Description
After World War II, political science in general and especially comparative politics underwent what may be considered a "scientific revolution." Harry Eckstein, one of the most influential postwar political scientists, was a major participant in that revolution from the beginning, and he has made substantial and varied contributions to its unfolding over the years. These collected essays, written over thirty years, cover virtually all major issues in comparative politics: democracy, political stability, revolution and civil wars, political development, and "civic inclusion," defined by the author as "the tendency over time to include in politics, in workplace decision-making, education, and in other institutional realms, people previously excluded from participation." Eckstein also deals with aspects of political science as a field: its relation to political practice, its development before the postwar unrest in the field, its state after the first wave of attempts to remake it, and its methods.
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After World War II political science, especially comparative politics, was transformed by a "scientific revolution." Harry Eckstein, an influential spokesman in the revolution's forefront, went on to make a great variety of contributions in subsequent decades. These eleven essays, written over thirty years, cover the major issues in comparative politics, from civil war to "civic inclusion"—that is, "the tendency over time to include in politics, in workplace decision-making, in education, and in other institutional realms, people previously excluded from participation." Eckstein also deals with political science as a field: how it relates to political practice, how it developed in the prewar period, and how it emerged from the first postwar reshaping.In this first collection of his work, Eckstein reflects on the issues and events—his personal experiences as a refugee from Nazi Germany and as an observer of European politics and cultures—that underlie and unify his thinking. Regarding Politics presents in one powerful volume the career of one of the leading comparative political scientists of our times.
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