ABOUT THIS BOOK

The Caucus for a New Political Science (CNPS) was created in 1967, when several hundred dissident political scientists walked out of the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA) to protest the Association’s refusal to take an official position against the Vietnam War. The CNPS soon expanded its mission to challenge the APSA’s behavioral and pluralist orthodoxy, protest a lack of democratic procedure and transparency in the organization, and oppose ties between the leadership and government agencies involved in covert activities. It remains unique among the more than 50 Organized Sections of APSA as the only section that defines itself ideologically and politically, rather than by research topic, methodology, subfield, or identity status.

A Critique of Political Science distinguishes between the discipline of political science (methods and concepts) and the profession of political science (persons and institutions) to move disciplinary history beyond its current form as intellectual history toward a politics of political science. The book argues that understanding the development of a discipline requires the same type of theoretical analysis that political scientists apply to other political institutions. By examining universities and professional associations as political institutions, this approach puts political struggles and ideological conflict at the very core of disciplinary history. In reviewing 50 years of debate, controversy, and in-fighting in the political science profession, the book serves as a critique of the profession and the discipline of political science, which remains woefully disengaged from the concerns of ordinary citizens, particularly the working class and the poor throughout the world.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Clyde W. Barrow is Professor of Political Science at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

REVIEWS

"Too many in political science are unaware of alternative currents in their own disciplinary history. Professor Clyde W. Barrow’s incisive, erudite, and clearly written history of the Caucus for a New Political Science is thus a major contribution to the field and, simultaneously, a crucial statement on academic politics. It is a must read for every professor and student of political science.”

— Stephen Eric Bronner, Rutgers University: New Brunswick

“Political science—both as a discipline and a profession—in America gravely needs a far more thorough and up-to-date history. A Critique of Political Science is the best account of the discipline since the 1980s. It will do much to counter the deeply embedded social amnesia about the origins and practices of this social science in the U.S.”

— Timothy W. Luke, Virginia Tech

“No one can match Barrow’s long involvement with the Caucus for a New Political Science, his numerous personal contacts with many of its other members, and his decades of commitment to telling its story. He’s the best person to tell this important story.”

— Emily Hauptmann, Western Michigan University

This book weaves together the two components of its title to produce an authoritative and stimulating study. . . For anyone interested in what Barrow calls “the intellectual class
struggle” (334), this book provides valuable lessons."

— Victor Wallis, Socialism and Democracy

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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