Political Science: A Global Perspective.

• Author: Magbadelo, John Olushola

Political Science: A Global Perspective

By Leonardo Morlino, Dirk Berg-Schlosser, and Bertrand Badie

Los Angeles: Sage Publications Limited, 2017, 296 pages, $102.59 (Hardcover) ISBN: 9781412962148

This new text on Political Science is a very advanced intellectual discourse on selected topics in the discipline. It is written by established and renowned scholars who have over the years distinguished themselves as resourceful promoters of the discipline across the globe. Leonardo Morlino and Dirk Berg-Schlosser have both been Presidents of the International Political Science Association (IPSA) at different times. IPSA, under their leadership, organized and held conferences for political scientists from all corners of the world to discuss salient developments in global politics from diverse perspectives. This exposure likely influenced these authors' decision to write an introductory textbook on Political Science which would synthesize all the outlooks on the core issues of politics with a view to articulating more harmonious and generally acceptable perspectives. The authors' aim is to provide refreshing insights into such issues as war and peace, prosperity, welfare, sustainable environment, freedom, justice, gender, and democracy under changing cultural perspectives (p. 2). They expressed their desire to provide advanced students of Political Science a succinct overview of the discipline from a truly global perspective (p. 1).

The book comprises sixteen chapters, beginning with an introductory section which lucidly articulates the origins of political science and its distinctiveness. The chapters are classified into five parts. Part 1, "Background," consists of three chapters which provide extensive discussions on the epistemological foundations of political science and the social sciences, as well as methods of research including research designs, case studies, qualitative comparative analysis, regressions, survey research and statistical analysis. In this part of the book, the relationship between political science and other allied disciplines such as sociology, international relations, economics, law, and history, is clarified (pp. 15-53). Part II of the book focuses on what the authors consider "Macro-Politics." In chapters 4-7, deeper intellectual exposition is given on such topics as the social-structural and political-cultural bases of politics, the nature and characteristics of politics in democracies, the democratization process...