruce A. Williams - Specialist in American politics

§  Danny Williams - Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador.

§  James Q. Wilson - Former President of the American Political Science Association

§  Woodrow Wilson - Former Professor of Politics at Princeton University and former U.S. President

§  William Wohlforth - International relations scholar

§  Susan L. Woodward - Professor at the Graduate Program at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

[edit]Y

§  Atilla Yayla – Professor of Politics, Political Economy and Political Philosophy at Gazi University in Turkey, and president of theAssociation for Liberal Thinking.

§  Crawford Young - Noted comparativist, Africa scholar.

[edit]Z

§  Fareed Zakaria - International Relations Expert

§  John Zaller - Author of "The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion," at UCLA.