abstract lesson blondel

The course in Political Analysis aims at providing an introduction to the main trends in contemporary political science. It examines the rapid advance of the discipline in the course of the second half of the twentieth century as well as the problems which it had to confront. It is scarcely exaggerated to say that, before 1945, political science was still in a rudimentary state, despite the fact that a number of 'precursors' had, in the previous two to three thousand years, both shown the need to study political activity and begun to do so in what was, however, an artisanal manner.

Rather suddenly - and in part as a result of the events of the 1930s and 1940s - a burgeoning of ideas occurred after World War 2. From this resulted a breakthrough on the theoretical, methodological and empirical planes: this breakthrough gave political science the basis from which it could be the recognised discipline which it has become to-day.

The burgeoning has taken the form of many books and articles written by what is now a large community of scholars. Among these, however, a small number of publications have constituted the 'beacons' which have directed the work of most of the other political scientists. It is therefore natural that the course on Political Analysis should be in large part devoted to the study of these works as it examines the trends - the 'schools' - which have characterised - and sometimes sharply divided - the discipline.

A list of works which have played such a part - surely not exhaustive, but at any rate including some of the most important studies - is therefore attached to this note. It is naturally expected that special attention will be given to these works.

The course takes place on Tuesdays at 11.a.m. There will be eleven seminars of two hours each, starting on October 17th. Exceptionally, there will be two sessions on November 14th, at 11 a.m.and at 4.30 p.m., as there will be no seminar on November 21st.

Each session will include a short student contribution, typically in the nature of an 'article review'. The list of these contributions is appended.

Students will be expected to write a) two book reviews - of about a thousand words each - to be handed in not later than December 5th and b) a course paper of about 3-4000 words to be handed in at the last session of the course on January 24th, 2001.

The list of the books from which students will be able to choose is attached to this note. Anyone who might wish to write a 'review' of a book which is not listed should discuss the matter on or before November 14th, 2000.

October 17	General Introduction. What political analysis consists of.The problems posed by political analysis
October 24	Political science to 1945. Key works of the second half of the twentieth century
October 31	The 'behavioural' revolution. Its limits. Rational choice and structural approaches.
November 7	The study of mass politics
November 14	1.'Grand models'; structural functionalism and its critics.
	2. The analysis of development: sturcture and culture. Modernisation, dependency and 'post-modernisation'.
November 28	What place for normative political theory?
December 5	Quantification: results, limits, future.
December 12	The analysis of public management

R. Chilcote, Theories of Comparative Politics, (1981) Boulder, Col.: Westview Press.

R.A. Dahl, Modern Political Analysis (1963), Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.

R.E. Goodin and H.D. Klingemann, eds., A New Handbook of Political Science (1996), Oxford: Oxford U.P.

G.A. Almond and G.B. Powell, Comparative Politics (1976; new ed., 1978), Boston, Mass: Little, Brown & Co.

G.A. Almond and S. Verba, The Civic Culture (1963), Princeton, N.J.: Princeton UP.

J.M. Buchanan and G. Tullock, The Calculus of Consent (1962), Ann Arbor, MI: U. of Michigan Press.

A. Campbell, P.E. Converse, W.E. Miller, and D.E. Stokes, The American Voter (1960), New York, N.Y.: Wiley.

S.M. Lipset and S. Rokkan, eds., Party Systems and Voter Alignments (1967) New York, N.Y.: Free Press.

J.G. Marsh and J.P. Olsen, Rediscovering Institutions (1989) New York,N.Y.: Free Press.

B. Moore, Jr, The Origins of Dictatorship and Democract (1966) Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press.

M. Olson Jr, The Logic of Collective Action (1971) Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP.

October 17	General discussion
October 24	D.Easton, The Political System (1953), New York, N.Y.:Knopf., pp. 37-63
October 31	R.A. Dahl, 'The Behavioral Approach in Political Science: Epitath for a Monument to a Successful Protest', A.P.S.R., (55), Dec 1961, pp. 763-72.
November 7	P. Dunleavy, 'Political Behaviour: Institutional and Experiential Approaches' in R.E. Goodin and H.D. Klingemann, eds., A New Handbook of Political Science (1996), Oxford: Oxford U.P., pp. 276-93.
November 14	1.G.A. Almond and J.S. Coleman, The Politics of the Developing Areas (1960), Princeton, N.J: Princeton UP, pp. 1-17 and 33-64.
	2. L.C. Mayer, Comparative Political Inquiry (1972) Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press, pp. 248-72.
November 28	I.M. Young, 'Political Theory: An Overview' in R.E. Goodin and H.D. Klingemann, eds., A New Handbook of Political Science (1996), Oxford: Oxford U.P., pp. 479-502.
December 5	M. Taylor 'On 'Normative' Rational-Choice Theories of Politics' in L. Lewin and E. Vedung, eds., Politics as Rational Action (1980) Dordrecht, NL: Reidel.
December 12	B.G. Peters and V. Wright, 'Public Policy and Administration, Old and New' in R.E. Goodin and H.D. Klingemann, eds., A New Handbook of Political Science (1996), Oxford: Oxford U.P., pp. 628-39.
January 17	J. Blondel, 'Then and Now', Political Studies (47), March 99, pp. 152-60.
January 24	General discussion

January 16	The analysis of governance
January 23	Conclusion