Inside Higher Ed: Should political science be relevant?
Washington – Gerry Stoker shared “a wicked thought” he had when planning a session held on Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association. What if he called as many senior figures in political science as he could reach and asked them “if they had ever said anything relevant in their entire careers”? Stoker, professor of politics and governance at Britain’s University of Southampton, didn’t embarrass his discipline’s luminaries by asking them one by one for any examples of relevance. (The laughter in the room, however, suggested that some might not have fared well if asked.) But the panel he put together on the field’s relevance was one of several that explored the topic, revealing uncertainty among political scientists about their mission. Should they worry about whether their work is used or even considered by those who make policy? Would aiming for relevance result in ideas being dumbed down or in a long-overdue shift in focus? Does a lack of relevance h
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