A Bit More on Coburn and Political Science
The New York Times has a story today, with quotes from Jeffrey Isaac (see also Henry’s post), Joseph Nye, Peter Katzenstein, Rogers Smith, and Skip Lupia. Lupia says:
Mr. Lupia, whose background is in applied mathematics and economics, concedes that political science is not quite like the natural sciences. First, the subjects under study “can argue back.” But he maintains that it uses the same rigorous mechanisms to evaluate observations as any other science.
Indeed.
And there’s this irony:
Yet even as he is trying to restrict National Science Foundation financing of social science, the Defense Department has been recruiting scholars in the same fields to work on security issues like terrorism, Iraq and China’s military. The nation must embrace “eggheads and ideas,” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has said, to meet potential national threats.
Lee’s post summarizes the political science eggheads who have just been embraced.
[Hat tip to Brandon Bartels.]
Comments
Coding for a project on congressional resolutions, I ran across one from the 110th Congress which honors an activity which is near and dear to the heart of a lot of political scientists. H.Res.487: “Recognizing the contribution of modeling and simulation technology to the security and prosperity of the United States, and recognizing modeling and simulation as a National Critical Technology.”
Passed without amendment on a voice vote.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d110:487:./list/bss/d110HE.lst:@@@L&summ2=m&|TOM:/bss/110search.html|
Posted by: Jeff Lazarus | October 19, 2009 11:10 PM
So defense department spending is now the measure of worth?!
The defense department hires us, so that must show we have some value. Ha! That’s a joke to everyone except a political scientist.
I suspect that the opposite is true. If the defense department hires you, it may well be a serious indictment of your utter worthlessness but adept capacity to waste money.
Cut Coburn, cut.
Posted by: Millard F. | October 20, 2009 09:12 AM