political science research paper example

The Writing Center • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Political Science

What this handout is about.

This handout will help you to recognize and to follow writing standards in political science. The first step toward accomplishing this goal is to develop a basic understanding of political science and the kind of work political scientists do.

Defining politics and political science

Political scientist Harold Laswell said it best: at its most basic level, politics is the struggle of “who gets what, when, how.” This struggle may be as modest as competing interest groups fighting over control of a small municipal budget or as overwhelming as a military stand-off between international superpowers. Political scientists study such struggles, both small and large, in an effort to develop general principles or theories about the way the world of politics works. Think about the title of your course or re-read the course description in your syllabus. You’ll find that your course covers a particular sector of the large world of “politics” and brings with it a set of topics, issues, and approaches to information that may be helpful to consider as you begin a writing assignment. The diverse structure of political science reflects the diverse kinds of problems the discipline attempts to analyze and explain. In fact, political science includes at least eight major sub-fields:

American politics examines political behavior and institutions in the United States.
Comparative politics analyzes and compares political systems within and across different geographic regions.
International relations investigates relations among nation states and the activities of international organizations such as the United Nations, the World Bank, and NATO, as well as international actors such as terrorists, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and multi-national corporations (MNCs).
Political theory analyzes fundamental political concepts such as power and democracy and foundational questions, like “How should the individual and the state relate?”
Political methodology deals with the ways that political scientists ask and investigate questions.
Public policy examines the process by which governments make public decisions.
Public administration studies the ways that government policies are implemented.
Public law focuses on the role of law and courts in the political process.

What is scientific about political science?

Investigating relationships.

Although political scientists are prone to debate and disagreement, the majority view the discipline as a genuine science. As a result, political scientists generally strive to emulate the objectivity as well as the conceptual and methodological rigor typically associated with the so-called “hard” sciences (e.g., biology, chemistry, and physics). They see themselves as engaged in revealing the relationships underlying political events and conditions. Based on these revelations, they attempt to state general principles about the way the world of politics works. Given these aims, it is important for political scientists’ writing to be conceptually precise, free from bias, and well-substantiated by empirical evidence. Knowing that political scientists value objectivity may help you in making decisions about how to write your paper and what to put in it.

Political theory is an important exception to this empirical approach. You can learn more about writing for political theory classes in the section “Writing in Political Theory” below.

Building theories

Since theory-building serves as the cornerstone of the discipline, it may be useful to see how it works. You may be wrestling with theories or proposing your own as you write your paper. Consider how political scientists have arrived at the theories you are reading and discussing in your course. Most political scientists adhere to a simple model of scientific inquiry when building theories. The key to building precise and persuasive theories is to develop and test hypotheses. Hypotheses are statements that researchers construct for the purpose of testing whether or not a certain relationship exists between two phenomena. To see how political scientists use hypotheses, and to imagine how you might use a hypothesis to develop a thesis for your paper, consider the following example. Suppose that we want to know whether presidential elections are affected by economic conditions. We could formulate this question into the following hypothesis:

“When the national unemployment rate is greater than 7 percent at the time of the election, presidential incumbents are not reelected.”

Collecting data

In the research model designed to test this hypothesis, the dependent variable (the phenomenon that is affected by other variables) would be the reelection of incumbent presidents; the independent variable (the phenomenon that may have some effect on the dependent variable) would be the national unemployment rate. You could test the relationship between the independent and dependent variables by collecting data on unemployment rates and the reelection of incumbent presidents and comparing the two sets of information. If you found that in every instance that the national unemployment rate was greater than 7 percent at the time of a presidential election the incumbent lost, you would have significant support for our hypothesis.

However, research in political science seldom yields immediately conclusive results. In this case, for example, although in most recent presidential elections our hypothesis holds true, President Franklin Roosevelt was reelected in 1936 despite the fact that the national unemployment rate was 17%. To explain this important exception and to make certain that other factors besides high unemployment rates were not primarily responsible for the defeat of incumbent presidents in other election years, you would need to do further research. So you can see how political scientists use the scientific method to build ever more precise and persuasive theories and how you might begin to think about the topics that interest you as you write your paper.

Clear, consistent, objective writing

Since political scientists construct and assess theories in accordance with the principles of the scientific method, writing in the field conveys the rigor, objectivity, and logical consistency that characterize this method. Thus political scientists avoid the use of impressionistic or metaphorical language, or language which appeals primarily to our senses, emotions, or moral beliefs. In other words, rather than persuade you with the elegance of their prose or the moral virtue of their beliefs, political scientists persuade through their command of the facts and their ability to relate those facts to theories that can withstand the test of empirical investigation. In writing of this sort, clarity and concision are at a premium. To achieve such clarity and concision, political scientists precisely define any terms or concepts that are important to the arguments that they make. This precision often requires that they “operationalize” key terms or concepts. “Operationalizing” simply means that important—but possibly vague or abstract—concepts like “justice” are defined in ways that allow them to be measured or tested through scientific investigation.

Fortunately, you will generally not be expected to devise or operationalize key concepts entirely on your own. In most cases, your professor or the authors of assigned readings will already have defined and/or operationalized concepts that are important to your research. And in the event that someone hasn’t already come up with precisely the definition you need, other political scientists will in all likelihood have written enough on the topic that you’re investigating to give you some clear guidance on how to proceed. For this reason, it is always a good idea to explore what research has already been done on your topic before you begin to construct your own argument. See our handout on making an academic argument .

Example of an operationalized term

To give you an example of the kind of rigor and objectivity political scientists aim for in their writing, let’s examine how someone might operationalize a term. Reading through this example should clarify the level of analysis and precision that you will be expected to employ in your writing. Here’s how you might define key concepts in a way that allows us to measure them.

We are all familiar with the term “democracy.” If you were asked to define this term, you might make a statement like the following:

“Democracy is government by the people.”

You would, of course, be correct—democracy is government by the people. But, in order to evaluate whether or not a particular government is fully democratic or is more or less democratic when compared with other governments, we would need to have more precise criteria with which to measure or assess democracy. For example, here are some criteria that political scientists have suggested are indicators of democracy:

Freedom to form and join organizations
Freedom of expression
Right to vote
Eligibility for public office
Right of political leaders to compete for support
Right of political leaders to compete for votes
Alternative sources of information
Free and fair elections
Institutions for making government policies depend on votes and other expressions of preference

If we adopt these nine criteria, we now have a definition that will allow us to measure democracy empirically. Thus, if you want to determine whether Brazil is more democratic than Sweden, you can evaluate each country in terms of the degree to which it fulfills the above criteria.

What counts as good writing in political science?

While rigor, clarity, and concision will be valued in any piece of writing in political science, knowing the kind of writing task you’ve been assigned will help you to write a good paper. Two of the most common kinds of writing assignments in political science are the research paper and the theory paper.

Writing political science research papers

An introduction
A problem statement
A discussion of methodology
A literature review
A description and evaluation of your research findings
A summary of your findings

Here’s a brief description of each component.

In the introduction of your research paper, you need to give the reader some basic background information on your topic that suggests why the question you are investigating is interesting and important. You will also need to provide the reader with a statement of the research problem you are attempting to address and a basic outline of your paper as a whole. The problem statement presents not only the general research problem you will address but also the hypotheses that you will consider. In the methodology section, you will explain to the reader the research methods you used to investigate your research topic and to test the hypotheses that you have formulated. For example, did you conduct interviews, use statistical analysis, rely upon previous research studies, or some combination of all of these methodological approaches?

Before you can develop each of the above components of your research paper, you will need to conduct a literature review. A literature review involves reading and analyzing what other researchers have written on your topic before going on to do research of your own. There are some very pragmatic reasons for doing this work. First, as insightful as your ideas may be, someone else may have had similar ideas and have already done research to test them. By reading what they have written on your topic, you can ensure that you don’t repeat, but rather learn from, work that has already been done. Second, to demonstrate the soundness of your hypotheses and methodology, you will need to indicate how you have borrowed from and/or improved upon the ideas of others.

By referring to what other researchers have found on your topic, you will have established a frame of reference that enables the reader to understand the full significance of your research results. Thus, once you have conducted your literature review, you will be in a position to present your research findings. In presenting these findings, you will need to refer back to your original hypotheses and explain the manner and degree to which your results fit with what you anticipated you would find. If you see strong support for your argument or perhaps some unexpected results that your original hypotheses cannot account for, this section is the place to convey such important information to your reader. This is also the place to suggest further lines of research that will help refine, clarify inconsistencies with, or provide additional support for your hypotheses. Finally, in the summary section of your paper, reiterate the significance of your research and your research findings and speculate upon the path that future research efforts should take.

Writing in political theory

Political theory differs from other subfields in political science in that it deals primarily with historical and normative, rather than empirical, analysis. In other words, political theorists are less concerned with the scientific measurement of political phenomena than with understanding how important political ideas develop over time. And they are less concerned with evaluating how things are than in debating how they should be. A return to our democracy example will make these distinctions clearer and give you some clues about how to write well in political theory.

Earlier, we talked about how to define democracy empirically so that it can be measured and tested in accordance with scientific principles. Political theorists also define democracy, but they use a different standard of measurement. Their definitions of democracy reflect their interest in political ideals—for example, liberty, equality, and citizenship—rather than scientific measurement. So, when writing about democracy from the perspective of a political theorist, you may be asked to make an argument about the proper way to define citizenship in a democratic society. Should citizens of a democratic society be expected to engage in decision-making and administration of government, or should they be satisfied with casting votes every couple of years?

In order to substantiate your position on such questions, you will need to pay special attention to two interrelated components of your writing: (1) the logical consistency of your ideas and (2) the manner in which you use the arguments of other theorists to support your own. First, you need to make sure that your conclusion and all points leading up to it follow from your original premises or assumptions. If, for example, you argue that democracy is a system of government through which citizens develop their full capacities as human beings, then your notion of citizenship will somehow need to support this broad definition of democracy. A narrow view of citizenship based exclusively or primarily on voting probably will not do. Whatever you argue, however, you will need to be sure to demonstrate in your analysis that you have considered the arguments of other theorists who have written about these issues. In some cases, their arguments will provide support for your own; in others, they will raise criticisms and concerns that you will need to address if you are going to make a convincing case for your point of view.

Drafting your paper

If you have used material from outside sources in your paper, be sure to cite them appropriately in your paper. In political science, writers most often use the APA or Turabian (a version of the Chicago Manual of Style) style guides when formatting references. Check with your instructor if they have not specified a citation style in the assignment. For more information on constructing citations, see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial.

Although all assignments are different, the preceding outlines provide a clear and simple guide that should help you in writing papers in any sub-field of political science. If you find that you need more assistance than this short guide provides, refer to the list of additional resources below or make an appointment to see a tutor at the Writing Center.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Becker, Howard S. 2007. Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish Your Thesis, Book, or Article , 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Cuba, Lee. 2002. A Short Guide to Writing About Social Science , 4th ed. New York: Longman.

Lasswell, Harold Dwight. 1936. Politics: Who Gets What, When, How . New York: McGraw-Hill.

Scott, Gregory M., and Stephen M. Garrison. 1998. The Political Science Student Writer’s Manual , 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Turabian, Kate. 2018. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, Dissertations , 9th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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POLSC101: Introduction to Political Science

Research in political science.

This handout is designed to teach you how to conduct original political science research. While you won't be asked to write a research paper, this handout provides important information on the "scientific" approach used by political scientists. Pay particularly close attention to the section that answers the question "what is scientific about political science?"

If you were going to conduct research in biology or chemistry, what would you do? You would probably create a hypothesis, and then design an experiment to test your hypothesis. Based on the results of your experiment, you would draw conclusions. Political scientists follow similar procedures. Like a scientist who researches biology or chemistry, political scientists rely on objectivity, data, and procedure to draw conclusions. This article explains the process of operationalizing variables. Why is that an important step in social science research?

Defining politics and political science

Political scientist Harold Laswell said it best: at its most basic level, politics is the struggle of "who gets what, when, how". This struggle may be as modest as competing interest groups fighting over control of a small municipal budget or as overwhelming as a military stand-off between international superpowers. Political scientists study such struggles, both small and large, in an effort to develop general principles or theories about the way the world of politics works. Think about the title of your course or re-read the course description in your syllabus. You'll find that your course covers a particular sector of the large world of "politics" and brings with it a set of topics, issues, and approaches to information that may be helpful to consider as you begin a writing assignment. The diverse structure of political science reflects the diverse kinds of problems the discipline attempts to analyze and explain. In fact, political science includes at least eight major sub-fields:

American politics examines political behavior and institutions in the United States.
Comparative politics analyzes and compares political systems within and across different geographic regions.
International relations investigates relations among nation-states and the activities of international organizations such as the United Nations, the World Bank, and NATO, as well as international actors such as terrorists, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and multi-national corporations (MNCs).
Political theory analyzes fundamental political concepts such as power and democracy and foundational questions, like "How should the individual and the state relate?"
Political methodology deals with the ways that political scientists ask and investigate questions.
Public policy examines the process by which governments make public decisions.
Public administration studies the ways that government policies are implemented.
Public law focuses on the role of law and courts in the political process.

What is scientific about political science?

Investigating relationships

Although political scientists are prone to debate and disagreement, the majority view the discipline as a genuine science. As a result, political scientists generally strive to emulate the objectivity as well as the conceptual and methodological rigor typically associated with the so-called "hard" sciences (e.g., biology, chemistry, and physics). They see themselves as engaged in revealing the relationships underlying political events and conditions. Based on these revelations, they attempt to state general principles about the way the world of politics works. Given these aims, it is important for political scientists' writing to be conceptually precise, free from bias, and well-substantiated by empirical evidence. Knowing that political scientists value objectivity may help you in making decisions about how to write your paper and what to put in it.

Political theory is an important exception to this empirical approach. You can learn more about writing for political theory classes in the section "Writing in Political Theory" below.

Building theories

Collecting data

Clear, consistent, objective writing

Since political scientists construct and assess theories in accordance with the principles of the scientific method, writing in the field conveys the rigor, objectivity, and logical consistency that characterize this method. Thus political scientists avoid the use of impressionistic or metaphorical language, or language which appeals primarily to our senses, emotions, or moral beliefs. In other words, rather than persuade you with the elegance of their prose or the moral virtue of their beliefs, political scientists persuade through their command of the facts and their ability to relate those facts to theories that can withstand the test of empirical investigation. In writing of this sort, clarity and concision are at a premium. To achieve such clarity and concision, political scientists precisely define any terms or concepts that are important to the arguments that they make. This precision often requires that they "operationalize" key terms or concepts. "Operationalizing" simply means that important – but possibly vague or abstract – concepts like "justice" are defined in ways that allow them to be measured or tested through scientific investigation.

Fortunately, you will generally not be expected to devise or operationalize key concepts entirely on your own. In most cases, your professor or the authors of assigned readings will already have defined and/or operationalized concepts that are important to your research. And in the event that someone hasn't already come up with precisely the definition you need, other political scientists will in all likelihood have written enough on the topic that you're investigating to give you some clear guidance on how to proceed. For this reason, it is always a good idea to explore what research has already been done on your topic before you begin to construct your own argument. (See our handout on making an academic argument.)

Example of an operationalized term

To give you an example of the kind of "rigor" and "objectivity" political scientists aim for in their writing, let's examine how someone might operationalize a term. Reading through this example should clarify the level of analysis and precision that you will be expected to employ in your writing. Here's how you might define key concepts in a way that allows us to measure them.

We are all familiar with the term "democracy". If you were asked to define this term, you might make a statement like the following: "Democracy is government by the people". You would, of course, be correct – democracy is government by the people. But, in order to evaluate whether or not a particular government is fully democratic or is more or less democratic when compared with other governments, we would need to have more precise criteria with which to measure or assess democracy. Most political scientists agree that these criteria should include the following rights and freedoms for citizens:

Freedom to form and join organizations
Freedom of expression
Right to vote
Eligibility for public office
Right of political leaders to compete for support
Right of political leaders to compete for votes
Alternative sources of information
Free and fair elections
Institutions for making government policies depend on votes and other expressions of preference

By adopting these nine criteria, we now have a definition that will allow us to measure democracy. Thus, if you want to determine whether Brazil is more democratic than Sweden, you can evaluate each country in terms of the degree to which it fulfills the above criteria.

What counts as good writing in political science?

While rigor, clarity, and concision will be valued in any piece of writing in political science, knowing the kind of writing task you've been assigned will help you to write a good paper. Two of the most common kinds of writing assignments in political science are the research paper and the theory paper.

Writing political science research papers

Your instructors use research paper assignments as a means of assessing your ability to understand a complex problem in the field, to develop a perspective on this problem, and to make a persuasive argument in favor of your perspective. In order for you to successfully meet this challenge, your research paper should include the following components: (1) an introduction, (2) a problem statement, (3) a discussion of methodology, (4) a literature review, (5) a description and evaluation of your research findings, and (6) a summary of your findings. Here's a brief description of each component.

Before you can develop each of the above components of your research paper, you will need to conduct a literature review. A literature review involves reading and analyzing what other researchers have written on your topic before going on to do research of your own. There are some very pragmatic reasons for doing this work. First, as insightful as your ideas may be, someone else may have had similar ideas and have already done research to test them. By reading what they have written on your topic, you can ensure that you don't repeat, but rather learn from, work that has already been done. Second, to demonstrate the soundness of your hypotheses and methodology, you will need to indicate how you have borrowed from and/or improved upon the ideas of others.

Writing in political theory

Earlier, we talked about how to define democracy empirically so that it can be measured and tested in accordance with scientific principles. Political theorists also define democracy, but they use a different standard of measurement. Their definitions of democracy reflect their interest in political ideals – for example, liberty, equality, and citizenship – rather than scientific measurement. So, when writing about democracy from the perspective of a political theorist, you may be asked to make an argument about the proper way to define citizenship in a democratic society. Should citizens of a democratic society be expected to engage in decision-making and administration of government, or should they be satisfied with casting votes every couple of years?

Drafting your paper

If you have used material from outside sources in your paper, be sure to cite them appropriately in your paper. In political science, writers most often use the APA or Turabian (a version of the Chicago Manual of Style) style guides when formatting references. Check with your instructor if he or she has not specified a citation style in the assignment. For more information on constructing citations, see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing the original version of this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout's topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find the latest publications on this topic. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial.

Becker, Howard S. 1986. Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish Your Thesis, Book, or Article . Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Cuba, Lee. 2002. A Short Guide to Writing about Social Science , Fourth Edition. New York: Longman.

Lasswell, Harold Dwight. 1936. Politics: Who Gets What, When, How . New York, London: Whittlesey House, McGraw-Hill Book Company, inc.

Scott, Gregory M. and Stephen M. Garrison. 1998. The Political Science Student Writer's Manual , Second Edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc.

Turabian, Kate L. 1996. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers , Theses, and Dissertations, Sixth Edition. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

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Writing a Research Paper in Political Science: A Practical Guide to Inquiry, Structure, and Methods

Student resources, welcome to the companion website.

Want your students to write their first major political science research paper with confidence? With this book, they can. Author Lisa Baglione breaks down the research paper into its constituent parts and shows students precisely how to complete each component. The author provides encouragement at each stage and faces pitfalls head on, giving advice and examples so that students move through each task successfully. Students are shown how to craft the right research question, find good sources and properly summarize them, operationalize concepts, design good tests for their hypotheses, and present and analyze quantitative and qualitative data. Even writing an introduction, coming up with effective headings and titles, presenting a conclusion, and the important steps of editing and revising are covered with class-tested advice and know-how that’s received accolades from professors and students alike. Practical summaries, recipes for success, worksheets, exercises, and a series of handy checklists make this a must-have supplement for any writing-intensive political science course.

In this Third Edition of Writing a Research Paper in Political Science , updated sample research topics come from American government, gender studies, comparative politics, and international relations. Examples of actual student writing show readers how others "just like them" accomplished each stage of the process.

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge Lisa Baglione for writing an excellent text and developing the ancillaries on this site.

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Writing a Research Paper in Political Science A Practical Guide to Inquiry, Structure, and Methods

Lisa A. Baglione - Saint Joseph's University, USA
Description

Even students capable of writing excellent essays still find their first major political science research paper an intimidating experience. Crafting the right research question, finding good sources, properly summarizing them, operationalizing concepts and designing good tests for their hypotheses, presenting and analyzing quantitative as well as qualitative data are all tough-going without a great deal of guidance and encouragement. Writing a Research Paper in Political Science breaks down the research paper into its constituent parts and shows students what they need to do at each stage to successfully complete each component until the paper is finished. Practical summaries, recipes for success, worksheets, exercises, and a series of handy checklists make this a must-have supplement for any writing-intensive political science course.

New to the Fourth Edition:

A non-causal research paper woven throughout the text offers explicit advice to guide students through the research and writing process.
Updated and more detailed discussions of plagiarism, paraphrases, "drop-ins," and "transcripts" help to prevent students from misusing sources in a constantly changing digital age.
A more detailed discussion of “fake news” and disinformation shows students how to evaluate and choose high quality sources, as well as how to protect oneself from being fooled by bad sources.
Additional guidance for writing abstracts and creating presentations helps students to understand the logic behind abstracts and prepares students for presentations in the classroom, at a conference, and beyond.
A greater emphasis on the value of qualitative research provides students with additional instruction on how to do it.

See what’s new to this edition by selecting the Features tab on this page. Should you need additional information or have questions regarding the HEOA information provided for this title, including what is new to this edition, please email [email protected] . Please include your name, contact information, and the name of the title for which you would like more information. For information on the HEOA, please go to http://ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea08/index.html .

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Supplements

“ Writing a Research Paper in Political Science is a helpful research and writing guide for students from various disciplines and undergraduate levels.”

“Lisa A. Baglione’s book is a highly accessible resource to help undergraduate students transition from writing about politics to writing about empirical political science research.”

“With clarity and compassion, Lisa A. Baglione leads undergraduates step by step through the morass of empirical research.”

“ Writing a Research Paper in Political Science is an essential text for every political science major.”

This is an engaging and well written book that seems geared to the level of the course - students writing their senior capstones.

Excellent, in-depth review of how to do a research paper. Perfect for learning objectives of my course.

too focused on political science, not a good fit for urban planning.

NEW TO THIS EDITION:

A non-causal research paper woven throughout the text offers explicit advice to guide students through the research and writing process.
Updated and more detailed discussions of plagiarism, paraphrases, “drop-ins,” and “transcripts” help to prevent students from misusing sources in a constantly changing digital age.
A more detailed discussion of “fake news” and disinformation shows students how to evaluate and choose high quality sources, as well as how to protect oneself from being fooled by bad sources.
Additional guidance for writing abstracts and creating presentations helps students to understand the logic behind abstracts and prepares students for presentations in the classroom, at a conference, and beyond.
A greater emphasis on the value of qualitative research provides students with additional instruction on how to do it.

KEY FEATURES:

End-of-chapter recipes for annotated bibliographies, literature reviews, thesis formation, and more guides students step-by-step as they navigate common issues when composing a research paper.
Practical summaries , located at the end of each chapter, guide students towards their goals.
Sample material from student papers help illustrate in detail how students can craft and revise their content.
A natural progression of chapter topics guides students from finding a research question and distilling arguments, to revision and proper citation.

Preview this book

Sample materials & chapters.

CHAPTER 1: So You Have to Write a Research Paper

CHAPTER 3: Learning Proper Citation Forms, Finding the Scholarly

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Research Paper

Category: political science research paper examples.

We have collected almost 100 example papers on the most important political science research paper topics . This collection of political science research paper examples highlights the most important topics, issues, questions, and debates that any student obtaining a degree in this field ought to have mastered. The purpose is to provide students in political science with an authoritative reference source that will help their research paper writing efforts with far more detailed information than short essays.

Political Science: Research Methods & Design

Using Ebooks guide This link opens in a new window
Reference Works
Open Educational Resources
Search Strategies
Advanced Searching, Evidence Synthesis, and Systematic Reviews
Reports, Documents, & Policy
News guide This link opens in a new window
International & Comparative Statistics
California Statistics
San Diego Statistics
Elections guide This link opens in a new window
Public Opinion, Social Attitudes and Values
Finding Data & Statistics guide This link opens in a new window
GIS & Geospatial Technologies guide
Law guide This link opens in a new window
(Historic) Primary Sources guide This link opens in a new window
Researching Congress + Data
Congressional Elections + Data
Congressional Documents (US Gov Info guide)
Researching the Executive Branch + Data
Presidential elections + Data
Executive Branch Documents (US Gov Info guide) This link opens in a new window
Researching the Judicial Branch + Data
Finding Case Law
Interest Groups + Data
US Government Information guide This link opens in a new window
State Comparative Politics
State and Local elections + Data
California Govt guide This link opens in a new window
San Diego Govt guide This link opens in a new window
Constitution Day guide
Foreign Policy
Conflict, Military & Security
Foreign Govts
Elections around the world
Lijphart Elections Archive
International Govt Info guide This link opens in a new window
Global Policy & Strategy Research guide This link opens in a new window
Chinese Studies guides This link opens in a new window
European Studies guide This link opens in a new window
Japanese Studies guide This link opens in a new window
Jewish Studies guide This link opens in a new window
Korean Studies guide This link opens in a new window
Latin American Studies guide This link opens in a new window
Pacific Island Studies guide This link opens in a new window
South Asian Studies guide This link opens in a new window

Research Methods guides

APIs for Scholarly Resources
Corpora for Text Analysis
How to Cite guide This link opens in a new window
Open Access & Scholarly Communications guide This link opens in a new window
Creating Scholarly Posters in PowerPoint guide This link opens in a new window
Course Guides This link opens in a new window
AI and Academic Integrity
Additional Resources on Teaching and AI

Writing in Political Science - Duke University Writing Studio 4 page introduction to the basics of political science scholarly communication.
Research Methods Knowledge Base The Research Methods Knowledge Base is a comprehensive web-based textbook that addresses all of the topics in a typical introductory undergraduate or graduate course in social research methods. It covers the entire research process including: formulating research questions; sampling (probability and nonprobability); measurement (surveys, scaling, qualitative, unobtrusive); research design (experimental and quasi-experimental); data analysis; and, writing the research paper. It also addresses the major theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of research including: the idea of validity in research; reliability of measures; and ethics.
Choosing a Research Design - PHDStudent.com
Research Basics - Explorable.com (previously www.experiment-resources.com) Includes sections on: -Research Methods: Formulating questions, collecting data, testing hypotheses -Experimental Research: Setting up experiments -Research Designs: Different types of designs used in research -Statistics in Research: A guide to statistics in research.
The Theory and Practice of Field Experiments: An Introduction from the EGAP Learning Days Since 2015, EGAP has conducted week-long workshops on experimental research methods for scholars and evaluation professionals based in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. In these workshops — known as Learning Days — EGAP members from around the world travel to the workshop location to instruct on core topics in causal inference and experimental design, and to work closely one-on-one with participants to develop their research designs. In an effort to create a resource that EGAP members, workshop alumni, and others can use to organize their own workshops or refresh their training, Jake Bowers, Maarten Voors, and Nahomi Ichino have produced an online book. The book is organized around modules on the usual Learning Days topics as well as some new topics. At the heart of each module are slides that workshop facilitators can use directly or adapt for specific audiences. more... less... Authors: Jake Bowers, Maarten Voors, and Nahomi Ichino
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Political Science Subject Guide: Literature Reviews

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More Literature Review Writing Tips

Thesis Whisperer- Bedraggled Daisy Lay advice on writing theses and dissertations. This article demonstrates in more detail one aspect of our discussion

Books on the Literature Review

political science research paper example

What is a literature review?

"A literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. [...] In writing the literature review, your purpose is to convey to your reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. As a piece of writing, the literature review must be defined by a guiding concept (e.g., your research objective, the problem or issue you are discussing, or your argumentative thesis). It is not just a descriptive list of the material available, or a set of summaries."

(from "The Literature Review: A Few Tips on Writing It," http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/specific-types-of-writing/literature-review )

Strategies for conducting your own literature review

1. Use this guide as a starting point. Begin your search with the resources linked from the political science subject guide. These library catalogs and databases will help you identify what's been published on your topic.

2. What came first? Try bibliographic tracing. As you're finding sources, pay attention to what and whom these authors cite. Their footnotes and bibliographies will point you in the direction of additional scholarship on your topic.

3. What comes next? Look for reviews and citation reports. What did scholars think about that book when it was published in 2003? Has anyone cited that article since 1971? Reviews and citation analysis tools can help you determine if you've found the seminal works on your topic--so that you can be confident that you haven't missed anything important, and that you've kept up with the debates in your field. You'll find book reviews in JSTOR and other databases. Google Scholar has some citation metrics; you can use Web of Science ( Social Sciences Citation Index ) for more robust citation reports.

4. Stay current. Get familiar with the top journals in your field, and set up alerts for new articles. If you don't know where to begin, APSA and other scholarly associations often maintain lists of journals, broken out by subfield . In many databases (and in Google Scholar), you can also set up search alerts, which will notify you when additional items have been added that meet your search criteria.

5. Stay organized. A citation management tool--e.g., RefWorks, Endnote, Zotero, Mendeley--will help you store your citations, generate a bibliography, and cite your sources while you write. Some of these tools are also useful for file storage, if you'd like to keep PDFs of the articles you've found. To get started with citation management tools, check out this guide .

How to find existing literature reviews

1. Consult Annual Reviews. The Annual Review of Political Science consists of thorough literature review essays in all areas of political science, written by noted scholars. The library also subscribes to Annual Reviews in economics, law and social science, sociology, and many other disciplines.

2. Turn to handbooks, bibliographies, and other reference sources. Resources like Oxford Bibliographies Online and assorted handbooks ( Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics , Oxford Handbook of American Elections and Political Behavior , etc.) are great ways to get a substantive introduction to a topic, subject area, debate, or issue. Not exactly literature reviews, but they do provide significant reference to and commentary on the relevant literature--like a heavily footnoted encyclopedia for specialists in a discipline.

3. Search databases and Google Scholar. Use the recommended databases in the "Articles & Databases" tab of this guide and try a search that includes the phrase "literature review."

4. Search in journals for literature review articles. Once you've identified the important journals in your field as suggested in the section above, you can target these journals and search for review articles.

5. Find book reviews. These reviews can often contain useful contextual information about the concerns and debates of a field. Worldwide Political Science Abstracts is a good source for book reviews, as is JSTOR . To get to book reviews in JSTOR, select the advanced search option, use the title of the book as your search phrase, and narrow by item type: reviews. You can also narrow your search further by discipline.

6. Cast a wide net--don't forget dissertations. Dissertations and theses often include literature review sections. While these aren't necessarily authoritative, definitive literature reviews (you'll want to check in Annual Reviews for those), they can provide helpful suggestions for sources to consider.

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APSA (American Political Science Association) Citation Guide: Formatting Your Paper

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General Chicago Manual of Style Guidelines for Formatting Your Research Paper

Double-space between each line of type on the page. Double-space between all lines of the paper.
Only use single-spacing or one-and-a-half spacing for block quotes.
Leave uniform margins of at least 1 inch (2.54 cm.) at the top, bottom, left and right of every page.
Do not justify lines. Use the flush left style and the right margin uneven.

Sample Title Page

According to the Chicago style, class papers will either include a title page or include the title on the first page of the text. Use the following guidelines should your instructor or context require a title page:

The title should be centered a third of the way down the page.
Your name, class information, and the date should follow several lines later.
For subtitles, end the title line with a colon and place the subtitle on the line below the title.
Double-space each line of the title page.

Sample Reference Page

Label the first page of your back matter, your comprehensive list of sources “References” (for Author-Date style).
Leave two blank lines between “References” and your first entry and leave one blank line between remaining entries.
List entries in letter-by-letter alphabetical order according to the first word in each entry, be that the author's name or the title of the piece..
For two to three authors, write out all names.
For four to ten authors, write out all names in the bibliography but only the first author’s name plus “et al.” in notes and parenthetical citations.
When a source has no identifiable author, cite it by its title, both on the references page and in shortened form (up to four keywords from that title) in parenthetical citations throughout the text.
If you cannot ascertain the publication date of a printed work, use the abbreviation “n.d.”
Provide DOIs instead of URLs whenever possible.
If no DOI is available, provide a URL.

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APA 7th edition manual

Apa 7 citation examples, missing elements - apa 7, apa 7 paper formatting basics, apa 7 document templates, more apa 7th ed. resources, 1-credit apa 7th ed. class available.

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This guide will introduce you to APA 7 citations, both for the References page of your paper and in-text citations. It is offered in multiple file formats below.

Citation Examples - APA 7 - Word Document
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This guide will tell you exactly what to do if your resource is missing a citation element. Can't find the author, publication date, page numbers, or something else? Use this guide to find out what to do! This guide is offered in multiple formats below.

Missing Elements - APA 7 - Word Document
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Typed, double-spaced paragraphs.
1" margins on all sides.
Align text to the left.
Choose one of these fonts: 11-point Calibri, 11-points Arial, 10-point Lucida Sans Unicode, 12-point Times New Roman, 11-point Georgia, 10-point Computer Modern.
Include a page header (also known as the "running head") at the top of every page with the page number.
APA papers are broken up into sections. Check with your instructor for his/her expectations.
In general, headings and title are centered.

APA 7th edition recognizes two kinds of paper formats - student papers (undergraduate students) and professional research papers (graduate students and professionals). At Clackamas CC, you will use the student paper formatting conventions.

You don't have to format a paper from scratch! Download this APA-formatted document template as a Word document or Google document. Save it, erase the existing text, and type your text right into the template. Learn how to format a paper in APA format by reading the contents of the template. The References page has been formatted with hanging indents.

Download & edit: APA Word document template Microsoft Word document template to save a copy of and type into. To edit it, save a copy to your desktop or Clackamas Office 365 account. Includes tips on how to format a paper in APA. Last updated Feb. 2020.
Download & edit: Pages document template If you need this template in Pages, email [email protected]
View Only: Sample APA student paper (7th ed.) This sample student paper includes descriptions of indentations, margins, headers, and other formatting conventions (APA, 2020).
APA Style (APA.org) APA's site answers all the basic questions about APA 7th edition and gives sample "student" and "professional" papers. This will help you with document format, in-text citations, the References list, and various stylistics.

The English department offers an APA 7th ed. style course. It’s a one-credit online course. The course was developed for nursing students, but is also appropriate for students in other disciplines who need to develop APA formatting and style skills.

Course description:

Introduces American Psychological Association (APA) style and documentation, including document format, in-text citation, and References page. Includes style and documentation for narrative and academic papers. Students will work with provided sources. Recommended for pre-nursing and nursing students, allied health students, and STEM and social science students. Prerequisites: WR-121 with a C or better.

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Intro. to APA Style and Documentation
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Human Rights Research Paper

This sample human rights research paper features: 8300 words (approx. 27 pages), an outline, and a bibliography with 34 sources. Browse other research paper examples and check the list of political science research paper topics for more inspiration. If you need a research paper written according to all the academic standards, you can always turn to our experienced writers for help. This is how your paper can get an A! Also, chech our custom research proposal writing service for professional assistance. We offer high-quality assignments for reasonable rates.

Introduction

Concepts of human rights, relationship between human rights and dignity, concepts of dignity, values of human rights and dignity, history of human rights, history of human dignity, contemporary concepts of human rights, contemporary concepts of dignity, animal rights versus human rights, human dignity versus transhuman and posthuman dignity.

Bibliography

Human rights and dignity are central normative notions of contemporary politics as well as political and ethical theories. However, they have not had this role for a long period of time, as the main development of these concepts began only during the Age of Enlightenment. During the previous 60 years, their influence can be said to be of global importance. On December 10, 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted and proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations. Yet, there are traces of both notions in ancient and medieval thought, and this research paper will trace their roots and historical development and make inferences concerning potential future challenges concerning them.

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Article I of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”

Human rights are subjective rights of individual human beings. Subjective rights are different from objective rights. Objective rights refer to the completeness of regulations within a legal system. Objective rights grant subjective ones. Subjective rights imply that individual human beings have the authority to do certain things within the system. The concept of human rights implies that all human beings, because of their being human, have certain rights and freedoms that are universal, inalienable, and indivisible. According to a stricter sense of the concept of human rights, they can be contrasted with civil rights. Civil rights are held by all citizens of a state and include rights that are not human rights, like the right to vote. Human rights are held by all human beings. However, civil rights are included in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

According to the Czech jurist Karel Vasak (as he originally proposed in 1979), there are three generations of human rights. The first generation deals with liberty, and the rights in this generation are particularly civil in nature. Human rights in the second generation are related to equality, and their nature is primarily social, whereas the third generation rights go beyond the civil and the social and are mostly expressed in soft law declarations of international law. Libertarians are usually skeptical concerning human rights of the second and third generation, as they presume that these rights contain concealed paternalistic political goals.

The term human rights came into existence at the beginning of the 19th century. However, as mentioned above, it was not until 1948 that human rights were generally proclaimed, by what was then a newly formed United Nations. The declaration was primarily motivated by the cruelties of World War II. Article I of this declaration states a close connection between the concept of dignity and that of rights. As a result of this declaration, both concepts, that of human rights and that of human dignity, became highly significant for many countries’ constitutions and the post-1945 world.

Both rights and dignity can be justified naturally or solely legally. Natural rights are valid at all times in all places. Solely legal rights are grounded in an actually existing legal system founded by decisions made by human beings. To enforce natural human rights, they also need to be integrated into a legal system, but they are regarded as valid even if they have not been acknowledged by anyone.

Analogously, one can talk about necessary and contingent human dignity. Necessary dignity is a quality that belongs to all human beings at all times and in all places, whereas contingent human dignity is dependent upon an institution that declares that human beings are bearers of dignity. The concepts of right and dignity imply a normative aspect. The concept of dignity often has also an ontological aspect, whereas the concept of right can, but does not have to have, an ontological aspect.

In the above case of the United Nations Declaration, both concepts have an ontological aspect, as Article I states that all human beings who are the bearers of dignity and rights “are endowed with reason and conscience.” Hence, the normative aspect of both concepts is based upon an ontological one. However, the relationship between the two concepts in question can be different than that shown in the last example; for example, in the case of the German basic law, some experts claim that the concept of human dignity is the foundation for all human rights. In this case, it can be seen that only the concept of human dignity has an ontological and normative aspect, whereas that of a human right merely includes normative implications.

The concept of dignity must not be mixed up with the word dignity. The word implies several concepts that can be divided into a sense and a reference. Dignity is a quality that a bearer can have necessarily or contingently. To distinguish between these two types of dignity, it would be best always to clarify which type one is referring to. For pragmatic reasons, the author will use the expressions necessary dignity and contingent dignity from now on.

Necessary dignity can either be inherent or dependent. Given that human beings necessarily have free will, and free will is the foundation for dignity, it is the case that all human beings have necessary, inherent human dignity. If it were the case that God attributed dignity to all human beings necessarily, then all human beings would have necessary, dependent dignity. However, both instances would be examples of necessary dignity.

Contingent dignity can also be connected to various qualities. Given that human beings reciprocally attribute dignity to one another, then we would have contingent, dependent dignity. If human beings, on the other hand, were bearers of dignity, because they have the quality to make logical inferences, and this capacity is a bodily capacity, then human beings would have contingent, inherent dignity, as the capacity here is not a necessary one. Both examples represent types of contingent dignity.

The terms necessary dignity and contingent dignity can be specified further. They can imply equality or inequality concerning the bearers of dignity. In our context, only the concept of dignity that implies equality among its bearers is relevant. This does not mean that the other concept is socially unimportant; for example, bishops and judges have dignity; however, their dignity is a hierarchical one that is irrelevant here.

The concept of dignity that is relevant here is a nongradual one that implies equality among its bearers and is connected to six characteristic features:

Dignity cannot exist independently, but is always connected to a bearing entity.
A bearer has the quality dignity if he possesses a nongradual quality X, wherein dignity is founded.
The relationship between the bearers of dignity is that of equality; that is, all bearers of dignity have a nongradual quality X, because of which their relationship can be specified as descriptive equality.
The descriptive equality of the bearers implies a normative one, whereby the norm is related to an ideal of the good and not to that of an evil; for example, dignity is only given if all its bearers are supposed to be treated equally well and not if they are supposed to be treated equally badly.
Bearers of dignity have a special status within the world; that is, they are categorically different from all other beings in the world and have a quality that cannot be verified empirically.
The concept of dignity will be named “dignity” or named with an equivalent word in a foreign language. (If this trait was not included, then the concept of dignity would refer to too many concepts; for example, most concepts of rights would then also count as concepts of dignity, which would be a questionable position.)

Each entity to which the six features just stated apply is a bearer of the quality dignity. Hence, the reference of the concept dignity is dependent upon the meaning. However, thereby we have not yet clarified the concept of human dignity, but only that of dignity. The concept human dignity is the result of the intersection of the set of references of the concepts of dignity and of being human. A being belongs to the set of bearers of dignity if it is the case that he has all the features demanded of a bearer of dignity. A being belongs to the set of human entities if it belongs to the human species, that is, if it potentially belongs to the human reproductive community. It is important to distinguish between human beings and human entities. Both human beings and human entities belong to the human species. However, it does not have to be the case that all human entities are human beings. It is clear that a fertilized egg belongs to the human species, but it is unclear whether a fertilized egg can be called a human being. However, it clearly is a human entity, as it belongs to the human species. There are five possibilities of how the set of bearers of dignity and that of human entities can intersect:

The set of human entities can be a subset of that of the bearers of dignity. In this case, someone who is a human entity necessarily is a bearer of dignity. However, it is not the case that all bearers of dignity are human entities. Here, it is the case that someone who belongs to the human species also has to bear dignity, as it would be according to Kant, if we read him as follows: The ability to have reason is actual within the human soul, which is unified with the human body from the moment egg and sperm get together. Dignity here is founded in a feature that can necessarily be found in all human entities. According to Kant, the actual ability for reason can be found in all human beings. However, not all human beings can express this ability, as the capacity to express it is connected to a bodily capacity that one needs to develop.
The sets of the bearers of dignity and that of human entities can be identical. If someone is a human entity, then he is a bearer of dignity. Each bearer of dignity necessarily is a human being. In this case, the quality on which dignity is founded is a quality that is being held only by human beings. As here the identity of the set human entities and that of bearers of dignity is a given, it is also the case that the quality on which dignity is founded is the same as the one on which it depends whether one belongs to the human species.
The sets of bearers of dignity and that of human entities can overlap. There are human entities that are bearers of dignity, and there are human entities that are not bearers of dignity in the same way as there are bearers of dignity that are human entities, and there are bearers of dignity that are not human entities. In this case, dignity is founded upon a quality that some but not all human entities have, and that some but not all nonhuman entities have. One can read Kant in such a way that his concept of dignity belongs to this group, but only if one assumes that actual reason is not a capacity of the soul but is only present when someone can speak. There are human entities that can talk and who therefore also have dignity. However, there are other human entities that are currently unable to talk and who henceforth do not have dignity. It cannot be excluded, and Kant definitely does not exclude the possibility that there are nonhuman beings that have reason together with this dignity.
The set of the bearers of dignity can be a subset of human entities. All bearers of dignity are necessarily human entities. However, there are human entities that are not bearers of dignity. A position which claims that, for a human entity to have dignity, the human needs to be born would be one that belongs to this group. It can be the case that, as in this case, the feature on which dignity is founded is also the feature that turns a human entity into a human being.
The set of bearers of human dignity and that of human entities do not overlap. The fifth and last option is not relevant for us, as with it we do not have bearers of human dignity.

Both human dignity and human rights are the foundation of many constitutions and can be found at a prominent place in the charter of the United Nations. There is no moral dilemma or moral challenge for which these concepts are irrelevant. As an example, for the relevance of human dignity, one is referred to a discussion in the field of medical ethics.

The notion of human dignity is a complex one that is not being used in a unified manner. In addition, it is often abused in order to stop an argument or to claim that the opposite opinion can only be held by a scoundrel or a protofascist. Hence, it is important always to reference facts and to clarify the concepts one deals with. In the field of medical ethics, arguments that deal with the beginning of human life are of particular importance. From which moment on can one claim that a human entity has human dignity or the right to live?

From the moment of fertilization
From the moment of fusion of the precells
From the moment at which the nidation in the uterus takes place
From 14 days after the fusion, as from that moment on, it is impossible that twins can come about (conjoined twins can still come into existence, however)
From the moment at which the embryo becomes a fetus (i.e., after 3 months, when the developmental process of all organs is finished)
From the moment of birth

It depends upon a governmental decision which of these various stages is regarded as decisive for a human being to have dignity or the right to live. Legal regulations concerning stem cell research, preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), and abortion are based upon this decision. A particularly striking example can be given in the case of PGD. In contrast to the UK, PGD is forbidden in Germany. One reason for it being forbidden is that in the process of PGD, one or two totipotent cells are taken away from the fertilized cells and genetically analyzed, and they are destroyed in this process. As it is possible for a totipotent cell to develop into an independent human being, some regard totipotent cells as bearers of dignity, which therefore must not be destroyed.

Even though human rights, as we understand them today, were established only fairly recently, one can trace aspects of the concept back to antiquity. In ancient Athens, in the 6th century BCE, many government posts were given away by drawing lots, and thereby, any citizen could acquire the office in question. However, women or slaves did not have the right of citizenship. An important step in the development of human rights was the upcoming of Stoic philosophy and its concept of the humanitas, which implied that all humans, because of their being human, ought to be considered ethically. Yet, this duty was a lower-rank duty.

The proper beginning of the concept of human rights goes along with the beginning of the Age of Enlightenment. In the following paragraphs, the focus will be on the concepts of the most influential philosophers of rights: Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean Jacques Rousseau, and Immanuel Kant.

The first philosopher who was significant for the development of the concept of human rights was Hobbes. Fundamental to his understanding of rights is the fictional state of nature he presents, in which there is a war of all against all, and each person is the potential enemy of every other person— Homo homini lupus (“Man is a wolf to [his fellow] man”). Each person is fighting for his own survival and power. Then, each person is supposed to have the right to everything else in order to preserve himself. There is danger lurking in this state, as even the strongest can be killed during the night or by a group of weaker men who cooperate. No one is so much stronger than all the others to actually make sure that his safety can be guaranteed over a long period of time. Hence, there is a certain kind of equality among human beings, as we are all more or less equally strong, or to put it in a different manner: There is no one who is so much stronger than all the others over a long period of time that he could guarantee his own safety in a stable manner. Due to the given equality, this can come to a fictional contract between all human beings, in which all human beings agree to give their natural rights to the Leviathan, who from then on has the absolute power over his citizens. The individual citizens give away their sovereignty, and the political leader receives it.

A slightly less grim picture of human nature was presented by Locke. His ethics is closely connected with Christianity, as he makes clear that without afterworldly sanctions, there would be no reason for not living solely according to the pleasure principle. In the end, morality is based upon a God-given law. In a similar manner, he approaches his political ethics. He limits the power of the sovereign by putting forward that there are natural rights that are God given and valid universally. According to Locke, the natural law and the natural rights exist also in the state of nature. According to Hobbes, in that state everyone has a right to everything. According to Locke, on the other hand, the rights of a human being are limited by the rights of the others. And the most basic rights can be described as the right to the inviolability of a person and his property, which can be specified further by making a distinction between the right to life, health, liberty, and possession. As there are people in the state of nature who do not accept the natural law, there is a need to move from the natural state to a political system.

In contrast to Locke and Hobbes, Rousseau presents a more optimistic understanding of human behavior in the hypothetical state of nature. According to him, there are enough goods available for all human beings, they live separate from one another, and they are peaceful. Then human beings exist in a state of healthy self-love, which includes sympathy, which stops them from acting egoistically. The positively evaluated state of nature ends when someone develops the category of private property due to egoistic desires. Such an action leads to inequality and promotes further egoistic desires, so that one ends up in a system with richer and poorer people. The richer people force the poorer ones to accept a social contract whereby the poorer ones do not realize that they were being forced into the contract. Even though they claim that the social contract serves the common interest, it is supposed to be solely in the interest of the rich. However, there is also the possibility of an ideal social contract, which would be one in which all citizens realize that they are the general will. In that case, the political and moral freedom consists in sticking to the law that one has given oneself. Here, the general will would correspond with the individual one.

Autonomy, in a different sense from Rousseau’s, is central for Kant’s understanding of rights. Rights, according to Kant, are supposed to help individuals to live together so that they do not get into conflict with one another. Anyone is supposed to live such that his arbitrary will can coexist with the wishes of others. Kant also holds that a social contract is the basis of a state. He agrees with Locke that there are inviolable natural rights, with Rousseau that the highest norm concerning law giving ought to be the general will, and with Hobbes that in the state of nature there is the war of all against all. By transforming the particular individual wills into a general will, the state of nature changes into a constitutional state.

Early Greek philosophers did not hold a concept of dignity that can be compared to the one we have. In their case, dignity was always connected to a hierarchy. According to Aristotle, there are natural slaves, who of course have less dignity than citizens. Dignity today, however, implies the equality of its bearers. As said before, the concept of equality of all human beings is developed and becomes particularly influential in Stoic thought. As an outgrowth of Stoic philosophy, the first important concept of human dignity is put forward by Cicero. His thinking is reflected particularly in Renaissance philosophy. Pico della Mirandola and Manetti are two Renaissance philosophers who put forward paradigmatic theories of dignity. Another reader of the philosophy of Cicero was Kant, whose concept of dignity became particularly influential. In this section, first the paradigmatically most important theories of human dignity in historical order (Cicero, Manetti, Pico della Mirandola, and Kant) are presented, and these are followed specifically by the vehement criticism of the concept by Nietzsche, who provides us with a useful basis for reflections concerning the future of human dignity.

Cicero was the first great philosopher who put forward a concept of human dignity. He holds that all human beings, which implies all beings with ratio, have dignity. Concerning Cicero, the sets “members of the species human beings” and “beings with ratio” are identical concerning the extension, which means that if someone is a member of the one set, he also has to be a member of the other set, and it is impossible for a being to be a member of the one set without being a member of the other one. However, dignity is not the central concept within his ethics, as it often is today. The focus of his ethics lies on the highest good, which again is connected with the honorable, the honestum. Anyone who possesses the four cardinal virtues—justice, wisdom, bravery, and moderation—is honorable. Hence, the highest good is solely identified with the virtues. External goods are irrelevant concerning the highest good, which implies, however, a hierarchy of duties. The highest duties are the duties against the gods, followed by the duties against one’s political community and then the duties against one’s parents. We also have duties against other human beings who are bearers of dignity like us. However, these duties are of lower rank. This does not mean that they are irrelevant. These duties are of direct importance concerning our interaction with slaves and foreigners, who are also supposed to be treated in a just and dignified manner. Due to the high relevance of the duties against the political community, Cicero holds that the vita activa is more important than the vita contemplativa, even though the latter corresponds to our human nature.

Another paradigmatically important concept of dignity was put forward by the Renaissance humanist Manetti, whose views were ultimately founded in his faith in the Christian God. Faith is supposed to lead to appropriate actions and right thinking and also to the knowledge of God, human dignity, and the highest good. As in Cicero’s ethics, the concept of dignity is not the central one, which is the concept of the highest good. The highest good lies in a state of afterworldly bliss. To be able to reach this state, one has to be virtuous according to Manetti. The virtues piety, justice, and wisdom are of particular importance, according to him. Anyone who possesses these virtues reaches the highest good. Even though one reaches the correct understanding of these concepts only by means of contemplation, the main focus in life ought to be in the vita activa; with such a focus, one can fulfill ones duties against God and the other human beings in an appropriate manner. Due to the duty of justice, one ought to love all human beings as one’s brother and consider that love in one’s deeds. However, the possession of human dignity is independent of one’s deeds, as it is connected to the imago dei, the image of god, which we possess within our immortal souls. To act in accord with our dignity, we ought to stick to the duties that God has given all men and that are connected with the highest good. One of the duties is the duty of charity. Herein the consideration of other human beings, bearers of dignity, becomes directly relevant.

Another paradigmatically central foundation of human dignity was put forward by Pico della Mirandola. His concept is cited in many contemporary debates, even though current thinkers tend to receive his concept in a biased manner. According to him, human dignity lies in our free will, which lets human beings become a likeness of God and represents the signature of the creator upon his special creations. Human beings, according to Pico, participate in all layers of being, but, in contrast to other creations, they are not connected to one specific layer of being exclusively. Because of our free will, we have the chance to become who we wish to become. Of course, this does not mean that we can turn into fish or pigeons. However, it implies that we can choose our lifestyle according to our own fantasies, desires, or thoughts. It is this aspect which modern interpreters usually focus upon.

Yet, there is another side that can also be found in Pico’s philosophy. Even though we can choose to become who we apparently wish to become, there is supposed to be a real wish within all of us. We all wish to return to our origin, our creator, God, even though not all of us are conscious of this wish. The only way by which human beings are supposed to reach the highest good, which is the center also of Pico’s ethics, is by means of the unio mystica with God. This goal cannot be reached by conscious decisions. We depend upon the mercy of God to reach this state. However, we must first be prepared in order to be eligible for mercy. We must possess the political virtues within our character, which means that we ought to make peace, be just, have the virtue of love, and act in accord with it. On that fundamental level, the dignity of other human beings is considered, as here our duty to consider other human beings, bearers of duty, comes in, and we have the obligation to consider it in an appropriate manner. Our main duty concerning the highest good, however, is to go beyond our connection with the sensual world, to purify ourselves, and in the end God might grant us the chance to return to him and become one with him. The vita contemplativa, according to Pico, is much more relevant than the vita activa. If a human being does not consider the duties just stated, he does not lose his dignity, because his dignity is connected to his free will, which he cannot lose.

The most influential conception of human dignity was put forward by Kant. However, even according to him, the focal point of his ethics lies in the highest good. In contrast to the previous positions mentioned, the highest good, according to Kant in his Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten (“Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals”), does not enclose happiness, but it lies in the good will, which any being has who has will and reason and who acts out of respect for the moral law in accord with the moral law. Anyone who acts on maxims out of respect for the moral law, fulfils the moral law. This implies that his actions are based on maxims. To check whether a statement can be a maxim is to try to universalize the statement and check the reflections. If the reflections lead to contradictions, the statement cannot be a maxim. If the procedure does not lead to any challenges, the statement can serve as a maxim. The categorical imperative, which can be described in various ways, is a way of paraphrasing the moral law. One formulation of the categorical imperative includes the concept of human dignity, which is founded upon autonomy. The highest good and the moral law are valid for all beings with dignity, and dignity applies to autonomous beings only. One implication of the practical formulation of the categorical is that one must never treat humanity, neither in oneself nor in any other person, solely as a means. Any being with dignity must never be treated solely as a means. Hereby, it becomes clear that dignity is of some relevance in Kant’s philosophy; however, even according to him, the highest good is the central focus within his ethics. A further indication that human dignity does not have a foundational role within his ethics is that it turns up mainly within only one formulation of the categorical imperative.

The foundation of dignity, according to Kant, is the capacity of being autonomous, which is a necessary condition for acting in accord with the moral law. Autonomy must not be misunderstood as representing arbitrariness as freedom. Beings with dignity have the necessary duty to act in accord with duty. All acts that are in accord with the categorical imperative are in accord with duty.

In his Kritik der praktischen Vernunft (“Critique of Practical Reason”), Kant holds a similar position. Only his concept of the highest good changes slightly. It still encloses the moral law, but the person who acts out of duty in accord with duty not only deserves to become happy, according to Kant, but he can actually hope to receive happiness in proportional means to his acting morally. However, to act morally implies that one must not act in accord with the moral law while hoping to receive happiness in proportional means to his acting morally, even though one can hope that this will be the case. Only someone who acts morally out of respect for the moral law, without being motivated by his hope that he will be rewarded with happiness, acts morally. He can expect to be rewarded with happiness in an afterworld but not with a happy this-worldly life.

The most vehement criticism of human dignity was put forward by Nietzsche. Explicitly, he attacks solely necessary concepts of dignity, and all the concepts mentioned above have been necessary ones. Implicitly, however, his philosophy also goes against contingent concepts of human dignity. His argument against necessary human dignity goes as follows: The concept of necessary human dignity is founded upon four mistakes. Hence, it ought to be abandoned. The four mistakes he refers to are the following:

Human beings have an incomplete understanding of themselves.
Human beings attribute to themselves invented qualities.
Human beings regard themselves to be in the wrong relationship concerning animals and nature.
Human beings invent hierarchies of good, which they falsely regard as eternal and unconditional.

Concerning human dignity, these mistakes can be explained further by merely selecting some specific examples in order to support his argument:

Human beings correctly understand that they have reason. However, they have an incomplete understanding of themselves, as they do not realize that reason is not eternal and that it does not provide us with knowledge concerning the world but was developed in order to help us survive. Reason, according to Cicero, is the foundation of human dignity, but his concept is based on the wrong understanding of reason. Hence, it is not valid.
Human beings invented the concept of free will, which cannot even be thought of in a non–self-contradictory manner. Free will is the foundation of human dignity according to Pico. However, as free will does not exist, his concept of human dignity is invalid.
Human beings think that they were created in God’s image and that they have a special status in relation to animals and nature. According to Nietzsche, neither of these claims is correct. Human beings do not have a special status in nature, and they differ merely in degree from other animals. As the concept of God was merely invented, human beings also cannot be created in God’s image. According to Manetti, human dignity is founded on humans being created in the image of God, which is not correct. Hence, his concept of human dignity is invalid.
According to Nietzsche, all systems of morals, as well as all values and norms, were invented by a certain group that has common interests. There are no eternal values and norms. According to Kant, human dignity represents an eternal norm. Hence, his concept of dignity is invalid.

Against the concept of contingent human dignity, Nietzsche implicitly puts forward at least three separate arguments:

Nietzsche holds that human beings do not have special status in the world. However, such a special status is demanded by all concepts of human dignity, both necessary and contingent ones.
Nietzsche holds that there are no universally valid norms. However, necessary and contingent concepts imply that human dignity is a universally valid norm.
Nietzsche holds that all human beings are not equal, and that there are two groups of people that have to be evaluated differently. However, necessary and contingent concepts imply that human dignity demands the equality of all human beings.

Given these three last points, it is clear that Nietzsche attacks not only necessary concepts of human dignity but also contingent ones.

All concepts of human rights that will be presented in the following paragraphs stem from the Anglo-American tradition: Nozick, Rawls, Nussbaum, Taylor. All four political philosophers defend human rights, but they represent four diverse basic positions within the spectrum of possible communitarian and liberal attitudes. Liberal positions can be characterized as positions in which the right has priority over the good, whereas in communitarian positions, the good comes first and provides the basis for deriving a concept of the right. Nozick is a libertarian thinker and therefore the most liberal of them all. His work is a reaction to the theory of justice that was put forward by his colleague in the department of philosophy at Harvard University, John Rawls. Rawls’s position represents a classical liberal one. Taylor and Nussbaum represent two left-wing interpretations of communitarianism; Taylor puts forward a communist communitarianism and Nussbaum a socialdemocratic version of it.

Nozick’s political philosophy builds on a version of Locke’s natural rights position. The right to one’s own body and one’s property are fundamental, according to him. The best state is supposed to be a night watchman state, whereby the state secures the basic human rights but does not interfere with the free exchange among, and contracts between, consenting adults. Many philosophers criticized him for this system, as they regard the social consequences as not appealing.

According to Rawls, international human rights specify a limit to the internal autonomy of a regime, and any country that provides human rights to its citizens is entitled to tolerance. Hence, a desire to provide human rights entitles countries that see gravely unjust behavior in the internal practice of other countries to promote interventions in the countries in question. In contrast to the dominant lists of human rights, Rawls’s suggestion is more limited; he particularly stresses the rights to life, liberty, property, and equality. His suggestion takes into consideration that promulgation of human rights does not imply the risk of getting rejected as being too liberal or too closely related to the Western tradition. However, Rawls agrees with most human rights theorists by holding that the rights are universal, international, have a high priority, set minimal standards that should save people from the severest forms of unjust treatment, and are relevant primarily for governments.

In contrast to the liberal theories previously discussed, the political philosophies of the following two thinkers are based on a concept of the good that is supposed to be the basis for a concept of the right. Nussbaum’s concept of the good includes two separate lists, based on her intuition, which are supposed to describe (1) the conditio humana, which is relevant for all human beings, and (2) goods and capacities, which are supposed to be important within all human lives. The first list includes mortality, the human body, perception, early childhood development, practical reason, community with other human beings, relationship to animals and nature, humor and play, and individuality. In the second list, she mentions that it is good to live through all stages of life, to be healthy, to fulfill one’s sexual desires, to avoid pain, to have a concept of the good, and to live in a community in which solidarity exists. Hence, she puts forward a strong, but vague, concept of the good. It is strong, as it says something about all aspects of life, but it is vague, as it does not state in detail what ought to be done. Both lists serve as a basis for deriving rights.

Taylor’s concept of the good from which he derives the right, on the other hand, can be described as weak but detailed. It is weak, as it does not put forward anything about all the various aspects of life. Hence, he favors a pluralist ethics. On the other hand, he holds a detailed position concerning religion, as he interprets the world from a Roman Catholic perspective.

In contrast to the human rights tradition, the most prominent concepts of human dignity come from various traditions worldwide. This section will deal with those of Gewirth, Margalit, and Spaemann. The first two thinkers hold a contingent concept of dignity and the last one holds a necessary concept of dignity.

Gewirth holds that all human beings are “actual or prospective purposive agents.” If all beings who are able to actually or potentially act on purpose are bearers of dignity, and all human beings are such beings, then all human beings are bearers of dignity. He connects the rights to freedom and well-being with the concept of dignity. Hence, all bearers of dignity hold the rights to freedom and well-being. According to Gewirth, it is necessary for any agent to have these rights, as these rights are supposed to be necessary for any action, and an agent would be selfcontradictory if he denied having these rights. As morality is concerned with human action and being a human agent, Gewirth claims that human beings have dignity and the two human rights mentioned. The line of thought which he proposes implies some tacit assumptions:

Morality is concerned with action.
Human beings are “actual or prospective purposive agents.”
Person X is a human being.
Person X wishes to do action A.
In order for X to be an agent who seeks to fulfill his purpose A, it is necessary for X to assume having the right to act thus, and it would be self-contradictory not to do so, as he would reject what he needs as a purposive agent.
All human beings, all actual or future purposive actors, need to assume that they have the right to action.
Rights need to be granted by others.
Hence, there is a contract between all actual or future purposive actors that need the rights necessary for action.
All actual or future purposive actors grant the rights necessary for action, which are the rights to freedom and well-being, to all other actual or future purposive actors, so that the others grant oneself the same rights.
The rights to freedom and well-being are connected with dignity.
As all actual or future purposive actors grant one another the rights to freedom and well-being that are connected with dignity, and it is necessary for all actors to do so, it is also the case that all actual or future purposive actors grant one another dignity, and granting one another dignity is necessary.

With this line of thought, which, of course, is open to many criticisms, Gewirth argues for human dignity based on a theory of action combined with a contract theory.

Margalit’s argument in favor of dignity is a negative justification of the concept, as he does not state what dignity is but rather what one must not do to others, so that their dignity is recognized. His method can be described as appellative rather than a logical inference that shows the necessity of dignity. His negative justification is supposed to show that human dignity is attacked whenever a person is humiliated. He puts forward examples and reasons that are supposed to show that humiliation is bad, and avoiding humiliation is all that is needed for a decent society. A society that is nonhumiliating is a society that respects human dignity. This position implies that human beings are hurt not only by physical attacks but also by means of symbolic actions.

In contrast to these two this-worldly concepts of dignity, Spaemann’s position is metaphysical. According to him, the concept of human dignity refers to something sacred, the preciousness of human beings themselves, which, however, cannot be thought of without God. Dignity is a religious-metaphysical notion, and human beings have dignity just because they represent the Absolute. It is impossible, according to him, that any human being can be without a certain minimum of dignity. This does not imply that dignity is a gradual notion. The human dignity that is important for contemporary discussions and that does not have any gradations refers to the minimum amount of dignity that all human beings have to have and that they can never lose, according to Spaemann. On the basis of some transcendental-pragmatic reflections, he links dignity to a nonempirical substance, which again is connected with a personal soul. When egg and sperm come together, this soul is united with the body, as the soul is not part of nature. In addition, the dignity connected to the personal soul is not identical with human rights but represents the foundation of human rights.

Future Directions

Given the most recent scientific innovations and artistic creations, it is not a daring prophecy to claim that transhumanism and posthumanism are and will continue to be significant movements. They share the basic attitude that the special status of human beings has dissolved, which means that human beings do not have a special factor that separates them categorically from other forms of life: Human beings are merely gradually different from other forms of life. This conception can already be found in the reflections of Darwin and Nietzsche.

However, transhumanism and posthumanism must not be identified with one another. Their values differ significantly. Whereas transhumanism upholds humanist values, posthumanism sticks to antihumanist values. Humanist values are such that the Renaissance type counts as an ideal that is to be aspired to. Antihumanist values, on the other hand, are such that there is no absolute set of values—values depend upon perspectival interpretations, and it is up to the interpreter in question which values he sticks to. As the concepts of human rights and dignity are connected with humanist concepts like the affirmation of the special status of human beings, which both transhumanism and posthumanism reject, the future development of these movements is directly connected to the evolution of the concepts of rights and dignity. Concerning rights, the next battle will be one between animal and human rights, whereas concerning dignity, human dignity might have to evolve into a trans- or posthuman dignity.

One of the current and future developments concerning rights is related to the dissolution of the special status of human beings. Human rights apply only to human beings, and only humans ought to be considered in the moral realm, because they have a special ontological and normative status in the world. Given the dissolution of the special status of human beings, this position no longer holds. The most prominent defender of animal rights is Tom Regan. He argues that the fact of being a “subject-of-a-life” is a necessary and contingent condition for having rights. As there are nonhuman animals that also possess this quality, they also ought to possess rights, and one ought to alter the concept of human rights into one that includes humans and some nonhumans.

Another attack concerning our current attitude toward animals was put forward by Peter Singer. He compares the discrimination against animals just because they do not belong to the human species with sexism and racism. As an alternative, he proposes an ethics that considers an equal consideration of interests. Hence, two beings that have similar preferences ought to be morally considered equally, too. Both Regan and Singer take the dissolution of the special status of human beings seriously. Thereby, they show that the current concept of human rights ought to be revised, as it does not adequately represent the relationship between human beings and nonhuman beings.

The current and future developments concerning the concept of dignity are also related to the dissolution of the special status of human beings in the world. One of the qualities necessarily connected with human dignity is the special status of human beings in the world. Human beings are categorically different from nonhuman animals, according to this view. It can imply, as it does according to German law, that only a human being is a person and all other beings are things. To hurt an animal is to commit a damage to a property, a thing. Given the dissolution of the special status of human beings, this estimation becomes implausible, and as such, the categorical difference between human beings and animals vanishes. Hence, there is a need to revise the concept of human dignity to integrate the altered attitude concerning the status of human beings in the world. In that case, we might already be able to talk of a posthuman instead of a human dignity. Another option would be to completely get rid of the concept of human dignity, as the qualities related to it are no longer plausible, and given the origin of the concept, it has religious implications, which are also no longer held by a majority of people.

In addition, a further development has to be noted. Genetic engineering enables us to alter the genetic setup of humans significantly, and it can be expected that many further developments will take place in this respect. These developments are significant also for the concept of dignity. Two attitudes concerning human alteration have been developed within two movements. First, there is the transhumanist movement, and second, the posthumanist movement. Both accept the dissolution of the special status of human beings in the world and the integration of human beings in nature so that they are different only in degree from other animals. However, their views concerning the genetic alterations of human beings differ. In contrast to the transhumanists who uphold a humanist—a Renaissance—ideal of human beings, posthumanists uphold antihumanist values.

However, the transhumanist movement is not a unified one. Esfandiary distinguishes between the transhuman and the posthuman. A transhuman is a transitional human who represents the link to the posthumans but still belongs to the human species. A posthuman is a member of the posthuman species, which represents a further step in evolution. Bostrom, on the other hand, has a different notion of the posthuman. He regards a posthuman to be a member of the human species but with capacities that greatly exceed “the maximum attainable by any current human being without recourse to new technological means.” Both uphold a humanist ideal that implies that not all alterations count as enhancements. Only if the alterations stick to a certain ideal of the good, which is similar to the Renaissance ideal of human beings, do they count as enhancements.

The posthumanist movement, on the other hand, is more open concerning what counts as an enhancement. It does not uphold that there is only one moral ideal or that there is only one set of values and norms valid for everyone. There are various ideals that are valid for certain types of human beings. There is a group that upholds the Renaissance ideal, but there are other groups, too. There is also the group of the blind, which regards being blind as an ideal. Posthumanism, in contrast to transhumanism, does not claim that one group holds a mistaken ideal, as transhumanists would claim with respect to the group of the blind for example. Posthumanists have greater respect for the value of negative freedom, which this author regards as a cultural achievement that cannot be underestimated and that one must not sacrifice lightly. The genetically altered, from the perspective of posthumanism, can also be referred to as posthumans. However, there are also concepts of the posthuman within posthumanism that are not directly concerned with questions of genetic enhancement, like Hayles’s concept of the posthuman or Haraway’s concept of the cyborg, which put forward a new anthropology. Hence, posthumanism from their perspective is the attempt of putting forward a radically new picture of what the anthropos is.

There are various ways to understand and affirm genetically altered human beings. If one refers to members of the human species as bearers of human dignity, which one can continue to do, and if one revises the traditional concept by integrating the dissolution of the special status of human beings, then one should seriously consider what type of dignity applies to trans- and posthumans. Given the differences between them and current human beings, this ought to have an effect upon their moral status. Maybe they can be regarded as bearers of transhuman and posthuman dignity, respectively.

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Alex Sharov

State, market and globalization are three concepts, the interrelation and influence of which can be traced throughout almost the entire period of their existence. It is possible that, according to some anthropologists, in primitive societies the economy was not based on market relations, but the formation of market institutions is impossible without protection from the government (state or at least quasi-state) and even more so without direct creative intervention of the state. At the same time, however, it should be borne in mind that in the context of globalization there are ongoing changes both in the essence of the state and in the tasks that it must solve. Sometimes there are allegations of erosion or extinction of the nation-state, which are not yet true. Of course, the political and economic development of society makes its adjustments, but functions such as protection from economic aggression, legislative provision of fair competition, participation in large projects that ca...

Time and again we are reminded that capitalism is more about competiveness and its advantages than ownership. Critics say that what we find today is not planning for people but planning for capital. Does this auger well for India " s faster and more inclusive growth? That way even in the classical capitalist growth theory does not preclude petering of growth. State activity then is necessary to make " stationary state " a state of activity if not of growth. There is entry for " state in the market " .The " State " has evolved, so has its functions, the latter often overlapping. The changes have been more in " domain " than in " direction " in general. From the era of laissez faire to state socialism and then to neo-liberalism, in every phase and every reform, " market " has been the crux of the matter. Again from non-interventionist, free market policy to public distribution and to the present privatisation bogey and further to the need for market/globalisation management, the debate goes on.While some pay eulogy to the market pointing out state failure, others hail the government (state) pointing out the market failure. That means the solutions lie in finding the right balance between the state and the market which is precisely what China and India are trying to do now. Although the debate " state versus market " per se is an old one, the recent changes in the international political economy have deepened the debate. More generally, the trends of the past decade have generated considerable debate about the role of knowledge, transnational corporations (TNCs), and multilateral institutions as vehicles for promoting growth and development. While the virtues of economic globalisation and the liberal market-oriented ideology continue to reign, evidence abounds of an increasing unease with the effects of unbridled market forces. In India for instance, besides the visible ills of globalisation (and/or marketization) including ecological imbalance, the perceived ones also have made the both the central and state governments to go in for more and more safety nets and public programmes like food security, job guarantee, direct cash transfer etc., in the name of market regulation.The present paper while considering some theoretical insights to the debate, tries to make a conscious decision to seek modern expressions of the major perspectives, viz., liberalism, economic nationalism, and structuralism. We also try to examine how – as Geoffrey Underhill feels – state and market make up a matrix or a " condominium " , i.e. " an integrated ensemble of governance " in order to move in a more welfare-oriented and redistributive direction. The limitations of the study: need to consider the complex situations in the functions of all the layers of the government in a federal setup , and the viewpoints of all the stakeholders, citizens, corporates etc., to focus upon the new trends in citizen centric governance.

Roe Goddard

Zafer Yilmaz

Jorge Bateira

This article summarises the main arguments of a critical literature that radically questions the neoclassical economic theory of state-market relations and identifies the fundamental methodological weaknesses of this school of thought. As an alternative, it presents an interpretation of the methodology on which Original Institutionalism, the political economy movement launched by Thorstein Veblen, is based. The article proposes an understanding of the economy and markets as emerging institutions, reflecting a metaphysics of social systems that views the latter as complex, self-organised and interactive processes. The state-market relationship is analysed in light of this institutional interactivity. Highlighting the co-evolution of state and market, the article attributes a central role to industrial policy in economic development processes.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: The course aims to provide an in-depth coverage of the political economy of globalization and development with a particular focus on emerging powers and their changing role in the global political economy. The first part of the part of the course will cover broader debates on Northern and Southern varieties of capitalism, states and markets in development, the relationship between democracy and development. The second part of the course will focus explicitly on individual BRICS and near BRICS. Particular attention will be paid to the respective developmental strategies as well as similarities and contrasts in the regional and global roles of China, India, Brazil and Russia. Finally, the course will consider the role of emerging powers in the context of global governance. The role of emerging powers is investigated in the context of the global economic crisis and their influence on the future course of development in the " global South " .

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