The future of political sciences

In today's lesson we talked a bit about the future of political and social sciences. It's a pity more of you didn't come as it was a unique opportunity to hear some great thinkers in your field of study!
We spent some time discussing John Trent's paper which brought up several of the issues which you yourselves raised in your comments last week - such as specialization vs fragmentation, use of technology, importance of collaboration and team work ....
Here's the abstract of his paper. I will leave a copy of the full paper in the copy shop tomorrow.

The Next Generation of Political Studies:

Relevant or Irrelevant?

John E. Trent

Abstract: This presentation is based on a multi-year analysis of studies of the discipline of political science – global, national and sectorial – undertaken within Research Committee 33 of the International Political Science Association. The first, empirical section will report on what these studies tell us about the development of political science circa 1990-2012. The second, conjectural part will use this empirical base to seek to respond to the key questions posed by this Symposium concerning the challenges posed to political research and education by globalization. Essentially, my studies have shown that with regard to teaching, political science has become increasingly effective, global, standardized and professional. As regards research output, I find the discipline has become increasingly irrelevant to public opinion and the political class, governments, public debates and the media. The main culprits are our scientific and quantitative pretentions and the ensuing unconnected specializations that characterize our heavily Westernized political science today. These criticisms are not new. To surmount these problems we need to rethink our approaches and methodologies and spread our wings to include new populations, global complexities and pluralistic communities. Proposals are made…