Best political scientist in the world

The point of political biography is not simply to tell a life story, but to say something about the conduct of politics. As Kenneth Morgan put it: ‘I … use biography to … answer political questions about public issues’ (Morgan 1988, 33). Political biography deals, then, with how people function within institutions, why people engage with (and dominate in) groups, what are the factors in success and failure, what we might expect of those who favour particular styles — that is, it is the application of biography to a set of analytical tasks (Davies 1972b). The nature of contemporary political biography in Australia reveals something of its history, and of its usefulness in addressing such tasks.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Editors and Affiliations

1. University of Tasmania, Australia

   R. A. W. Rhodes (Professor of Government, Distinguished Professor of Political Science) (Professor of Government,

   •

   Why Would a Political Scientist Write a Biography?

   by Bartholomew Sparrow, University of Texas at Austin

   Why would a political scientist write a biography of a U.S. national security advisor? Biography focuses on a single individual and has no guidelines on where or how to collect evidence or on how to organize that evidence. Nonetheless, a biography of General Brent Scowcroft, national security advisor to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, allowed me to provide a broad overview of forty years of U.S. foreign policy history, to conduct an in-depth study of the personnel and organization involved in the national security decision-making, and to narrate the life of an extremely influential and interesting public figure. Biography fulfills many of political science’s disciplinary objectives, in fact: it speaks to important issues of political science, it offers thick description and facilitates the drawing of causal inferences, it addresses agency and structure, it is falsifiable, and it is able to communicate with a larger public. Read the full article.

   Perspecti

   •

   List of political scientists

   This is a list of notable political scientists. See List of political theorists for those who study political theory.

   The following is a list of notable political scientists. Political science is the scientific study of politics, a social science dealing with systems of governance and power.

   This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

   A

   • Robert Abelson – Yale University psychologist and political scientist with special interests in statistics and logic^[1]
   • Henry J. Abraham – American scholar on the judiciary and constitutional law and James Hart Professor of Government Emeritus at the University of Virginia^[2][3]
   • Alan Abramowitz – expert in American politics, political parties, ideological realignment, elections, and voting behavior; professor at Emory University
   • Paul R. Abramson – American political scientist known for his research and writing on American, European, and Israeli elections and p