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Kirjoittajat

• Dag Anckar

Abstrakti

Political science is today a fragmented discipline. It is characterized by internal fragmentation: Political there is a lack of collective efforts in terms of methodological conceptions and descriptions of the subject matter. Political science is also characterized by external fragmentation: subfields of the discipline have been established as new disciplines which strive for identities of their own. However, disintegrating effects can be counteracted if political science research departs from problems that are relevant for all levels and sectors of political life and thus bridge the gap between subfields. Since such integrating problems are to be found in the world of theory rather than in the chaos of concrete empirical phenomena, political scientists are well advised to adopt a change of perspective. This change implies the use of empirical findings for theoretical purposes rather than the use of theory for empirical purposes.