In search of relevance: European political scientists and the public sphere in critical times

Abstract

Social relevance has become a key element to assess the social legitimacy of an academic discipline. This contrasts with a widespread sentiment among political scientists about the existence of a relevance gap. The context of multiple crises Europe has experienced since the late 2000s has provided political scientists with a multitude of opportunities to demonstrate the social relevance of their work and the usefulness of the discipline. This introductory article to the special issue aims to offer an explorative framework and a preliminary discussion of empirical examples to assess the phenomenon of political scientists’ relevance in the public sphere during recent turbulent times. The framework (which emphasises three basic dimensions of social relevance – partisanship, visibility, and impact) is used to interpret the main results of the five case studies included in the special issue. Results show that contextual factors (salience of the issue, political and media contexts) influence political scientists’ engagement in the public sphere, the role they adopt and their visibility. The article ends emphasising the importance of collective action within the discipline as an instrument to enhance its social relevance.

La ciencia política en Uruguay en el siglo XXI: avances y desafíos en el desarrollo del campo disciplinario

“…En el siglo xxi a nivel global se ha generado un intenso debate sobre el estado de la disciplina y el camino que debía tomar para convertirse en una "buena" ciencia política. Una de las discusiones más candentes refiere a la utilidad de la disciplina y su producción académica a la hora de resolver problemas sociales, con preocupación respecto a en qué medida la creciente valoración de la especialización metodológica nos llevaría a hacernos preguntas que se ajusten a los métodos, pero cada vez menos relevantes para el entorno (Flyvbjerg, 2001;Sartori, 2004;Vallès, 2020;Real-Dato y Verzichelli, 2021;Lindvall, 2022;Capano y Verzichelli, 2023). 1 Otro de los debates refiere a la existencia de distintas corrientes epistemológicas, teóricas y metodológicas en la ciencia política y sus formas de relacionamiento -solo por mencionar un ejemplo ilustrativo de esta discusión, véase la conversación entre Sartori (2004) y Colomer (2004.…”

European Political Science versus the Pandemic: Patterns of Professional Adaptation

“…This apparent disconnection from ‘big-world events’ may be driven by the scarce media visibility of EPSs, which also implies scarce involvement in high-level debates on the reality and consequences of the pandemic. Nevertheless, in more developed countries, this may also be a consequence of a conscious choice by EPSs to withdraw into their ‘ivory towers’ ( Real Dato and Verzichelli, 2021 ). On the contrary, there is a group of political scientists who are either more interested in relevant social and political events and, despite the low visibility of the discipline, attempt to contribute or those who already hold roles as policy advisors or as commentators in the media.…”

Strategy of Data Collection and Analysis for Comparing Policy Advisory Roles

“…3.2 we first present our survey design and the underlying purposes developed within the broader COST Action on the Professionalization and Social Impact of European Political Science (ProSEPS) (COST Action CA15207). This project including 39 countries has organized the most complete and ambitious survey ever realized among political scientists in Europe, dealing with viewpoints on and experiences with advisory roles, media outreach (Real Dato & Verzichelli, 2021), institutionalization of the discipline of political science (Ilonszki & Roux, 2021), and internationalization of scholars. By Europe, we mean countries of the European Union and other countries such as Norway and Turkey.…”