bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
From Elite Higher Education to Massification
Authors: Tight Malcolm
Published: February 2023

This chapter reviews the experience of the Asia-Pacific region in moving from elite to mass higher education participation and beyond. It considers the meanings attached to elite, mass, and universal higher education, and their place in higher education research, practice, and policy. It then reviews the historical development of higher education, before examining the recent transition to mass higher education and how it has played out in particular systems. The Asia-Pacific region has differed from the Western world in the greater role of central government in driving massification and private institutions in delivering it. Transnational higher education has played a significant part, though several Asia-Pacific nations, including China, Malaysia, and Singapore, are also seeking to become higher education hubs. In the future we may expect: expansion of postgraduate education and research; the continuance of an elite sub-system; and continued efforts at establishing world-class universities.
Asia as a Producer of Knowledge
Authors: Chi Youngsuk , Van Orden John
Published: February 2023

In today’s hyper-competitive, global knowledge economy, institutions of higher education play a key role in creating innovation and defining future job growth, particularly in the context of country or regional strategies for smart specialization. This chapter focuses on two key viewpoints from which we can statistically measure knowledge production and some of its impacts on society—scholarly research publications and patents. Throughout the chapter, the effects of different levels of investment in research from higher education as well as the public and private sector are shown to play a key role in the production of scientific research and intellectual property. Across Asia, regional and country differences in knowledge production come into focus through the study of bibliometrics and patent data. Diving into these trends, it becomes clear that knowledge production in Asia—although not always evenly distributed across the region—is certainly booming.
Employment and Labor Markets
Authors: Cameron Roslyn , Burgess John
Published: February 2023

This chapter examines graduate employment and labor markets across the broad regional scope of the Asia-Pacific region which includes East, South, and South-East Asia and analyzes the labor market within and across these regions. The chapter is organized into four main sections which explore the Asia-Pacific region and the diverse economies, demographics, and labor markets within that region. The chapter also addresses the mega trends impacting the future of work and employment and the regional strategies that have been developed to tackle these trends. Graduate unemployment, underemployment, and employability are discussed and the chapter ends with a synopsis of strategic responses to generating work-ready graduates across the region.
Japan
Authors: Yonezawa Akiyoshi
Published: February 2023

This chapter discusses the history, current profile, and future of higher education in Japan as the first Asian country to develop a modern Western-style higher education system. The author examines the historical development and current condition of Japan’s higher education system, especially in relation to the policy of nation-building and catching up with advanced economies, and challenges, such as the recent stagnation in public and private investments in higher education, the slow process of internationalization in higher education, and the rapid aging of society. Finally, the author discusses future perspectives, including the “new normal” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath as well as how Japan’s universities and higher education institutions are developing equal partnerships with other Asian higher education systems in line with the structural transformation of the Asian region in terms of both economy and knowledge.
Japan
Authors: Sugimura Miki , Yamaguchi Shinobu Yume
Published: February 2023

Internationalization of higher education includes promoting flows of students and researchers, cultivating innovative international programs such as joint or double degrees, and promoting collaboration with foreign or other international higher education institutions. This chapter focuses on internationalization policies and implementation for higher education in Japan since the 1980s which primarily aim to attract international students by improving admissions systems and creating a supportive environment to integrate international students into Japanese higher education systems. These policies reflect Japan’s strategy of positioning the country as a network hub for knowledge exchange in Asia. While the government reached its target in 2019 of attracting 300,000 international students in Japan, there has been negligible progress on increasing the number of outbound Japanese students studying abroad. This chapter assesses the outcomes of internationalization policies for higher education in Japan, including their positive influence on the establishment of a diverse range of programs, and limitations and challenges to implementation; and considers future prospects for internationalization in the context of regional and global educational mobility.
Higher Education in the Republic of Korea
Authors: Ko Jang Wan
Published: February 2023

Higher education in South Korea has undergone dramatic changes over the past seven decades. The government has provided strong intervention and policy initiatives on college admission, higher education finance and tuition issues, and reshaping the higher education system in response to people’s enthusiasm for education, national development goals, and continuing social demands. Individual colleges and universities have also pursued development strategies by actively complying with government policies. Accordingly, Korean higher education has improved significantly in terms of universal access, effective student financial aid, quality of higher education, and international collaboration and competitiveness. Higher education in South Korea, nevertheless, continues to face new challenges to effectively cope with the decline of the school-age population and must explore sustainability measures in an era of uncertainty.
Singapore
Authors: Gopinathan S. , Lee Michael H.
Published: February 2023

In Singapore, higher education policy development and implementation is driven by the need to utilize higher education to drive the nation’s socio-economic development via developing skilled manpower, knowledge generation, and innovation. Higher education development is also driven by the need to respond to families’ and students’ aspirations. Thus, massification and internationalization are key factors of the system. More recently the government has sought to integrate university-based research within state-driven R&D frameworks and has provided considerable financial and manpower resources. This chapter concludes by examining current and emergent challenges facing higher education in Singapore in order to better serve the nation’s needs. Singapore’s experience in developing a world-class higher education system provides valuable policy lessons for other higher education systems, especially in Asia.
Higher Education in Hong Kong
Authors: Jiang Jin
Published: February 2023

As an Asian cosmopolitan city, Hong Kong has a higher education system that is highly internationalized and is well-recognized for its international standing and reputation. In recent years, the city has been developing Hong Kong’s higher education system into an education hub in the Asia-Pacific region. Against this background, this chapter discusses the recent development and challenges of the higher education sector in Hong Kong. After providing an overview of the current higher education system in Hong Kong, this chapter analyzes recent structural changes to the higher education sector as a result of marketization and diversification strategies, the impact of dramatic expansion of the higher education sector, and the ongoing movement to internationalize higher education in Hong Kong. This chapter also investigates the impact of such changes on social inequality and mobility, as well as university governance in higher education.
Education for All?
Authors: Sutherland Kathryn A. , Marshall Stephen J.
Published: February 2023

New Zealand’s university system is barely 150 years old and in that time has experienced significant growth and change, sharing challenges with universities worldwide in addressing social, cultural, economic, technological, and educational change. The system operates in a highly neoliberal policy space with an emphasis on direct economic impact, shaped strongly by global rankings and their influence on the attractiveness of universities to international students and their associated export earnings. A major issue facing the country is the systematic inequality experienced by indigenous Māori and by Pacific Island communities and this is being addressed through policies mandating performance targets on educational institutions. Associated with this are ongoing issues in building a domestic academic workforce, particularly in the Māori academic community, in the face of research performance systems that focus on international impact. The future state of the system is unclear. This chapter considers a range of strategies for leaders.
Higher Education in Myanmar
Authors: Lall Marie , Kandiko Howson Camille , Tun Aye Aye
Published: February 2023

Historically, Myanmar had a leading higher education system in the Asian region. Civil strife over the past 70 years has led to deterioration, with universities having faced long periods of closure in the 1960s, 1980s, and 1990s. Students’ engagement in pro-democracy movements led to the government tightening control and limiting funding, curtailing higher education’s ability to be an engine for economic and social change. Reforms started in 2012, supported by international development partners, focusing on key issues of university autonomy, the right to form unions and formulate their own curriculum. The National Education Strategic Plan in 2015 developed sector bodies to address governance and management capacity, quality and equitable access to higher education. A coup on February 1, 2021 has plunged the country back into civil unrest, with closures and academics participating in protests. With reforms curbed and retrenchment from international engagement, the future direction of higher education remains uncertain.
Queering the Psyche Through Music
Authors: Weigel Leif
Published: February 2023

Music is an essential muse in developing our understanding of queer and trans music therapy in theory and clinical application. Through philosophical ruminations that stem from an intimate auto theoretical lens, this chapter explores how music emulates queerness by operating outside binary structures. Music imposes an innate queering on our psyche, as well as offers a fundamentally queered social framework that primes us for full spectrum thinking, variability, and inclusivity. This chapter invites readers to adopt a musicological framework to gain insight on how queer and trans identity can be embraced in the field of music therapy. In response to efforts queering the field, this chapter flips the question to ask ‘How does music queer us?’
The Role of Religion for the Development of Work-Family Policies
Authors: Peng Ito , Payette Alex
Published: February 2023

The main focus of the chapter is on the role of Confucianism for cross-national differences in the contemporary work-family policies in East and Southeast Asian countries. The policies of these welfare states, which represent the “Confucian” welfare regime, are characterized by family policies that traditionally are strongly based on family obligations for care and a weak welfare state. However, more recently, many of these countries have begun to strengthen the role of welfare states in order to support families’ care needs. In order to answer their research question, the authors compare current work-family policies in China, Singapore, and Japan, using a Most Similar System Design (MSSD) method. They find that these countries are charting distinct family policy paths by “handling” Confucian ideas differently. The differences can be explained, according to the findings, by these countries’ policy legacies and social and institutional contexts.
Change and Variety in Family Forms
Authors: Stearns Peter N.
Published: February 2023

This chapter provides a sweeping historical review of the structure and patterns of family relations from the agricultural age (roughly 3500 BCE to the 18th century) to the 21st century. It examines how structures have responded to the two most fundamental changes in human life: the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture, and the more recent shift from agriculture to urban/industrial—a shift still underway in many parts of the world, and still prompting adjustments even in advanced industrial societies. In sketching the basic features of agricultural, and then industrial, families, this chapter captures key aspects of the family dynamic over time. It also analyzes how families have responded to major differences in social structure, such as how birth rates, marriages ages and other crucial patterns have varied considerably between upper and lower classes.
Treat All Families Equally?
Authors: Miho Antonela , Thévenon Olivier
Published: February 2023

Growing family complexity and diversity has increased uncertainty about family relationships and weakens the private safety net provided by families for their members. In order to respond to such uncertainty, it is necessary that the legal obligations of family members and the rules providing access to public benefits and safety nets are adapted to the diversity of family living arrangements. This chapter highlights challenges raised by the increasing informality and complexity of family living arrangements in ensuring that all children have equal access to the same level of social support. It discusses policy developments that can be adopted to ensure that parents of children in nontraditional family settings get access to social protections that fully suit their family living arrangements.
Social Investments in Early Childhood
Authors: Jeroslow Phyllis
Published: February 2023

In this chapter, Phyllis Jeroslow surveys family policies that are seen as providing “social investments” in early childhood, which are divided into three types of benefits: children’s allowances, paid parental leave, and early childhood education and care (ECEC). The survey examines the historical development of these early childhood benefits and the pattern of expenditures on these benefits in 10 advanced industrialized countries that represent alternative welfare regimes. In analyzing the expenditure trends, Jeroslow suggests that the policies developed less in response to unified principles and well-defined goals than to political contingencies and challenges arising at different times. In closing, she contrasts the social investment perspective, designed to meet the needs of the market economy, to an alternative view that promotes the humanistic goal of developing children’s potential to the fullest without regard to market demands.
Childcare Policies and Fertility Considerations
Authors: d'Addio Anna Cristina
Published: February 2023

This chapter examines the multiple determinants of declining fertility rates in many countries throughout the world and the family-friendly policies designed in response to this trend. The major factors identified as driving down fertility include the delay of childbearing related to increasing years of education, at the end of which expanding opportunities in the labor market further postpone childbirth. In addition, women’s childbearing decisions are constrained by the fact that the indirect costs of raising children fall more heavily on mothers than fathers. A reading of the research suggests that economic conditions and government support for early childhood care and education (ECCE), which promote greater gender balance between family life and work, are likely to play an important role in boosting fertility rates.
Raising Children in Stepfamilies
Authors: Stykes J. Bart
Published: February 2023

Stepfamilies are a form of family diversity, which is increasing alongside the climbing rates of divorce in modern times. Describing the demographic trends related to the formation and magnitude of stepfamilies, J. Bart Stykes observes that in many Western societies approximately 10–15% of children experience life in a stepfamily. Stykes notes that ambiguous legal rights and obligations, which challenge stepfamily relations among married couples, are further complicated in cohabiting stepfamilies. In the United States, cohabitating stepparents’ economic contributions are not formally considered in the definition of family income when assessing eligibility for public assistance. The ambiguity of family policy concerning stepparents’ rights has resulted in legal decisions that define stepparents’ relationships as ranging from that of a de facto parent to that of a legal stranger to their stepchildren.
Cross-Border Marriages and Marriage Migration
Authors: Le Bail Hélène
Published: February 2023

With the advent of globalization, family diversity is further advanced by the rates of marriage migration, which are rising in Europe, the Americas, and most prominently in South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, and other countries of Northeast Asia. Hélène Le Bail explores the geography and routes of cross-border marriages along with the positive and adverse consequences of this trend. She highlights the contradictory discourse surrounding cross-border marriages, which on one hand is seen as a cultural threat to a homogenous society, and on the other hand as a favorable solution to declining fertility rates in places such as South Korea, where public policy now lends support to the “multicultural family.”
Family Change in the Context of Social Changes in Asia
Authors: Gietel-Basten Stuart A.
Published: February 2023

This chapter examines the family’s social and demographic changes since the mid-20th century in the East and Southeast Asian territories of China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. The demographic trends of family life in these regions have produced some of the lowest fertility rates and the longest life expectancies in the world, which has created issues that could not be imagined in the late 20th century. Gietel-Basten points out that the rapid decline in family size and increased aging of the population has occurred while social norms and values concerning intergenerational responsibilities have been slower to change. Under these circumstances the traditional filial obligation to care for parents has led to a “4-2-1” system for many (particularly in China), in which two parents end up caring for one child and two sets of grandparents. As mothers increasingly enter the labor force, the social and demographic trends in the East Asian territories create rising pressures on family resources and welfare state provisions for the long-term care of older persons.
Diversity of Childcare Policies in Nordic Welfare States
Authors: Duvander Ann-Zofie , Nyberg Anita
Published: February 2023

This chapter examines the development of publicly financed childcare (PFC) and cash for care in Finland, Norway, and Sweden, from the 1960s until today. These three countries show quite different development trajectories over time. In all three, but especially Finland and Sweden, women entered the labor market before the PFC services had developed and childcare was initially often arranged privately. Informal family day care was eventually replaced by formal family day carers being employed by the municipality. This happened less in Norway, where women entered the labor market later. Preschool activity then expanded over time, first in Sweden and somewhat later in Finland and Norway. Over time the preschools became the dominant form of childcare, but the prevalence of cash for care differentiates the situation in the three countries, especially regarding children’s age at start of PFC. Today, Finland is the country where cash for care is still widely used and children start later in preschools. The chapter also describes the comparative cost and subsidized fees of PFC, when various parental groups got access to PFC, and indicators of quality in the three countries. The authors draw the conclusion that the motivation to expand PFC to facilitate women’s work has today been replaced by a motivation centered around children’s needs, a move in which informal caregivers have largely been replaced by educated preschool teachers.
Varieties of Public Policy toward Domestic Violence
Authors: Sack Emily J.
Published: February 2023

Similar to child maltreatment, domestic violence is a problem that devastates family life. These two problems often co-occur and a child’s exposure to domestic violence is considered a form of child abuse in some states. Noting that domestic violence accounts for approximately 38% of the murders of women worldwide, Emily Sack surveys an array of measures dealing with domestic violence from criminal law to child custody policies. She explores controversial issues such as respecting the autonomy of victims who do not support arrest or prosecution of an abusive partner, while insuring their safety and enforcing community norms. Sack questions the practice of removing children from their mothers on charges of child neglect due to exposure to domestic violence. Presenting diverse arguments made for criminalization and decriminalization of domestic violence, she highlights the basic issues surrounding the state’s role in protecting victims and argues for policies that give greater consideration to the victims’ varying needs and diverse circumstances.
The Growth and Consequences of Quasi-markets in Long-Term Care
Authors: Palomera David , León Margarita
Published: February 2023

This chapter investigates how the extension of markets in Western Europe’s long-term care (LTC) systems has shaped the provision of care over the most recent decades. The chapter pays attention to the provision of formal LTC, with a special focus on public and private relationships, taking into consideration the relevance of national and regional contexts. The chapter outlines relevant conflicts that quasi-markets and New Public Management (NPM) logics have brought to care economies. It shows the extent to which the impact of quasi-markets on care provision is mediated by specific market dynamics, such as who is available to provide good quality care and political economy contexts, including power relations between different actors. The chapter’s last section explores the introduction of quasi-markets in nursing homes in Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom in relation to two main issues: the impact of market structures and concentration dynamics on determining outcomes and the capacity to monitor, regulate, and hold private actors accountable in these four countries. The authors draw the conclusion that concentration dynamics in the nursing home sector should be carefully assessed, especially when it comes to understanding how investment capacity and capital accumulation affect public control. The exploration of recent quasi-market dynamics in the nursing home sector of the four countries studied here poses the fundamental question of how to reconcile the interests of powerful market actors and the responsibility of the state toward providing for good social care for all.
Intergenerational Resource Transfers in the Context of Welfare States
Authors: Vanhuysse Pieter , Gál Róbert Iván
Published: February 2023

The main focus of the chapter is on “inter-age transfer,” or the resources reallocated among different age groups at a given moment in time. The welfare state is, in fact, primarily an inter-age, rather than an inter-class, redistribution vehicle. The chapter introduces a new approach to the measurement of such inter-age transfers that includes, besides welfare state public transfers and market-based private transfers, the transfer of unpaid household labor within the family ( time). The chapter uses a recently developed methodology, National Transfer Accounts (henceforth NTA) and National Time Transfer Accounts (henceforth NTTA), that includes familial transfers of money and of time into the calculation of the amount of inter-age transfers in a society. It shows that, once all three transfer types are taken into account, Europe proves to be a continent of elderly-oriented welfare states embedded within societies composed of strongly child-oriented families. By comparing the inter-age transfer systems of Sweden and Taiwan, the authors show that their overall transfer burdens are surprisingly similar.
Theorizing the Relationship between Family, Gender, and the Welfare State
Authors: Daly Mary
Published: February 2023

This chapter, written by Mary Daly, focuses on how the relationship between family, gender, and the welfare state can be and has been theorized and how different modes of this set of relationships are embedded in and realized by social policy. The author’s main purpose is to identify the most useful concepts and lines of analysis that provide a basis for a theoretical and conceptual approach. Considerable attention is therefore devoted to defining key concepts and to reviewing the literature on how the relationships have been conceived. The chapter also examines outcomes, moving beyond the theoretical and conceptual approach to identify the key elements and emphases of policy that make a difference. In terms of policy, the chapter focuses especially on family policy, which is set within the broader parameters of the welfare state, The chapter also focuses on high-income countries, especially the member countries of the European Union (EU).
Putting Philosophy of Political Science on the Map
Authors: Kincaid Harold , Van Bouwel Jeroen
Published: February 2023

Contrary to economics or history, for example, there does not exist an organized field dedicated to the philosophy of political science. Given that the philosophical issues raised by political science research are just as pressing and vibrant as those raised in these more organized fields, fostering a field that labels itself Philosophy of Political Science (PoPS) is important. PoPS is advanced here as a fruitful meeting place where both philosophers and practicing political scientists contribute and discuss—with philosophical discussions that are close to and informed by actual developments in political science, making philosophy of science continuous with the sciences in line with contemporary naturalist philosophy of science. The topics scrutinized in the different chapters of the Handbook will figure prominently in PoPS, as we lay out in this chapter.
Qualitative Research in Political Science
Authors: Zahle Julie
Published: February 2023

Abstract: In this chapter, the current state of qualitative research in political science is first characterized through an examination of three forms of research that are widely regarded as qualitative, namely research that employs the methods of qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), process tracing, and ethnography. Next, the current state of qualitative research is characterized through a discussion of different conceptions in political science as to what is distinctive of qualitative research in general. Lastly, this twofold characterization is put into perspective by looking into how the current state of qualitative research in political science compares to that in other social sciences.
Interpretivism versus Positivism in an Age of Causal Inference
Authors: Lawler Janet , Waldner David
Published: February 2023

This chapter reconsiders the long-standing opposition to interpretivism and positivism in light of recent methodological developments in statistics and social sciences. We discuss the emergence of “causal inferentialism,” show how it departs from major tenets of positivism and consider the ways in which it rests on tacit interpretivist foundations. We also discuss the emergence of new norms and practices among interpretivists, including a tacit shift toward causal explanations. We reflect on the similarity of question, interest, and form, which inspire both the interpretivist and the inferentialist methodology. In light of these developments, we consider the possibility that old antimonies might give way to collaborative projects.
Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA)
Authors: Russo Federica , Rihoux Benoît
Published: February 2023

A core methodological approach in political science consists in comparing cases. Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) is a methodology designed to do just that, in a systematic manner and exploiting strengths of both qualitative and quantitative approaches. This chapter presents QCA as a candidate methodology to go beyond the “qualitative-quantitative” divide and discusses whether, and to what extent, QCA helps address both why- and how-questions. Finally, the chapter discusses what it means to combine methods in an approach such as QCA, also implementing a mixed methods research (MMR) protocol. Using Ruphy’s approach of “foliated pluralism,” we explain that, from an epistemological perspective, the added value is that a pluralistic methodological approach such as QCA allows better and richer epistemic access to the phenomenon of interest, and also enables one to produce causal inferences.
Generalization, Case Studies, and Within-Case Causal Inference
Authors: Goertz Gary , Haggard Stephan
Published: February 2023

Abstract: Experiments no less than case studies always raise the question of generalization. This chapter discusses this problem and reviews a developing qualitative research practice that we call large-N qualitative analysis (LNQA). The core of the methodology lies in exploring postulated causal mechanisms within individual cases, but for a relatively large number of cases or even the entire population. The approach raises wider epistemological questions about how to generalize and the relationship between type and token causal inference.
Randomized Interventions in Political Science
Authors: John Peter
Published: February 2023

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs), whereby subjects are randomly assigned to different conditions and outcomes are compared afterward, have become a very popular method in political science because they offer the possibility of causal inference that is so hard to achieve otherwise. But the method attracts strong criticism, often made from outside political science. It is claimed that trials have poor realism, weak external validity, allow for only a limited range of possible research topics, and throw up unique ethical challenges. While political scientists should take good note of these criticisms when they design trials, they also need to be aware that these kinds of challenges are also faced by social scientists generally. All scholars need to be aware of the limits of the methods they use, which include randomized controlled trials.
Lab Experiments in Political Science through the Lens of Experimental Economics
Authors: Hofmeyr Andre , Kincaid Harold
Published: February 2023

Lab experiments have become an increasingly popular tool in political science to test theory, generate empirical regularities, and serve as a test bed for new mechanisms and institutions. Despite their close connection and overlapping lineage, lab experiments in political science are still at a relatively early stage of development, and only now starting to attain general acceptance in the discipline, in comparison to lab experiments in economics. Consequently, we evaluate the current state of lab experiments in political science by drawing on the philosophy and methodology of experimental economics. We begin by identifying a set of principles of experimental research in economics and outline a series of potential confounds confronting even the best experiments applying those principles. We then conduct a systematic review of all the lab experiments in the economic tradition published in the Journal of Experimental Political Science since its inaugural issue. We find that many studies are subject to the payoff-dominance critique, susceptible to incentive-compatibility issues, and do not make sufficient use of what we call the theory-experimental design-econometric trinity. We suggest, therefore, that lab experiments in political science (and economics) could often benefit from a more careful appreciation and application of the philosophy and methodology of experimental economics.
The Biology of Politics: Some Limitations and Reasons for Caution
Authors: Kaplan Jonathan Michael
Published: February 2023

Work attempting to explain political attitudes by reference to people’s different biological make-ups face critical problems that should encourage caution in the interpretation of that work. The heritability of political attitudes does not itself imply anything about the adaptive significance of the traits in question, nor anything about the history of those traits. Recent work elucidating the fiendish complexity of the genetics underlying the heritability of complex behaviors in humans makes it vanishingly unlikely that genetic studies will be able to elucidate much of anything about the development of the psychological traits associated with political attitudes. It is unclear what neuroimaging studies could reveal about these traits, even if their issues surrounding reliability and replicability were successfully addressed. Perhaps most critically, studies attempting to link particular political attitudes to variation in physiological responses, while interesting, do not address the ways in which social and political norms can and do change over time.
Prediction, History, and Political Science
Authors: Northcott Robert
Published: February 2023

To succeed, political science usually requires either prediction or contextual historical work. Both of these methods favor explanations that are narrow-scope, applying to only one or a few cases. Because of the difficulty of prediction, the main focus of political science should often be contextual historical work. These epistemological conclusions follow from the ubiquity of causal fragility, underdetermination, and noise. They speak against several practices that are widespread in the discipline: wide-scope retrospective testing, such as much large-N statistical work; lack of emphasis on prediction; and resources devoted to “pure theory” divorced from frequent empirical application. I illustrate, via Donatella della Porta’s work on political violence, the important role that is still left for theory. I conclude by assessing the scope for political science to offer policy advice.
Positivism and Value Free Ideals in Political Science
Authors: Kincaid Harold
Published: February 2023

Debates about positivism and value freedom have continued unabated in political science for at least a half century. The debate has been plagued by unclear and varying claims and by false oppositions. I sort out different positivist and constructivist claims and then argue that there is a quite defensible moderate position between the extremes of operationalism and mechanical objectivity on the one hand and postmodernist social constructivism on the other. Likewise, claims that political science is value laden can mean multiple things with quite different implications about scientific objectivity, some supporting skepticism and some not. I apply these ideas to the study of clientelism in political science.
Political Experts, Expertise, and Expert Judgment
Authors: Reiss Julian
Published: February 2023

The nature of expert judgment and the role of experts in society are core issues in political science. If policy makers want to make rational decisions about which of several policy options to implement, they will want to know which option is most likely to succeed in advancing the policy goal. But the answer is rarely plain. Moreover, there are a number of obstacles to assigning the role of policy adviser to experts as well as normative considerations about the interactions of these experts with policy makers. Before delving into the normative discussions, I discuss different definitions of the very notion of “expertise.” Next, I evaluate three ideal-typical models for the role of scientific experts in a democratic society, namely the decisionistic, technocratic, and pragmatistic model. I conclude that, for a democrat, the most defensible model of the role of experts in society is the decisionistic one.
Progress in International Politics
Authors: Chernoff Fred
Published: February 2023

This chapter focuses on one subfield of political science, international relations (IR), and asks if there has been, or can be, science-like progress in the pursuit of knowledge. Because of the substantive and methodological diversity of the subfields in political science, the chapter’s focus is on IR rather than on political theory, political institutions, or comparative politics. The chapter considers the question of progress by examining the democratic peace debate, one of the most important topics of recent decades. It describes liberalism and realism, their debate over the connection between democracy and peace, and progress therein. It then raises constructivist worries that cast doubt on whether there is legitimate progress akin to that in the natural sciences. The chapter seeks to show how some of the constructivist criticisms, especially concerning the meanings of key terms, capture something of real importance, but that a proper perspective on their claims does not necessarily show divergence from the natural sciences.
Strategic Theory of Norms for Empirical Applications in Political Science and Political Economy
Authors: Ross Don , Stirling Wynn C. , Tummolini Luca
Published: February 2023

The study of social norms sprawls across all of the social sciences but the the concept lacks a unified conception and formal theory. We synthesize an account that can be applied generally, at the social scale of analysis, and can be applied to empirical evidence generated in field and lab experiments. More specifically, we provide new analysis on representing norms for application in empirical political science, and in parts of economics that do not follow the recent trend among some behavioral economists to build models of the cognitive and motivational states of individuals taken “one at a time”. Foundational sources for our project are Bicchieri (2006, 2017), Kuran (1995), and Stirling (2012, 2016). From Bicchieri take that a norm exists in a social structure when a significant networked subset of individuals share descriptive and injunctive expectations that it regulates their interactions. From Kuran we take the insight that prevailing norms may come to be widely disliked by participants in networks but survive because norm suppress public displays of disenchantment. From Stirling we apply conditional game theory (CGT) to provide the technical resources for building our model of a norm-regulated social interaction. The example we use is a multi-player Investment/Trust Game.
Jealousy in Close Relationships From an Evolutionary and Cultural Perspective
Authors: Buunk Abraham P. , Massar Karlijn
Published: February 2023

Jealousy occurs when one feels an actual or potential intimate relationship is threatened by a real or imagined rival. This chapter shows that the psychological experience of jealousy is associated with physical and hormonal characteristics. Particularly, the focus is on the distinction between possessive jealousy and reactive jealousy in humans and other species. Possessive jealousy is a preventive reaction that often results in mate guarding. Among human males, possessive jealousy aims to prevent investment in offspring sired by another male, whereas among human females, it seems to have evolved to obtain and preserve the investment of males in offspring and for disease avoidance. Possessive jealousy is related to cultural factors, such as parental control of mate choice, life history (in particular attachment style and father absence), and domestic violence. Regarding reactive jealousy (i.e., the responses to actual sexual and emotional intimacy with a third person), we discuss sex differences in emotional versus sexual jealousy, how reactive jealousy is experienced, and the variables to which it is related. Jealousy implies by definition a rival, and assessing the threat of a rival is a basic, adaptive mechanism rooted in intrasexual competition. This aspect of jealousy may also occur when one has not yet established a relationship but is trying to obtain a mate. In the context of the evaluation of rivals, we focus in particular on sex differences and similarities in the rival characteristics that evoke jealousy among heterosexual, homosexual, and transgender men and women.
Evolutionary Perspectives on Relationship Maintenance Across the Spectrum of Sexual and Gender Diversity
Authors: Diamond Lisa M. , Alley Jenna
Published: February 2023

Most evolutionary models of relationship functioning have focused on heterosexual pairings (i.e., male–female) and on cisgender individuals (i.e., individuals whose gender identity corresponds to their birth-assigned sex/gender). Yet in the modern world, humans have the freedom to pursue a much broader range of intimate ties, including same-gender relationships as well as relationships in which one or more partners identify as transgender, gender nonconforming, or nonbinary. In this chapter we argue that evolutionary theory can help us understand the unique features of these relationships by highlighting the evolved significance of social safety. Perhaps the most important difference between cisgender/heterosexual couples and other types of couples (i.e., those of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender individuals) is that the latter group faces persistent stigmatization and social marginalization. As a result, they do not have the same access to social safety (i.e., connection, nurturance, security, and protection) that is available to cisgender/heterosexual couples, and this creates a new source of burden that can impede the development and maintenance of these relationships. We show how a focus on the evolutionary significance of social safety can elucidate the unique hurdles facing couples confronting social stigma.
Relationship Dissatisfaction and Partner Access Deficits
Authors: Wade T. Joel , Moran James B. , Fisher Maryanne L.
Published: February 2023

In this chapter, we discuss how partners’ feelings about relationship inequity (i.e., unequal access to relationship resources, such as sex, emotional investment, finances, and family-size decisions) can cause relationship dissatisfaction. Individuals may initiate a romantic relationship with the desire to create a long-term committed relationship that is emotionally and sexually fulfilling. However, romantic relationships do not always fulfill both partners’ needs and desires, and couples often experience conflict and dissatisfaction when this happens. In this chapter, we explore both the proximate and ultimate reasons for why individuals experience dissatisfaction in their relationships. Proximate reasons include issues such as finances, cultural backgrounds, and ascribed sex roles whereas ultimate causes encompass issues of sexual conflict with others, reproduction-related conflict, and jealousy. Further, we also survey a promising area of research that suggests dissatisfaction in a romantic relationship may arise from a deficit in emotional and sexual access for one of the partners in the relationship. We conclude by suggesting that researchers explore how relationship deficits affect couples who identify as LGBTQ, pursue consensual nonmonogamy and investigate how relationship access deficits affect couples from non-WEIRD samples. Additionally, we suggest that future research examine how relationship access deficits affect abuse in relationships because such research may help deter or end abuse.
Post-Relationship Romance
Authors: Langlais Michael R. , Xiao He
Published: February 2023

The end of marriage does not mean the end of romantic relationships. In fact, many individuals form serious relationships within two years of filing for divorce. How people form relationships after divorce tends to vary, however, as some date multiple partners, some date only one partner, and some do not date at all. Evolutionary theory provides a theoretical foundation to explain the differences among individuals in terms of approaches, timing, and the number of co-occurring relationships surrounding the formation of romantic relationships again after divorce. The goal of this chapter is to discuss post-divorce relationship formation processes, variables that influence the maintenance of these relationships, and the consequences of forming post-divorce relationships from an evolutionary perspective. Additionally, we discuss the implications of post-divorce romance and provide some guidance for future studies to better understand how and why individuals form relationships after divorce, as well as the consequences of post-divorce relationships for all individuals involved.
Evolutionary Perspectives on Post-Separation Parenting
Authors: Moloney Lawrence J. , Smyth Bruce M.
Published: February 2023

Can evolutionary theory, particularly as applied to human emotions, cast light on some of the apparently intractable problems in post-separation parenting disputes? We argue that (a) the adaptation and survival of many animals, especially primates, is closely linked to how they manage their emotions; (b) our own emotional lives are uncannily similar to those of chimpanzees, our closest living relative; (c) emotions play a central role in human thinking, decision-making, and the management of conflict; (d) in Western democracies, “no-fault” divorce legislation has inadvertently sidelined the pivotal role played by emotions in understanding and responding to the breakdown of parental relationships and its consequences for children; and (e) in problematic post-separation parenting disputes, emotions need to be fearlessly, accurately, and empathically acknowledged within legislative and decision-making processes and by those involved in mediation and relationship support services.
Using Free Will Wisely
Authors: Sheldon Kennon M. , Goffredi Ryan
Published: February 2023

Self-concordance research has come a long way since the turn of the millennium. This chapter revisits the original thinking and data regarding the model, selectively reviews more recent research on the model, and outlines some interesting new theoretical developments and research possibilities. Self-concordance research addresses a complex combination of factors: self-as-agent versus self-as-story, system 1 versus system 2 processes, implicit versus explicit processes, “I” versus “me” processes, defensive versus growth processes, deliberative versus implemental processes, and more. This chapter also connects self-concordance to the free will versus determinism debate and shows how the process of becoming more self-concordant can be conceptualized in terms of Wallas’s (1926) four stage model of the creative process.