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The concept of internationalisation, when referring to the work of social scientists within academic institutions, takes on different meanings and involves different activities. This contribution aims to shed light on the international activities of political scientists across Europe and to investigate the various meanings and practices of internationalisation. The analysis relies on the PROSEPS survey, involving some 1,800 political scientists across 37 European countries. We identify three distinct profiles of international scholars: the networked researcher, the editorial manager, and the traveller. These profiles differ according to 1) the building of international research networks, 2) the involvement in the activities of the international publishing industry, 3) the research and teaching exchanges with foreign academic institutions. Determinants, such as gender, family status, career stage, availability of institutional and financial support, and geographical location, are considered as potential drivers or inhibitors of internationalisation. Our analysis shows that the internationalisation of academic practices follows contrasting paths according to the type of international profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The consensus view among political scientists is that the subjective social status of low-skilled workers has declined over the last decades, and this status loss of the working class is seen as contributing to the rise of the radical right. We examine the micro-foundation of this claim by tracing the evolution of subjective status for different social classes in Europe and the US. We use all available survey rounds of the International Social Survey Programme 1987–2017 and replicate findings with the European Social Survey 2002–2016. While unskilled workers perceive their status to be lower than members of the middle class everywhere, we find no relative or absolute fall in their subjective social status over time. Unskilled workers were at the bottom of the status hierarchy in the 1990s and 2010s. Our findings throw doubt on the narrative that sees workers' falling subjective social status as a prominent driver behind the rise of the radical right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several scholars have suggested that political dividedness has harmful effects on economic performance. Interestingly, empirical tests tackling this argument are almost entirely absent. The paper aims to fill this gap by testing the above hypothesis using data from the European Social Survey, including 27 countries between 2002 and 2015. Controlling for a range of well-known explanatory variables, the results of the panel regression analysis suggest that partisan polarisation is adversely related to economic growth, while ideological polarisation is not. The finding is congruent with the hypothesis of polarisation having a notable negative effect on growth, yet future works are necessary to test both the direction and the possible channels of causality. As scholars increasingly describe contemporary politics as an era of growing polarisation, the results imply that partisan polarisation should deserve more attention from political scientists and economists as a factor that might influence economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social relevance has become a key element to assess the social legitimacy of an academic discipline. This contrasts with a widespread sentiment among political scientists about the existence of a relevance gap. The context of multiple crises Europe has experienced since the late 2000s has provided political scientists with a multitude of opportunities to demonstrate the social relevance of their work and the usefulness of the discipline. This introductory article to the special issue aims to offer an explorative framework and a preliminary discussion of empirical examples to assess the phenomenon of political scientists' relevance in the public sphere during recent turbulent times. The framework (which emphasises three basic dimensions of social relevance – partisanship, visibility, and impact) is used to interpret the main results of the five case studies included in the special issue. Results show that contextual factors (salience of the issue, political and media contexts) influence political scientists' engagement in the public sphere, the role they adopt and their visibility. The article ends emphasising the importance of collective action within the discipline as an instrument to enhance its social relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anniversaries are milestone events. They invite those involved to celebrate their achievements, but also reflect about the past, present and future. The 20th anniversary of European Political Science (EPS) is such a landmark. It marks a success story; the development from a news style magazine to a major political science journal. Over the past 20 years, EPS has developed into an outlet in which political scientists exchange about their profession, best practices in teaching and learning, as well as shared authoritative research. We have shaped many professional discussions such as debates about gender equality or the relevancy of political science and have become an authoritative voice in the deliberations of innovative teaching techniques such as simulations or role plays. And in our research section, we have covered the big events in Europe and beyond such as the War in Iraq, Brexit and the European Refugee Crisis. We can be proud of what we have achieved in the past 20 years. However, we are not without challenges, which include among others practicing greater diversity in terms of authorship and the types of articles we publish. This anniversary issue is a first step in this direction. By discussing the political science profession in Europe and beyond, it includes a balance of authors from different parts of Europe and the world, a gender balance in contributors and, above all, it raises some of the largest challenges we, as a discipline, will have to tackle in the next 20 years. These include academic freedom, inequalities in the profession and the relevancy of political science as a discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, political scientists and economists have redoubled their attempts to understand the "Rise of Europe." However, the role of the Catholic Church has been curiously ignored in most of this new research. The medieval West was shot through with Catholic values and institutions, and only by factoring in the Church can we understand the peculiar European development from the high Middle Ages onward. More particularly, the 11th century "crisis of church and state" set in train a series of developments that were crucial for the Rise of Europe. The Church was the main locale in which the development of representation, consent, and early bureaucratic institutions took place, and it contributed to creating, integrating, and maintaining the European multistate system. This note demonstrates that current scholarship has failed to factor in ecclesiastical influences and it shows how these gaps can be filled by a more careful reading of prior historical scholarship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessments of early postwar understandings of the power and potential of the Commonwealth have suggested the body either failed to shield the British public from a sense of national decline or that it comforted them that there was no need to worry about decolonisation because the organisation enabled the maintenance of British authority by other means. However, historians and political scientists who provided public comment on the present and future of the body in the late 1940s and 1950s complicate such assessments, wracked as they were by a profound uncertainty over what the Commonwealth could achieve. Their sense of uncertainty was not derived from a pessimistic reading of the tangible events and processes of the period that we might today assume blunted commentators' faith in Commonwealth cohesion, such as Britain's relationship with Europe, neutralism, apartheid, or even Suez. Instead, uncertainty over the Commonwealth's capacity to realise a latent potential supposedly rooted in its members' willingness to work together was rooted in something more elemental, namely sustained uncertainty regarding the nature of the body's connections and functions. The body was judged an abstraction, a nascent and unparalleled experiment whose bonds were extensive yet impossible to measure. Its perceived opacity rendered it neither a cause for concern nor a salve to a wounded British morale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interview with Canadian political philosopher Will Kymlicka is presented. When asked if there is anything that he would like to change on his book "Multicultural Citizenship," he says that he is satisfied on the arguments in the book and there would be no major changes to be done. He also commented on the issue of language in societal culture argument for self-government, federalism, and the death of multiculturalism in Europe.

Financial regional arrangements vary across countries and change over time. Until recently, most economists and political scientists took the European model of monetary integration as the yardstick to which all other regional financial arrangements had to measure up in this article. It is argued that the Euro crisis provides an opportunity for scholars to adopt a different perspective that does not interpret the variety of financial arrangements merely as economic deficiencies caused by the incapacity or unwillingness of regions to follow the European model. Instead, the comparative study of monetary and financial regionalism has to account for the different factors that shape variations. These go from different levels of economic development, over regional political and economic preferences to historical processes which shape the institutional context and the constellation of interests and social forces. Such an approach, which integrates economic and political science approaches, de-centres the Euro model and opens up a new understanding of the global diversity of regional monetary and financial cooperation, and their potential to cope with financial crises. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article discusses the possible ambiguities that exist between three different words: personalization, presidentialization and leader. In recent times, and mostly in Europe, the first two words have been used very frequently by media scholars and political scientists to point out changes taking place both in the decision-making process and in the public arena. At the same time, the older word, leader, is still alive and very much used. Do these words, and the processes they involve, have the same meaning? Do they refer to different changes? Are they used without the sufficient cognitive awareness? The article proposes three dimensions that may be useful to understand similarities and differences in the use of these three words. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that political science was far less narrow and parochial before the founding of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) in 1970 than is often thought. It emphasizes the importance of the interaction between younger European scholars and American political scientists in the 1950s and 1960s. It singles out the substantial American contribution to the establishment of the ECPR and stresses some vital choices made at its inception. On the basis of a statement of the author as outgoing Chairman of the ECPR in 1979, it probes the extent to which problems then foreseen were resolved or not, and raises some new ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) as it celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2010. It provides an overview of the association's history, which started from the suggestions of European political scientists to create an informal network for political research in 1969. It says that ECPR has shown continued growth within 40 years with its creation of prestigious research such as its book series of Comparative Politics in 1990.

Eurosceptic parties won a clear victory in the 2009 European Parliament elections. Contrary to the negative reactions from some pro-European politicians and political scientists, this essay argues that the electoral success of Eurosceptic parties will neither endanger the process of European integration nor keep the Euro-pean Parliament from working in an efficient and effective manner. Ideally, debates concerning European integration should be held during national elections. However, since they rarely are, European parliament elections offer the next best opportunity for such debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When we leave the Ph.D. to embark on an academic career, we soon discover that the strategies for success rely on a range of teaching, research, managerial, and networking skills that we likely did not develop during our doctoral years. This paper compiles advice to new entrants to the profession from established political scientists on some of the general strategies and skills that they identified as being crucial to the development of their academic careers.European Political Science (2009) 8, 162–167. doi:10.1057/eps.2009.4 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The left-right dimension plays a crucial role in how political scientists think about politics. Yet we know surprisingly little about the extent to which citizens are able to position themselves on a left-right dimension. By analysing non-response on left-right self-identification question from seven waves of the European Social Survey (N = 295,713), this study demonstrates that citizens' ability to position themselves on the left-right dimension depends on the political system they live in and its history. Citizens in countries with lower levels of elite polarization place themselves on a left-right dimension less often, this difference is partiularly pronounced for citizens with high levels of political interest. Citizens in countries with a recent authoritarian history were unable to place themselves on the left-right dimension more often. These findings show the importance of political socialization for left-right self-identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the author's comments on the history of European Group of Public Administration (EGPA) Study Group. According to him, what started as a small group of researchers working on the application of information technology in government is today the premier conference in public administration in Europe. He says that the future success of the Group will depend on its convenors, members-present and future, and the continuing support and advice of it's past members.

This article deals with the main obstacles in the way of conducting field research in Eastern Europe. Focusing on Ukraine, the article confronts a number of research design rules with the post-Soviet reality. Taking into consideration cultural and political factors, the article seeks to highlight the challenges that await researchers. Thanks to personal experience acquired in Ukraine, the author points to some of the potential difficulties, as well as opportunities awaiting political scientists conducting research in the region.European Political Science (2007) 6, 295–301. doi:10.1057/palgrave.eps.2210135 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essays deals with the problem of reconstructing the ideological roots which made possible the phenomenon of political transfer in different European countries. The basis is obviously the dominance of the ‘British Model’ as the normal reference for the European Political Sciences. Even the opponents of such hegemony took it as the unavoidable polemic goal. This founded a sort of political ‘homogeneity’ that let live many different approaches and many national peculiarities, but in the end convinced the majority of European political scientists that some type of representative constitution had to be accepted. It was at the beginning of the twentieth century that the panorama changed. Elie Halévy's work on one side, discussing the sunset of the ‘British model’ in Britain itself, and on the other Max Weber's reflections on what he defined as ‘the community of destinies’ interpret a turning point in the approach of European political sciences to the possibilities of transferring political models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on a pan-European interpretation of the political ideology of political thinker Donoso Cortés. Implications of the dictatorship speech of Cortés delivered on January 9, 1849; Role of the book "The Communist Manifesto" on the 1917 European struggle; Implications of the European Foreign policy prognosis; Information on the cultural and historical philosophical diagnosis related to the European foreign policy prognosis provided by Alexis de Tocqueville; Reason Cortés could not be understood by the great leaders of official Europe or by the conservative politicians of the restoration.

Focuses on the creation of religious books by several political scientists on an analysis of the ancient Hebrew polity in Europe. Similarity of the methodologies used by the political scientists; Explanation on the concept of antiquity; Characterization of humanism.

Presents an obituary for political scientist Jürgen Domes who died on September 22, 2001 in Europe.