Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T06:29:56.225Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Political Science in Real Time: Engaging the Middle East Policy Public

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

Marc Lynch
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A decade ago, very few political scientists had either the opportunity or the incentive to engage with the political public in a direct, unmediated way. Today, there is a dense and eclectic ecosystem of political science and international relations-focused blogs and online publications, where good work can easily find an audience through social media. There are multiple initiatives dedicated to supporting academic interventions in the public sphere, and virtually every political or cultural magazine of note now offers a robust online section featuring commentary and analysis in which political scientists are well represented. This has transformed publication for a broader public from something exotic to something utterly routine. I discuss how these changes have affected individual scholars, the field of political science, and the political world with which we are engaged.

Type
Reflections
Information
Perspectives on Politics , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , March 2016 , pp. 121 - 131
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acharya, Amitav. 2011. “Engagement or Entrapment? Scholarship and Policymaking on Asian Regionalism.” International Studies Review 13(1): 12–17.Google Scholar
Anderson, Lisa. 2011. “Too Much Information? Political Science, the University and the Public Sphere.” Perspectives on Politics 10(2): 385–396.Google Scholar
Avant, Deborah. 2015. “Relevant for Whom? The Multiplicity of Policy Audiences.” Political Violence at a Glance, November 3.Google Scholar
Avey et al. 2012 – see n.4Google Scholar
Avey, Paul and Desch, Michael C.. 2013. “What Do Policymakers Want From Us? Results of a Survey of Current and Former Senior National Security Decision Makers.” International Studies Quarterly 58(2): 227–46.Google Scholar
Bellin, Eva. 2014. “Response to Howard and Walters.” Perspectives on Politics 12(2): 409–12.Google Scholar
Biersteker, Thomas. 2008. “The “Peculiar Problems” of Scholarly Engagement in the Policy Process.” In “Risks and Opportunities of Crossing the Academy/Policy Divide.” Forum ed. Tickner, J. Ann and Tsygankov, Andrei. International Studies Review 10(1): 155–77.Google Scholar
Byman, Dan and Kroenig, Matthew. 2016. “Reaching Beyond the Ivory Tower: A How To Manual.” Security Studies forthcoming.Google Scholar
Campbell, Peter and Desch, Michael. 2013. “Rank Irrelevance: How Academia Lost Its Way.” Foreign Affairs.com, September 15.Google Scholar
Carpenter, Charli. 2012. “You Talk of Terrible Things So Matter-of-Factly in This Language of Science: Constructing Human Rights in the Academy.” Perspectives on Politics 10(2): 363–83.Google Scholar
Chenoweth, Erika. 2014. “A Note on Academic (Ir)relevance.” Political Violence at a Glance, February 17.Google Scholar
Davis, Francis. 1992. “Recognition Humor.” Atlantic Monthly, December.Google Scholar
Deeb, Lara and Winegar, Jessica. 2015. Anthropology’s Politics: Disciplining the Middle East. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Del Rosso, Stephen. 2015. “Our New 3 R’s: Rigor, Relevance and Readability.” Governance 28(2): 127–30.Google Scholar
Desch, Michael. 2015. “Technique Trumps Relevance: The Professionalization of Political Science and the Marginalization of Security Studies.” Perspectives on Politics 13(2): 377–407.Google Scholar
Drezner, Daniel. 2014. “What Nick Kristof Doesn’t Get About the Ivory Tower.” Politico, February 21.Google Scholar
Druckman, James. 2015. “Communicating Policy Relevant Science.” PS: Political Science & Politics 48(S1): 58–69.Google Scholar
Farley, Robert. 2013. “Complicating the Political Scientist as Blogger.” PS: Political Science & Politics (April): 383–6.Google Scholar
Fearon, James. 2014. “Data on the Rrelevance of Political Scientists to the NYT.” Washington Post Monkey Cage Blog, February 23.Google Scholar
Fujii, Lee Ann. 2012. “Research Ethics 101: Dilemmas and Responsibilities.” PS: Political Science & Politics 45(4): 717–23.Google Scholar
Gallucci, Robert. 2012. “How Scholars Can Improve International Relations.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, November 26.Google Scholar
Gause, F. Gregory III. 2011. “Why Middle East Studies Missed the Arab Spring.” Foreign Affairs, July/August: 81–91.Google Scholar
Haddad, Bassam. 2013. “Knowledge Production on the Middle East in Times of Upheaval.” PS: Political Science & Politics 46 (April): 240–43.Google Scholar
Hochschild, Jennifer. 2015. “Reflections on How to Better Communicate Political Science’s Public Value.” PS: Political Science & Politics 48(S1): 115–17.Google Scholar
Horowitz, Michael. 2015. “What Is Policy Relevance?” War on the Rocks.Google Scholar
Howard, Marc Morje and Walters, Meir. 2014a. “Explaining the Unexpected: Political Science and the Surprises of 1989 and 2011.” Perspectives on Politics 12(2): 394–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howard, Marc Morje, and Walters, Meir. 2014b. “Response to Bellin, Lust and Lynch.” Perspectives on Politics 12(2): 417–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Isaac, Jeffrey. 2013. “Political Science and Publicity.” Political Studies Review 11(2): 200–08.Google Scholar
Isaac, Jeffrey. 2015. “For a More Public Political Science.” Perspectives on Politics 13(2): 269–83.Google Scholar
Iskander, Adel. 2013. “Teaching the Arab Uprisings: Between Media Maelstrom and Pedantic Pedagogy.” PS: Political Science & Politics (April): 244–47.Google Scholar
Jackson, Patrick and Kaufman, Stuart J.. 2007. “Security Scholars for a Sensible Foreign Policy: A Study in Weberian Activism.” Perspectives on Politics 5(1): 95–103.Google Scholar
Jentleson, Bruce W. 2015. “The Bridging the Gap Initiative and Programs.” PS: Political Science & Politics 48(S1): 108–14.Google Scholar
Jentleson, Bruce W. and Ratner, Ely. 2011. “Bridging the Beltway–Ivory Tower Gap.” International Studies Review 13(1): 6–11.Google Scholar
Jervis, Robert. 2008. “Bridges, Barriers, and Gaps: Research and Policy.” Political Psychology 29(4): 571–92.Google Scholar
Klein, Ezra. 2014. “How Political Science Conquered Washington.” Vox, September 2.Google Scholar
Kramer, Martin. 2001. Ivory Towers in the Sand: The Failure of Middle East Studies in America. Washington, DC: Washington Institute for Near East Policy.Google Scholar
Kristof, Nicholas. 2014. “Professors, We Need You!” New York Times, December.Google Scholar
Kroenig and Byman 2016 – see n. 19Google Scholar
Lepgold, Joseph. 1998. “Is Anyone Listening? International Relations Theory and the Problem of Policy Relevance.” Political Science Quarterly 113(1): 43–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lockman, Zachary. 2009. Contending Visions of the Middle East: The History and Politics of Orientalism. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lupia, Arthur and Aldrich, John. 2015. “Let’s Be Heard! How to Better Communicate Political Science’s Public Value.” PS: Political Science & Politics 48(S1): 1–19.Google Scholar
Lust, Ellen. 2014. “Response to Howard and Walters.” Perspectives on Politics 12(2): 413–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lynch, Marc. 2002. “Why Not Do Nothing about Iraq?” Christian Science Monitor, July 31.Google Scholar
Lynch, Marc ed. 2013a. The Political Science of Syria’s War. POMEPS Studies, December 5.Google Scholar
Lynch, Marc ed. 2013b. The Ethics of Research in the Middle East. POMEPS Studies 9.Google Scholar
Lynch, Marc. 2014a. “Response to Howard and Walters.” Perspectives on Politics 12(2): 415–16.Google Scholar
Lynch, Marc. 2014b. “King Kendrick and the Ivory Tower.” Foreign Policy (March 4).Google Scholar
Marvin, Taylor and Walter, Barbara. 2013. “Where are All the Female Bloggers?” Political Violence at a Glance, June 28.Google Scholar
McDermott, Rose. 2015. “Learning to Communicate Better with the Press and the Public.” PS: Political Science & Politics 48(S1): 85–9.Google Scholar
Morello, Lauren. 2015. “We Can # It.” Nature 527,(November 12): 148–51.Google Scholar
Nye, Joseph. 2009. “Scholars on the Sidelines.” Washington Post, April 13.Google Scholar
Nyhan, Brendan, Sides, John, and Tucker, Joshua. 2015. “APSA as Amplifier: How to Encourage and Promote Public Voices within Political Science.” PS: Political Science & Politics 48(S1): 90–93.Google Scholar
Oren, Ido. 2015. “How Can We Make Political Science Less Techno-Centric? Widen Rather than Narrow Its Distance from Government.” Perspectives on Politics 13(2): 394–95.Google Scholar
Parkin, Simon. 2014. “Gamergate: A Scandal Erupts in the Video-Gaming Industry.” The New Yorker, October 17.Google Scholar
Perez, Constantino. 2015. “Applying the Ethics of War and Peace: A Military Perspective.” Perspectives on Politics 13(2): 449–54.Google Scholar
Perry, David. 2014. “Don’t Speak Out: The Message of the Salaita Affair.” Chronicle of Higher Education, August 20.Google Scholar
Pew Research Center. 2014. Online Harassment. (October 22).Google Scholar
Putnam, Robert. 2003. “The Public Role of Political Science.” Perspectives on Politics 1(2): 249–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogowski, Ron. 2013. “Shooting (or Ignoring) the Messenger.” Political Studies Review 11(2): 216–21.Google Scholar
Shapiro, Jeremy. 2014. “Who Influences Whom? Reflections on the U.S. Government Outreach to Think Tanks.” Brookings Institution Up Front Blog, June 4.Google Scholar
Shapiro, Jeremy and Estrin, Miriam. 2013. “How the U.S. Saw Syria’s War.” Foreign Policy, December 5.Google Scholar
Sides, John. 2011. “The Political Scientist as Blogger.” PS: Political Science and Politics (April): 267–271.Google Scholar
Skocpol, Theda. 2014. “How the Scholars Strategy Network Helps Academics Gain Public Influence.” Perspectives on Politics 12(3): 695–703.Google Scholar
Smith, Rogers. 2015. “Political Science and the Public Sphere Today.” Perspectives on Politics 13(2): 366–77.Google Scholar
Swain, Carol. 2015. “Free Speech, Politics and Academia.” PS: Political Science & Politics 48(S1): 100–07.Google Scholar
Voeten, Erik. 2014. “Dear Nicholas Kristof: We Are Right Here!” Washington Post Monkey Cage Blog, February 15.Google Scholar
Voeten, Erik. 2015. “Rigor Is Not the Enemy of Relevance.” Perspectives on Politics 13(2): 402–03.Google Scholar
Winkelman, Sloane, Early, Jody, Walker, Ashley, Chu, Lawrence, and Yick-Flanagan, Alice. 2015. “Exploring Cyberharassment among Women Who Use Social Media.” Universal Journal of Public Health 3(5): 194–201.Google Scholar