Rainer Eisfeld Book order

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.

Rainer Eisfeld’s book emphasizes the value of socio-historical research on topics often overlooked by mainstream political science. It urges a critical examination of the established post-Nazi and post-Communist political narratives, prompting reflection on the discipline's history and current state. This collection serves as a companion to the 2012 volume, Radical Approaches to Political Science: Roads Less Traveled, and is similarly grounded in a theory of participatory pluralism. The chapters explore the fragmentation of the discipline and its withdrawal from public discourse, the roles of political science and international relations in promoting democracy, and normative and analytical concepts from thinkers like Hannah Arendt, Klaus von Beyme, and Robert A. Dahl. Additionally, it deconstructs the “Peenemünde Legend,” which romanticizes the scientific integrity at the Third Reich’s missile development center, and examines the complicity of Peenemünde engineers in the exploitation of concentration camp labor for the mass production of the V-2 missile. Eisfeld’s expertise in pluralism and his involvement with the International Political Science Association lend significant authority to this collection of essays.

This ground breaking volume offers a range of alternative approaches to political science, highlighting problems too rarely confronted by “mainstream” political scientists. Ranging from Gunfighter Sagas to the changing faces of an imaginary Mars, the innovative chapters introduce whole new ways of rethinking politics, stirring up the all too conventional ways of the discipline. “Klaus von Beyme, one of the most erudite members of our profession, in his introduction conclusively demonstrates the book’s crossdisciplinary merits. I believe this valuable work will be a powerful boost to an international, comparatively informed, pluralist political science.” Theodore J. Lowi (Cornell University), former President, International Political Science Association

This book surveys the recent developments and current state of political science in post-communist Central and Eastern Europe. It includes three comparative overviews: the evolution of political science and regime change in East-Central Europe from the 20th to the 21st century; an examination of analytical and normative elements in political science approaches to identify a specific Central-East European pattern; and an analysis of the significance and international cooperation of political science associations in the region. Additionally, it features 20 detailed and comparable country reports covering Albania, Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, and Ukraine. Each report includes data on political science faculty, students majoring in political science, and sub-fields taught at state and private universities as of the end of 2008. Topics addressed include the institutionalization of the discipline, its achievements and deficits, prevailing research approaches, funding, curricula, admission regulations, degree systems, national representation, international cooperation, public impact, labor market dynamics, and the challenges and opportunities facing the discipline.

The book focuses on the study of democratic processes. Special emphasis is put (1) on the existence of a diversity of (e. g. socio-economic, ethno-cultural,.) interests and the transformation of this diversity into public policies, (2) on the participatory features of democracy and on barriers to individual and group participation due to disparities in economic and political resources.