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The Newsletter of the Political Studi

The UFC review persists in under-rating the research record of British political studies, although the discipline emerges with a strong overall assessment STEP FORWARD The UFC Research Selectivity Exercise results, published on 24 August 1989, show a marked improvement in the standing of political Volume l,:Number 4 studies in the UK. However, in view of the enormous investment in the review, it is surprising that the outcome did not reflect more . . accurately the outstanding international reputation of the discipline.

Academics in political studies can take some The PSA now has data with which to provide l pleasure in the results and particularly in the a diagnostic service to all departments seek- EDITOR: John Benyon improvements since 1986, when undoub- ing to maintain and improve their rankings. tedly the discipline was very badly treated As a further step in its programme to prom- Editorial Assistants: Kate Cambridge, by the UGC. Then only two departments ote political studies the PSA is establishing Yvo~eJewkes and Georgina Roberts received an 'outstanding' ranking whereas in an Annual Research Report which will in- this year's exercise six departments received clude publications by all departments. Centre for the Study of Public Order, the highest Grade 5 rating. University of Leicester, However, there are just four departments Further details of the UFC Ratings in the second Grade 4 category. Given the appear on pages 11-16 acknowledged international excellence of much British politics research, it is odd to Professor Mike Goldsmith Assumes the PSA Chair find that significantly more departments

International reputation / Pressure of commitments has forced Professor Trevor Smith to stand down after five years of assiduous and energetic work on the PSA Executive. The Exercise cost some E4 million and in- I volved some 36,000 person-days, but it Trevor Smith's period on the Executive, first seems that even this enormous investment Trevor Smith's presence on the Executive as Vice-Chair (Universities) and then as has not enabled the UFC to discover the will be greatly missed, for he has been a Chair, were years during which the PSA considerable achievements in British politi- source of wisdom, guidance and encourage- developed considerably. Professor Smith cal studies that are respected by so many ment. The Executive unanimously recorded contributed a great deal of energy, drive and colleagues overseas. its appreciation and conferred a Vice-Presi- ideas and assiduously promoted the study of The UFC has said that a further selectivity dency of the Association. politics. exercise will take place, probably in 1993. The new Chair of the PSA is Professor He established and chaired the PSA The PSA will continue to campaign for a Michael Goldsmith, Pro-Vice-Chancellor at Shadow Panel, which closely monitored the more realistic recognition of the quality of the University of Salford. Mike Goldsmith is UFC Research Selectivity Exercise, and he politics research. well-known to PSA members through his took a leading role in the PSA's campaign for research activities, and is a senior and much- I the defence idpromotion of the profession. I respected member of the profession. l PSA NEWS ISSN 09554281 Australasian Political Studies Journal

The editorial control and production of Politics: Journal of the Australasian Political Studies Association has been awarded to a team based in the Department of Politics, University College, University of New South Wales, Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, Australia 2600. The new Editor is Professor Ian McAllister; Managing Editor is Dr David Lovell; Review Editor is William Maley. Articles and books for review should be sent to the appropriate member of the editorial team at Canberra (Telephone: 062.68.8147; Facsimile: 062.68.8852).

IPSA begins discussions on Formal Cooperation with BA ~h,~~.~i~h ~~~i~~ and the Persian Gulf

Mr Ali-Reza Moussavizadeh is undertaking -- -IA L2TSISA research on the British Empire in the Persian Gulf in the postwar period, especially under William Welsh, Executive Director of the the Churchill and Eden administrations. He International Studies Association (ISA), and has asked for PSA members' assistance in Francesco Kjellberg, Secretary General of his work and particularly wants to trace rhe International Political Science Associa- material on Britain's role in, and impact tion (IPSA), have begun discussions on ways upon, the Persian Gulf. Mr Moussavizadeh in which the two organisations can coordi- can be contacted at: PO Box 96, Swansea, nate activities to their mutual benefit. SA1 1AP. Kjellberg and Welsh met in connection with the 17th General Assembly of the Inter- national Social Science Council (ISSC) in Barcelona in December 1988. ~0thIPSA I Goldsmith Goes Forth and ISA are among the 15 full organisational members of the ISSC. As some members of the PSA will be aware, The major proposal is the possibility of Maurice Goldsmith has taken early retire- selected IPSA Research Committees and ment and will be living in New Zealand, Study Groups holding formal sessions as part following the appointment of his wife, Dr of ISA Convention Programmes. IPSA meets Elizabeth McLeay, to a post at Victoria every three years while ISA convenes yearly. University, Wellington. Several IPSA research and study groups Maurice came to Exeter in January 1969 have expressed interest in having more fre- as Professor of Political Theory, but, with quent opportunities to meet within the con- the sudden death of Victor Wiseman in text of a broader set of academic sessions. November of that year, rapidly found him- self head of department pending the appoint- Substantive intellectual overlap ment of a successor to Victor. That successor was Tony Birch, who was Head of Depart- ment from 1970 to 1977. After Tony's depar- The motivations for the prospective ISA- ture to Canada, Maurice again found himself IPSA cooperation come from both the sub- Head of Department and subsequently Dean stantive intellectual overlap of interests of of the Faculty of Social Science. The political many members of the two organisations and theory programme at Exeter was largely also from practical organisation considera- Maurice's creation and in this and many tions. As the ISA-based network of As- other respects a considerable debt is owed sociated Organisations in International to him. Studies continues to expand, a number of Maurice Goldsmith also played a leading the members of the network are national role in the Political Studies Association, first political science associations, or component as Chairman and then as President. Eie has units of them. worked tirelesslv for the advancement of IPSA members who have thoughts about political studies, and has continued to play these possible modes of co-operation with a key part in the affairs of the Association. ISA, are invited to communicate them to the We wish him well in his new life and have IPSA Secretariat at the Institute of Political no doubt that he will maintain his involve- Science, University of Oslo, Box 1097, Blin- ment in the PSA from the other side of the dern, 0317 Oslo 3, Norway. globe! The Chair of Politics at Exeter will be filled in 1990. PSA NEWS Two Grants in I Dissertation Prizes Canada Heads of Department are reminded that doctoral dissertations for the 1989 competi- Wyn Grant (University of W&k) and tion should be submitted by 39 June 1990. Grant Jordan (University of Aberdeen) One copy of each dissertation should be sent attended a conference on 'Organisedhterests to: Professor J. E. Spence, Department of and Public Policy' at the University of Politics, University of Leicester, LE1 Toronto in May 1989. Wyn Grant gave a 7RH. The winners of the 1988 competition paper on policy making in relation to will be announced shortly. Canada's forest and forest products industry while Grant Jordan helped participants to see the wood for the trees by acting as a discussant for two papers. Later in the week, OFFICIAL STATISTICS at McMaster University in Hamilton, Grant Jordan gave a paper on commercial lobbying Improving official statistics is one of the in Britain and Wyn Grant participated in the three specific aims of the Social Science discussion. Forum's programme for action. To move this part of the campaign forward, a meeting was held with representatives from a number of member associations at which it was PSA Membership decided that a statement of principle for the Membership of the Association is open collection and use of official statistics should to any person holding an appointment in be produced. political studies or allied subjects in an A number of the objectives which will be institution of higher education, and is pursued within the statement of principle also open to anybody whose participation will be concerned to stress that datasets and in the PSA is likely to further political statistics collected with public funds should studies. The current annual. fee is £25. be in the public domain. Although the Social The PSA invites applications fmm Science Forum does not want to get into the political journalists and lobby corns- pasition of having a 'shopping list' of statis- pondents, politicians, civil servants and tics it would like to see collected and availa- others with a professional interest in the ble, it would like to compile a list of key field of political studies. public datasets that would be accessible to A membership form is enclosed with researchers for further analysis. Assistance this issue of PSA NEWS. Full details of from PSA members for datasets that should membership are available from Ian be on this list is requested. Forbes, Executive Director, Political ' The Forum would also like to have infor- Studies Association, Department of mation about any major gaps in the statistics Politics, University of Southampton, that are collected which might suggest new Southampton, S04 5NH (Telephone: statistical series, or additions to current sur- 0703.592635; or a703.583669). veys. Ideas and comments should be sent to: Dr Janet Lewis, Social Science Forum, Beverley 'Taking the Census" CCnrshank reveals the House, Shipton R~zd~York, Y03 6RB. enumerator's problem in 1851

WINTER 1989 THE NEW EUROPE COMPARATIVE JUDICIAL STUDIES The European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) invites scholars of member institutions to a conference on 'The New Europe'. It will be held in the beautiful town of The IPSA Research Committee on Compara- Rimini on the Adriatic coast in September 1990. tive Judicial Studies invites PSA members Three to five research groups, with four The ECPR particularly wishes to facilitate to participate in its work. Two meetings are to six scholars from different countries, are contact between existing national centres as planned for 1990 and the Research Commit- invited to meet for a few days to look into well as to encourage younger researchers. tee welcomes proposals from British scholars the possibilities of setting up a comparative The proposal to organise a research session with an interest in the field. research project on politics and conditions should consist of four to five typewritten in the new Europe that will emerge after pages outlining the topic, the most important (i) Western Canada Meeting in May1 1992. Examples of topics which could be references in the field, a short description of June 1990 This meeting will be held in covered are: research work done by the convenor and a Western Canada during late Maylearly June democratic citizenship list of possible participants. The ECPR will 1990. Ted Morton, of the Research Unit for European bureaucracies pay in full for travel and accommodation. Socio-Legal Studies at the University of national sovereignty Proposals should be sent no later than 15 Calgary, has agreed to serve as host for the minority rights February 1990 to: Professor Leif Lewin, meeting. The meeting will be held in con- distribution of political power Chair ECPR Research Board, Department junction with the Canadian Learned comparative European foreign politics of Government, Skyatteanum Box 514, Societies Annual Meeting in Victoria, law and courts in Europe 751.20 Uppsala, Sweden. British Columbia. The Canadian meeting is open to all kinds of proposals for panels, round tables and papers. However, the organisers especially Research Register on Women and Politics wish to encourage proposals dealing with two themes: 'Courts and the Enforcement The 1989 edition of the Research Regtster of Consortium for Political Research since of Rights in Comparative Perspective'; the Standing Group on Women and Politics 1986. Members are academic political scien- 'Government Responses to Judicial Policy has just been published and is available from tists, political sociologists or political "Mistakes": Legislative Overrides and Other the convenor at £2 per copy. This year the theorists with a research interest in the polit- Court Curbing Mechanisms'. Register records the interests and expertise ical roles and preoccupations of European of 42 political scientists from 18 countries. women. The Group meets annually and pub- (ii) Special Conference on Comparative The Regzster is organised by country, name lishes an occasional newsletter and maintains Judicial Politics in August 1990 Research and institution and is indexed accordingly. a data base on members' research interests. Committee member Burt Atkins and Con- Full postal addresses are given, as are tele- For further information contact: Dr Joni venor Neal Tate are interested in organising phone numbers where available. The inten- Lovenduski, Convenor, Standing Group a special Research Committee conference on tion is to facilitate direct contact with indi- on Women and Politics, European Re- 'Comparative Judicial Politics'. The confer- viduals about their work. search Centre, Loughborough University ence would be a forum for the presentation The Standing Group on Women and Poli- of Technology, Loughborough, Leicester- of research which employs the theories, tics has been organised within the European shire, LE11 3TU. concepts, and methods of the social and behavioural or mathematical sciences to explore or analyse legal institutions, courts, or judges from at least an implicitly compara- tive perspective. The organisers welcome analyses of national or subnational units, AND ELECTORAL SYSTEMS especially analyses of the latter which explore theoretical or analytical approaches relevant The Comparative Representation and Elec- Committee include conferences, a panel at to cross-national judicial politics. toral Systems Research Committee of IPSA IPSA Congress, an International Nezusletter, The conference is scheduled to be held in is an organisation of over 150 people from discounts for various books and journals London at the Study Centre of Florida State 23 different countries. This network includes such as Electoral Studies, and the publication Univesity (FSU), during the second or third scholars interested in national, cross-national of a Directory of current research and the week of August 1990. The FSU London and sub-national aspects of representation International Bibliography on Electoral Sys- Study Centre is located in Kensington. and electoral systems. tems. PSA members who are interested in par- The Executive Committee includes Arend PSA members are invited to join the ticipating in these meetings are asked to Lijphart (Universzty of Calafonia-San Research Committee at the cost of £10.00. contact: Professor C Neal Tate, Convenor, Diego), Lawrence Longley (Lawrence Uni- Further details from: Enid Lakeman, Elec- Research Committee on Comparative Jud- vetsity, USA), Enid Lakeman (Electoral Re- toral Systems Research Committee, icial Studies, Department of Political Sci- form Soczety, UK) and Richard Katz (John Electoral Reform Society, 6 Chancel ence, University of North Texas, Denton, Hopkins Universzty, USA). Activities of the Street, London, SE1 OUU. TX 76203-5338, USA.

PSA NEWS 1990 Conference Details

The 1990 PSA Annual Conference will be held at Hatfield College, University of Durham from 10 - 12 April.

In addition to the various panels and specialist groups, there will be one plenary session at which the speaker will be David Jenkins, the Bishop of Durham. Bishop Jenkins will speak on the theme of 'What Can We Expect of the Polis and Politics in the Twenty-first Century?'. He has the reputation of being an excellent speaker, and PSA members will find the occasion both interesting and provocative.

Hatfield College is one of the oldest and most impressive of the Durham Colleges, located just a few hundred yards from the magnificent Norman Cathedral and Castle. Almost all the Conference activities will take place in the centre of the City, within easy walking distance of the River Wear, shops and several pleasant pubs. As it is 1990, and the opening of the decade raises new agendas and issues in politics, panels are being asked to consider organising their sessions around the theme of 'New Develop- ments in Politics'. The theme is in- tended to cover not only new develop- ments in the practice of politics -for example, the startling developments in East Europe, the emergence of a new Europeanism in the wake of 1992, or the politics of the health service reform - but also new developments in the study of politics. For example, one panel has already been organised on the theme of 'modernity and inter- national relations theory'.

Wide variety of Delightful historic panels and papers setting

Plenary session Special PSA 40th addressed by the Anniversary Bishop of Durham Dinner

Full details of the Conference will be announced in the February 1990 issue of PSA NEWS, although bookings are now being accepted and a booking form accompanies this issue of PSA NEWS. Bookings should be sent to the local Organiser of the Conference: R. W. Dyson, Department of Politics, University of Durham, Durham, DHl3LZ (Telephone 091.374.2000).

WINTER 1989 Convenors of all Specialist Groups should send details to David Denver, Department of Politics and International Studies, Universi~of Lancaster, Lancaster, LA1 4YF (Telephone 0524.65201 Ext. 383). Dr Denver needs the following infornation: name of group; objectives; name of convenor; names of other PSA members involved (as appropriate); contact names; activities; any other points of infmtion. Suggestions fm new Specialist Groups are welcome. PSA NEWS will carry regular reports of Specialist groups and their activities, and convenors are asked to send relevant details to the Editor. Health Care Politics Marxism Specialist Politics and Society in Group Conference Mediterranean Europe This is new specialist group which Michael MOran is seeking set up' He intends The Group's seventh one-day conference A meeting of Politics and Society in Mediter- arrange an meeting On the first took place at Goldsmiths College, University ranean Europe (POSME) was held at the evening of the Conference at Durham of London, on the 12th of September, 1989. PSA conference in April 19S9. The group - that is, On Tuesday l0 at a time and Twenty people attended, discussion was decided upon the following activities: location be Members in- lively, and the day was generally held to be POSME will be holding a panel at the terested in joining the group should contact: a success. 1990 PSA Conference at Durham. The Mick Moran, Department of Government, The papers discussed were: theme of the panel is: 'Electoral Change University Mike Levin (Goldsmiths College) 'Mm, and Socialist Party Responses in Southern M13 9PL (Telephone: 061.275.4889). Engels and the Nationalities Question' Europe'. The panel convenor is Dr Kevin Larry Wilde (Trent Polytechnic) 'Class Featherstone, who can be contacted at Elections, Public Opinion analysis and the new politics' the School of European Studies, Uni- Grahaeme Land and Phi1 Semp (Teeside versity of Bradford, Bradford, West and Parties in Britain Polytechnic) 'Towards a Dialectic on State Yorkshire, BD7 1DP. Expenditure' The group has just issued a Register of It is a Filio Diamanti (University of Edinburgh) Research on Mediterranean Europe, Group On Opinion and 'Thatcherism, and Re-Thinking Socialism edited by Dr Ken Gladdish. This lists Parties in Britain with a view to holding a in the 1980,s, the topics, names and addresses of those conference and workshop and Ian Thatcher (University of Glasgow)'The in the UK researching on Italy, Spain, publishing a newsletter. An inaugural meet- of c'pemanent revolution,3, Greece, and Portugal. Those interested ing be at the 1990 Conference' Jim Shorthose (Trent Polytechnic) 'The should contact Ken Gladdish at the ad- The organisers like receive the Marxist theory of ideology and manage- dress below. names and addresses of members wishing to ment science,. It has been proposed that POSME, in be placed On the list. Further infor- Requests for papers should be sent direct to cooperation with The Centre for Mediter- mation can be obtained from: Ivor Crewe, the ranean Studies at Bristol, could produce Depaament of University of The Group's next one-day conference will a news letter, which should give details Essex, 3SQ, Essex; Or be held on Tuesday 11th September 1990 at of the activities of POSME and other Pippa DepaNnent Uni- Glasgow University. The Group also plans to associations or institutes in the field of versity of Edingburgh, 31 Buccleuch convene a panel at the 1990 PSA Annual Mediterranean and European Studies as Edinburgh, EH8 9JT. Conference at Durham. Offers of papers for well as include reports on research pro- either of these meetings are invited; please jects and other relevant developments. PSA women and contact: Mark Cowling, Department of Further details about the Group's ac- Humanities, Teeside Polytechnic, Middles- tivities can be obtained from: Geoffrey Politics Group brough, Cleveland, TSI 3BA (Telephone: Pridham, Centre for Mediterranean 0642.218121 Ext. 4308). Studies, University of Bristol, l2 Priory Joni Lovenduski (Loughborough University) Road, Bristol, BS8 lTU; or Ken Gladdish, is now Group Convenor, Annis Mae Department of Politics, University of Timpson (University of Nottingham) is Trea- Reading, Whiteknights, PO Box 218, surer and Pippa Noms (University of Edin- Reading, RG6 2AA. burgh) is Secretary. The Group is holding a one-day conference on 24 February 1990, organised in conjunction with the BSA Gen- der Studies Group. The venue is the London Liberal Political Theory School of Economics and Political Science, The Group intends to convene a panel at the Houghton Street, London, and the theme is 1990 Durham Conference and is seeking 'Rights, Politics and Reproductive Technol- suitable papers. Any members who have a ogy'. Offers of papers, and requests for paper for inclusion in the panel are asked to details, should be made to Joni Lovenduski. contact Andrew Reeve or John Cunliffe as People interested contact: Joni Loven- soon as possible via: Dr Andrew Reeve, duski, Department of European Studies, Department of Politics, University of War- Loughborough University, Loughborough, wick, Coventry, CV4 7AL (Telephone LE11 3TU (Telephone: 0509.222981). 0203.523109).

PSA NEWS I -. -I-:- -I l~ubiicati rking Papers.. . Changing Politics of Women Strathclyde Papers in Government and Politics Historically, men and women have differed greatly in their political rights. In voting, The following papers in the Strathclyde women have traditionally been viewed as series have recently been published: more politically conservative than men. New 59 Geoff Dudley, Privatisatiotl 'Wrh the research by two academics confirms this Grain': Distinguishing Features of the Sale female conservatism and examines its causes of the National Bus Compar~y across 11 Western nations. 60 A. Heath, R. Jowell, J. Curtice and G. The study, by David de Vaus (La Trobe Evans, The Extension of Popular University) and Ian McAllister Visiting Fel- Capitalism low, University of Strathclyde), is called The 61 M. Keating, R. Levy, J. Geekie and J. Changing Politics of Women: Gender and Brand, Labour Elites in Glasgow Political Alignment in 11 Nations. In 10 of 62 M. Franklin and T. Mackie, Electoral the nations surveyed, women were more con- Change in Western Countries: Consequences servative than men. The greatest differences of Post-Industrial Social Change were found in Spain, France and Italy, while 63 Wolfgang Rudig, Towards a 'Nm,' Polit- the smallest differences were in West Ger- ical Science of Technology many, Denmark and Britain. The sole excep- The papers cost £4.00 (£3.00 for students; tion to the pattern is Australia, where men £5.00 for overseas). Orders should be sent were actually found to be more conservative to: Strathclyde Papers, Politics Depart- than women. ment, University of Strathclyde, McCance The authors identify the causes of these Building, 16 Richmond Street, Glasgow, differences as the lower proportions of women who work and to stronger religious commitment among women. They suggest Conservatives and Education that the growing numbers of working women and increasing secularisation in many West- A new book by Christopher Knight (Bex- ern democracies will ultimately reduce leyheath School) promises to make interest- female conservatism. The question to be ad- ing reading. The Making of Tory Education dressed may then be the greater conservatism Policy in Postwar Britain attempts to identify of men. and explain the growing importance of 'edu- The Changing Politics of Women is availa- cation' to the Conservative Party, and the ble, price £2.50, from: Centre for the Study role played by Conservative educationalists. of Public Policy, University of Strathclyde, It offers a novel analysis of the Conservatives' Livingstone Tower, 26 Richmond Street, educational 'counter-revolution'. Dr Knight's Glasgow, G1 IXH. book is published in January 1990.

Alliance Collapse Benefits Labour and Conservatives The collapse of the Alliance parties can help the Conservatives hold Tory seats in Parliament, even though it simultaneousley increases the Labour vote, conclude Professors Richard Rose and Ian McAllister (University of Strathclyde) in their recent study Tactical Versus Expressive Voting in Britain: Testing Schumpeter's Theory. The study finds that where the Alliance finished third in 1983 its vote was down 4.5% in 1987 - four times more than the slump in the Alliance vote where it was the chief challenger to the Conservatives. Labour's vote went up 3.1%, but the Conservative vote also went up, because about two in five of the Alliance defectors shifted to the right, not the Left. There is limited likelihood of a complete collapse in the vote for third parties, Rose and McAUister conclude, for most people vote expressively, not tactically. Voting is not about choosing a government, as many social scientists have argued, it is about giving expression to the lifetime loyalties of voters. These loyalties are formed in the family; by social and economic interests arising from housing, jobs and trade-union membership; and by durable political values. In the current contest for control of British government, Labour cannot count on being carried into Downing Street on a tide of support from ex-Alliance sympathisers. To attract more votes Labour must become more identified with values that voters want to express. Professor Richard Rose is Director of the Centre for the Study of Public Policv and Professor Ian McAllister is Visiting Fellow at the Centre. Copies of Tactical Versus Expressive Voting in Britain, price £3.50, are available from: Centre for the Study of Public Policy, University of Strathclyde, Livingstone Tower, 26 Richmond Street, Glasgow G1 IXH. Race in Britain Race arsd Raeism in Contempormy Britain traces the history &political debate and legis- A new book by John Solomas (Birkbech lation about race and racism, the develop College) provides an accessible and com- ment of national and local political agendas, prehensive introduction to the politics of race the role of racist and black political organisa- in post-war Britain. It combines a review of tions and the impact of urban unrest and the main theoretical approacheswith detailed conflict. The author's critical analysis of the coverage of policy and practice to show how 'racialisation' of British politics and the find- and why controve~siesabout race, racism and ings presented in the book lay down a ehal- anti-racism have become such a pervasive lenge to conventional interpretations. Priced feature of political debate in contemporary £8.95 baperback), the book is published by Britain. Macmillan.

CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL STUDIES This is a new series, the aim of which is to provide authoritative and concise introductory accounts of key topics in contemporary political studies. The readership will be under- graduate and 'A' level students and appropriateprofessional groups. The books are published by Simon and Schuster under the Philip Allan imprint, and are all priced at under £7.00 in paperback. The first titles have now been published. David Denyer's Electionsand Votinglkhaviour in Britain surveys the main themes of British voting studies. It assesses the influence of social characteristics on party choice, the rise of issue voting, the impact of party leaders, and election campaigns and the media. Changes in the factors influencing voting behaviour are related to the results of general elections since 1950, and the book concludes with an analysis of the 1987 election result and the electoral prospects of the major patties. Denver's book, which is extensively referenced and fully indexed, is the ideal introductory text in this field. The same can be said, in the area of pressure groups, about Wyn Grant's Pressure Group, Politics and Lkmocracy in Britain. Starting from a review of definitions and typologies, Grant sets out the main theoretical perspectives on pressure group activity and then assesses the ways in which groups influence ministers, civil servants, Parliament and the political agenda. The book takes a timely look at the organisation of pressure groups at the European Community level. The effectiveness of pressure groups is examined, illustrated by a case study of agriculture and the environment. Finally, Pressure Groups, Politics and hcracy in Britain assesses the role of groups in relation to the wider issue of the character of modern democratic politics, and examines questions such as whether pressure groups reinforce biases in the political process. Other titles in the Series which are in pre- - paration are: Anthony Seldon (ed.) Party Politics in the UK siaee 1945 Michael Connolly, Polibics and Government in Northern Ireland John Benyon (ed.), The Constitution in Question 1 Peter Madgwick, BziW Govemmemt at the Centre Philip Notton, Parliament and Politics q Richard Topf, British Political Culture John Kingdom, Local Governmentand PoLitics Shamit Saggar, Race and Politics ia Brit&

The Series has four intentions: * to isform the reader about the history, context and key factors; to reviaeu recent developments and academic research and debates; ta interpret and analyse these developments and explanations; to evaluate future possibilities and prospects. The books are all around 60,000 words, or 160 pages, in length. Authors who would Iike to contribute to the Series are invited to contact the Editor: John Benyon, Centre for the Study of Public Order, University of Leicester, 6 Salisbury Road, Leicester, LE1 7QR. -.- a a Feedback .a- m ESRC AND THE PSA GRADUATE CONFERENCE

possibilities'. ESRC funds are used for unsatisfactory, not least for the ESRC's own research ~raining:these other laudable aims graduate students. This year they were not would seem to be an excellent use of the reimbursed for their conference expenses Dear Editor, funds of a learned society. until a month after the event; indeed they In the Spring 1989 edition of PSA NEWS In the run up to next year's recognition did not even receive from the ESRC a firm you reported on the ESRC's decision not to exercise, the ESRC is giving considerable pre-conference undertaking of reimburse- fund the PSA Graduate Conference. Perhaps thought to the training needs of the social ment and thus had to decide whether to book you will allow me to make some observations sciences in the 1990s. I have stated publicly or not amidst worrying financial uncertainty. on your reported concerns? that I am concerned about the standards of You report that 'there are many depart- technical competence in British social science Yours sincerely, ments that lack either the resources or the compared with those in other countries, Richard Gillespie expertise to provide their postgraduates with especially the United States. I would wel- PSA Graduate Conference Organiser adequate, comprehensive, methodological come a constructive debate within the PSA Department of Politics training', and argue that this is one of the about how the ESRC can ensure that im- University of Warwick reasons which justifies ESRC support for the proved standards of research training can be Conference. In 1990 the ESRC will, in the achieved among the students that we fund. normal way, be inviting departments to Perhaps the PSA could solicit the opinion of reapply for recognition for the purpose of heads of departments on this issue, too. Professor Newby comments: supervising ESRC-funded students. The statement quoted above suggests that many Howard Newby Dr Gillespie states that he findsit 'difficult departments should be denied recognition Chairman, ESRC to understand why the ESRC should object on the grounds that they cannot offer Cherry Orchard East, to supporting an event the programme of adequate research training for their students. Swindon which was partially concerned with career Is it, therefore, the view of the PSA that only possibilities'. The ESRC does not object to a few departments are worthy of ESRC this activity - on the contrary we find it recognition? entirely laudable. It is, rather, a question of Secondly, it surely cannot be the policy of Fmm rlk -r aF the 1989 PSA priorities. The Training Board took the the PSA that the primary responsibility for Grrduarc Codemace view, which I support, that it could not give training students should lie with the ESRC priority to supporting this kind of activity directly, rather than with the staff of recog- Dear Editor, in the light of the other demands made upon nised departments? If the ESRC were to I very much welcome Profesor Newby's its very limited budget. acquire such a responsibility it would, at readiness to discuss ways in which graduate least, require the capacity to determine cur- research training can be improved. Dr Gillespie raises the issue of reimburse- riculum content, set standards, accredit de- However his letter does not address the ment of conference expenses.. . The main grees, etc. I am not aware of any demands central problem I encountered when seeking reason for the delay is that we are dependent for the ESRC to intervene in this way; nor ESRC sponsorship for the 1989 Graduate upon an external computing bureau .. . this would the ESRC wish to do so. Conference, namely that the Council's appa- situation will remain until 1991 when we will It is not the policy of the ESRC to fund rent limitation of funding to training ac- be able to share services with the other basic research training via events like the tivities relating only to new methodological research councils. I can only apologise for Graduate Conference but to support ac- approaches is not very helpful in relation to the delay which is something from which we tivities in order to transmit research improving graduate training in political sci- all suffer . .. techniques which are either highly ence. specialised andfor consist of new develop- I also find it difficult to understand why The failure of some students to receive ments. I fail to see how this constitutes 'a the ESRC should object to supporting an from the ESRC a firm pre-conference under- retrograde step'. There is certainly room for event the programme of which was partially taking of reimbursement is clearly a point dicussion about precisely where the respon- concerned with career possibilities. The on which the ESRC might be regarded as sibilities of departments end and those of the feedback from the 39 participants indicated culpable. However, this period coincided ESRC begin, but the primary responsibility that this session was very valuable to ESRC with the major disruption caused by the for research training remains where it always and non-ESRC graduates alike. Morale, too, ESRC's move to Swindon ... we lost over has - in the departments. would appear to have been raised by the 70% of our staff and it was, I regret to say, Finally, I note that the Graduate Confer- event. inevitable that efficiency would suffer. I can ence performs, inter alia, the functions of I hope that the PSA and ESRC will discuss only apologise to the students who were 'boosting postgraduate moral (sic) .. . and the funding of future graduate training as a affected but, under the circumstances, the informing them about future career matter of urgency. The present situation is ESRC did the best it possibly could.

WINTER 1989 The editmal andprodwnbn team ofPSA NEWS is vety gratefi,Zfor all the cm- and messages which have been sent rk or telephoned thrmgh. Sugges- h, mir'&, Dear Editor, and of course matenizl for inclmhn, are always aappreczatea'. I noted with interest that the PSA agreed Readers may be interestedto see a selecnbn ofthe commend tht have been made to participate in the latest UGC Research a6out PSA NE VS. Selectivity Exercise. As you may have noticed in the British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL) Newsletter, BAAL de- 'Congratulations .. . I enjoyed reading it and 'It is a very impressive production .. . It's clined to do so on the grounds that it may Liked the style.' good to see the PSA defending and advancing well be actually counter to the Constitution Jdiet Lodge, Univern& of Hull the cause of political studies with such en- of our Association. You may also be aware thusiasm and style!' that the British Psychological Association de- Phi1 Stanworth, University of York; Editor clined to participate for similar reasons. 'It really is an interestmg and well-presented BSA ~~~~~k At the AGM of BAAL, at the University production. ' of Exeter in September 1988, there was much S.R., SurffmdFkzre Po&rechnri. 'Congratulations on the excellent PSA strong feeling that somewhere, somehow, a NEWS.' stand had to made against what was seen as Bobby Pyper, Paisley College this limiting and constraining exercise. The '. .. imaginativepresentation.. . a twdefie, far beyond what is ordinarily thought of as fmal decision was to refuse to make any 'I think that the new format and content are a newsletter .. . ' evaluative judgements at all, but to offer ad- really excellent!' Ken Gladdish, Uni'xt& of Readzirg vice in a general sense. Professor Jeremy Richardson, University Best wishes for the continued success of your Association and Newsletter in these anti-academic times. 'I just had to drop a note to congratulate you and your team for the superb edition of 'Congratulations on the new format of the PSA newsletter .. . it's just what the profes- John NomSh thenewsletter. zt isa to the profession! sion needs a very professional publica- Edam, BBAA NNewtter, I look forward to further issues. ' . - ... non.' Institute of Education, Colin Thain, Univem& of Exeter Alan Ware, University of Warwick University of London I-_ 'I have to congratulate you warmly on the 'Excellent.' presentation and content of the newsletter John Curtice, University of Strathclyde ... it is difficult to see how other national associations can compete with its level of ~~~~~~~~~~~~i~~~on a most impressive news- professionalism. I wish it the best of success.' letter! I look forward to the next issue.' John CoaMey, National Institute fmHigher ~dli~~o,L~~~J~~, ~~~li~~~~~i~~l Education, Limerick University; Secretary, Australian Political Studies Association

'Many congratulations .. . a most professional CH~~~~~on the new P~A production .. .' Newsletter. It looks superb.' Jim Sharpe, University of Oxford Ivor Shelley, Rqal Institute of Public Administration 'Unspeakably vulgar .. . couldn't bring my- self to open it .. . instructed scout to put it 'Congratulations on the first issue of PSA straight in the bin ...' NEWS.' Anon, University of Oxford John Bochel, University of Dundee

'What a splendidly produced publication' 'Unspeakably vulgar .. . couldn't put it down Iain McLean, University College, Oxford .. . just what we need - keep up the good I work.' Mick Moran, University of Manchester 'Informative and well presented. Keep it up!!' Vincent McKee, Stamford College, Lon- 'I found the first number of PSA NEWS don very interesting indeed. It is useful for a Vice-Chancellor to be kept abreast of subject 'A very useful source of information on the news on a wide basis .. .' profession' Professor Fred Holliday, Vice-Chancel- Robert H. Taylor, School of Oriental lor, University of Durham Studies, University of London

PSA NEWS IUFCResearch Selectivity Exercise.. .

As members of the PSA sorely recollect, the first 'Research Selectivity Exercise' in 1986 treated the discipline of politics very badly. Then, 31 of the 38 departments included in the exercise were found to be average (16) or below average (15) with only 7 above average (5) or outstanding. The results for politics compared very unfavourably with those for other cost centre 31 subjects, such as sociology and economics.

. ~liekaxe: still".' rstiong . ,. .@oa&. :f@, However, there are still strong grounds for '1 r-:.questiomg .the'6!@rlip$o$ie oi:tli& questioning the overall profile of the profes- sion, in particular why only four departments :prcif&sion,.:in. .p~cular:';ii&y/o,nly;.: Panel beaters fov.dejiariryents recGved .a: received a grade 4 rating. The UFC defmi- . tion of category 4 is that it indicates: 4 r&.,g , , ,. :. ' ..,:. :':'.:, .' ..'i.,. : - :: :', ...... - ...L Of course, it was all down to the UFC Panel, Research quality that equates to attaina- which was chaired by Professor Alan James ble levels of national excellence in virtu- (University of Keele). Its membership in- A glowing testimonial ally all sub-areas of activity, possibly cluded Professor Nevil Johnson, (Nufhld showing some evidence of international College) as well PSA nominees Professors The 1986 ratings were all the more gahg in excellence, or to international excellence Ivor Crewe (Essex), Raymond Plant (South- in some and at least national level in a view of the high regard in which colleagues ampton) and Jeremy Richardson (Strathclyde). majority. overseas hold British political studies. As the The Panel met on three occasions to decide ESRC put it in its recent report entitled HaZm Given the ambiguities contained in this tor- the ratings, and it is clear that there were and Opportunities in the Social Sciences: tuous statement, and accepting the difficul- some border-line cases. It is rather less clear British political science has a considerable ties of establishing what is to count as how many - if any - of these marginal reputation in a number of fields. British international and national excellence, several cases were raised or lowered at the final political theory and political philosophy departments which were graded 3 would meeting. It may be that individual Panel are outstanding in an international appear to have good reason to feel aggrieved members had rather differing views about perspective. In fields such as the study that they were not given a category 4 rating, the quality of politics research in general, of electoral behaviour, British work is in view of their research output and estab- and the outstanding international reputation second to none in Europe. Original work lished reputations. of the profession. is also underway at the frontiers with economics and at the meeting point bet- ween public policy and political philosophy. There is also much promise in long-term scholarly developments methods -used by the UFC leave much to he which are attempting to transcend the -desired, the more reliabk statistical indicators boundaries of political science, sociology and history. reveal higMy positive &ends for political studies... How peculiar, in view of the ESRC's glow- ing testimonial, that the UGC found only 7 The PSA identified three main functions concerning the research selectivity exercise. The British politics departments (out of 38) which primary role of the PSA, as a professional organisation, is to promote the study of political were above average. It was no wonder the 1986 studies. As such, the PSA is concerned to ensure that the discipline of politics is treated exercise commanded no confidence whatso- nationally on a comparable basis with other social sciences. One of the main problems with ever amongst politics academics. the 1986 exercise, of course, was that politics was assessed far less favourably in terms of its overall profile of ratings, and the PSA was determined that this inequitable treatment Reason to feel aggrieved should not recur in 1989.

The 1989 ratings are a step in the right Secondly, the PSA has to be prepared to particular, the PSA should highlight serious direction. 25 departments received grade 3 present a good defence of politics depart- inadequacies in the methods used to evaluate or better, 12 departments were given rating ments at the bottom of the ratings, particu- departments, systematic inaccuracies of 2, and only two were given a rating of one. larly when they have been unfairly assessed data, and the lack of procedures for verifica- by the 'snapshot' approach of the research tion. exercise. The PSA has to be able to provide It should be stressed that the PSA does information which a department can use to not see its role as carrying out departmental defend its position within its own university. rankings itself, and it is wary of becoming Thirdly, the PSA should act as an indepen- co-opted into the process so that it cannot dent and trenchant critic of the approach retain its independence. taken by the UFC Research Review. In

WINTER 1989 UFC Research Selectivity Exercise.. .

Problems with the exercise

There are at least four criticisms of these categories that can be put forward. First, they can be criticised as ambiguous. It is not clear what is to count as an indicator of 'national and international excellence'. In some cases it may be obvious, for example An independent assessment The :problem :is-that. there. k no. publishing in a journal like the American ,do@e+w . .&out the. inieriqtiofial Political Science Review or the British Journal To prepare its defence of the profession, and ..-reputation:of. subjects' and depart- of Political Science, or being invited to give to be able to monitor the exercise, the PSA . -m.ents,2nd"so whether hyor a a keynote address at an international confer- collected the information sent to the UFC fsw- departartmen@ .areranked highly ence. But in most cases, to evaluate the from all 41 departments reviewed under the 'hja~~ven;.subj'eCtessenti~y~refl~ds myriad of lesser mortals, it is unclear how parsimony distinctions are to be drawn. Politics and International Relations Unit of '.;he.g&~ler@,jfy or.. .. of the Assessment. To evaluate the responses the subject. . panel; . . ' - . ' Secondly, there was no attempt to standar- I Association established a Shadow UFC Panel dise rankings across subjects or even to of three widely-respected colleagues- Hugh co-ordinate information between subject Berrington, Alan Ryan and John Vincent. detail in the Spring issue of PSA NEWS boards. Each point of the scale is seen as an The Shadow Panel provided an independent (Volume 1, Number 3, p. 10). During the absolute standard - the UFC did not appear qualitative assessment of the publication and early summer, PSA analysis of the depart- to be expecting departments to be ranked research records of departments. The PSA mental returns served to reinforce doubts according to a normal distribution curve. also carried out a statistical analysis of the about the way the exercise was carried out. The problem is that there is no consensus data. The PSA thus examined the same Three major problems were identified: about the international reputation of subjects information at the offical UFC Panel. the UFC set out ambiguous criteria for and departments, and so whether many or a At their PSA Conference in February evaluation; few departments are ranked highly in a given 1989, heads of departments heard Ivor Crewe the UFC failed to request verzfubledata; subject essentially reflects the generosity or outline some cogent criticisms of the UFC the UFC failed to establish clear and parsimony of the subject panel. Research Selectivity Exercise, and also heard precise rules. Thirdly, the criteria may lead to systematic the response of Professor Alan James. Ivor biases by sub-field. It is possible that certain Crewe's trenchant critique was reported in Ambiguous ctiteria for evaluation sub-fields, like international relations, com- parative politics or political theory, naturally The UFC guidelines instructed all panels to have a wider international audience than, rank departments on a five-point scale ac- say, the study of local government, Scottish cording to research standards of national and politics or social policy. Some departments international excellence: may be disadvantaged merely because their expertise is concentrated in 'non-interna- Category 5 indicates research quality that tional' areas' when in fact the quality of their equates to attainable levels of international research output is of a very high standard. excellence in some sub-areas of activity and Fourthly, the criteria may effectively to attainable levels of national excellence in penalise smaller departments covering a wide virtually all others. range of sub-fields against those with a more Categov 4 indicates research quality that specialised focus. equates to attainable levels of national excel- lence in virtually all sub-areas of activity, possibly showing some evidence of interna- tional excellence, or to international excel- lence in some and at least national level in a majority. Category 3 indicates research quality that equates to attainable levels of national excel- lence in a majority of the sub-areas of activ- ity, or to international level in some. Category 2 indicates research quality that equates to attainable levels of national excel- lence in up to half of the sub-areas of activity. Category l indicates research quality that equates to attainable levels of national excel- lence in none, or virtually none, of the I sub-areas of aclvity. 1 12 In one case, for example, two books were although again these were heavily concen- Some deparpne!ts may-be disad- cited against a colleague's name - one of trated in Oxford (134) and the LSE (89). vantaged merely because their ex- nearly 300 pages published by a national The total amount of research money raised pertise is concentrated in 'non-inter- publisher, the other a working paper of 30 by politics departments also increased national' areas when in fact the qual- pages issued by a research centre. dramatically during the period, doubling h odut is of a between 1984 and 1988.

A Highly positive trends

Unverifiable data Two major conclusions can be drawn. First, There are even more serious criticisms about as a way of evaluating research output the the information collected for evaluating pub- methods used by the UFC Research Selectiv- lications. Some data within the reports could ity Exercise leave much to be desired. If a be verified, for example: student FTEs, To assess the collective output of a depart- full and fair assessment is to be made it research grants and doctoral awards. But, as ment it would have been far better if the requires far more rigorous methods, more they were presented, the figures in the nurn- UFC had set clearly understood rules. The adequate staff resources and more detailed erica1 summary of books, articles and chap- returns could have included a full list of analysis. It would be preferable to use veri- ters published by a department could not be books published within the set period, sub- fiable data, andlor thorough and detailed checked. One problem was the ambiguity of divided into suitable categories such as single citation research (for all its short-comings). what was to count as a publication for these authored, joint authored, edited and jointly Secondly, the evidence from the more figures. As one colleague on another subject edited, with a set format for page length, reliable statistical indicators shows highly panel summarised it: 'the data are for the publisher, location, edition and date. positive trends for political studies - in birds'. In which case heads of department Monographs below a certain length (eg 100 terms of undergraduate demand, the success could quite rightly claim that it should not pages) and re-prints could have been listed of postgraduate training and the ability to have been collected in that form. separately or excluded altogether. raise independent research resources. The profde of political studia

In terms uf research, the quantitative Because of the problems outlined above, the indicators look goad. There was a PSA excluded some of the information in the substantial increase in research returns from its analysis. However, there is studentships awarded competitively useful information which can be used in MEMBERSHIP OF to pditics postgraduates, from the aggregate form to analyse the state of political THE UFC POLITICS ESRC - or olher sources. studies in Britain. AND The overall news is fairly familiar: politics departments are teaching more and more INTERNATIONAL Unclear and imprecise rules students, at undergraduate and postgraduate STUDIES PANEL level. From 1984 to 1988 the number of full-time equivalent students in the 41 de- Professor A.M. James, For the section listing two publications per partments increased by 12%, from about Department of International Relations, member of staff (RS2), the UFC failed to 7,000 to 8,000. The average staff student University of Keele; provide any precise definitions about what ratio (SSR), obtained by dividing average was to count as a book, a chapter or an staff by average FTE, was about 14, although Professor A. W. Bradley, article. It would not have been difficult to this showed substantial variation from a low Faculty of Law, Universi~yof Edinburgh; devise appropriate definitions to categorise SSR of 9 in some departments to a high of Professor I. Crewe, publications. As a result, without the author- 20 or more in others. Department of Government, University of ity of rules, in a Hobbesian state of nature, In terms of research, the quantitative Essex: colleagues naturally applied definitions indicators look good. There was a substantial which best suited their case. One person's increase in research studentships awarded Professor N. Johnson, monograph was another person's book; one competitively to politics postgraduates, from NuffieId College, University of Oxford; person's departmental seminar paper was the ESRC or other sources. The figures show Professor R. Plant, another person's learned article. a 44% increase, up from 119 awards in 1984 Department of Politics, University of Some returns clearly and precisely to 172 in 1988. The studentships were heav- Southampton; specified whether books should be credited ily clustered in certain departments, with Professor J.J. Richardson, as single authored, joint authored, edited or over half in Oxford, the LSE and Manches- Department of Politics, University of whether it was simply one chapter in a book, ter. Strathclyde; a new edition, or a translation. Others did The number of successful doctoral awards not. Some listed numbers of pages; others in politics and international relations showed Professor A. Webb, did not. Some included working papers; a similar increase of over 40%, from 89 PhDs Department of Social Sciences, University others did not. There were many examples. awarded in 1984 to 127 PhDs in 1988, ofLoughborough WINTER 1989 I UFC Research Selectivity Exercise.. . I UFCIUGC Research Ratings List I PSA Annual

I Changes between

Departments - moving dam - 5

PSA NEW _ Comments about the UFC ratings SNAP-SHOT THROUGH have not been favourable... AN OXBRIDGE LENS Dear Sir, extensive qualitative appraisal, after subject- FLAWED by-subject guidance about criteria and infor- ... This letter is not concerned with the FOUNDATIONS mation, which aimed to give informed advice timing and nature of our snap-shot photo- to all for the future. It was firmly against the graph but rather that it was taken through Dear Sir, line in fact taken: rating from mainly quan- the conventional Oxbridge lens. Much of our titative information, collected in wholly stan- research is carried out in collaboration with Comparisons are distorted by the fact that .. . dard form across all subjects, and directed industry and is therefore less likely to lead the Council thinks in terms of 'cost centres', just to 'selectivity'. to published papers in journals and to books. while universities are organised in terms of Having largely ignored such advice -and We believe that Britain should be doing subject departments. The fact that a 'cost seeming also to have required its panels to more, not less, of this kind of research and centre' in the sciences, pure and applied, is rush the Exercise through at a speed hard to that view was first expressed in the docu- much more narrowly defined than one in the square with appraisal of quality sensitive to ments of our foundation nearly 200 years ago. arts and social sciences must bring the assess- the diversity of ends and means in research We wish, therefore, to be compared with ment of the latter closer to the mean and - the UFC should not now dismiss criticism the Ecoles Polytechniques, with the Technis- raises the question of whether like is being as mere cries of 'sour grapes'. chen Hochschulen, with Stanford and not compared with like. with Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and Yale, This is confirmed by the results: 35 'cost Yours truly thank you very much. centres' are given the maximum score of five points in the sciences and 20 in the applied Professor J.H. Westergaard Yours sincerely sciences, compared with four in the social Convenor, Standing Conference of Arts and sciences and one in the arts (three if one Social Sciences Sir Graham Hills includes 'creative arts'). Where alleged weak- Department of Sociological Studies Principal and Vice-Chancellor nesses are identified, the results are predict- The University University of Strathclyde ably similar: 25 in the sciences and 18 in the Sheffield Glasgow applied sciences as against two in the social sciences and one or two in the arts. Minor ambiguities of classification are not DOUBTS ABOUT THE OUTCOME OF A enough to account for this enormous discre- pancy. This is a serious matter for the future FLAWED EXERCISE Second, given the rules of the game, small of our universities, whose research funding departments and institutions will inevitably Dear Sir, will henceforth be calculated in terms of an do less well than large ones - they simply assessment that rests on flawed foundations. Not surprisingly, the results of the Univer- have not had the resources to compete on sities Funding Council (UFC) Research equal terms, despite the UFC view that the Yours faithfully Selectivity Exercise have resulted in the Exercise avoids any bias in favour of the production of yet another set of league tables. large. For example, nowhere does the UFC Professor Norman Hampson In practice, this year's league tables are as define what is considered 'reasonably attain- Department of History misleading as their predecessors. able' by a department of seven as against that University of York While the Exercise was no doubt con- expected of a department of 20. Heslington, York ducted more carefully than its predecessor, Third, we do not know what weight the doubts must remain about the outcome and various panels gave to different modes of about any comparisons then made. Given publication, but given that the results were that the Royal Economic Society believes published much earlier than expected, it is ADVICE WHICH that it has uncovered flaws in the exercise difficult to believe that full consideration was - a view which is shared by the Political given to all the different types of publication WAS IGNORED Studies Association - it is worth making for which universities were asked to provide several points in this context. details. Dear Sir, First, the overall level of performance is Last, and most importantly, nowhere does .. . In fact the University Grants Committee, undoubtedly much higher than it was three the UFC indicate the extent to which it the UFC's predecessor, had ample warning years ago, and there is much about which all undertook verification of the publication in advance that an exercise conducted as it those in unversities can justifiably be proud. details provided. If those data are inaccurate, actually proved to be would have little credi- All are performing much better than they then judgements based on them will be bility for academics in many disciplines, were at the beginning of the decade, and this misleading, and the Exercise will indeed be never mind who scored high or low. Our through a period when public resources fatally flawed. report, Research Selectivity in the Humanities made available to universities have been (SCASS, April 1989), analysed the advice declining in real terms. But when standards Yours faithfully offered before the Exercise by 25 national are rising it is worth remembering that to organisations broadly representative of uni- rise up the ladder requires a well-above- Professor Michael Goldsmith versity arts and social sciences disciplines. average level of performance over what is a Chair, Political Studies Association The balance of their views was firmly for relatively short period between reviews. University of Salford

WINTER 1989 *Extracts from four letters to The Indepe~zdenr . PSA NEWS Qp.nlan--.m Cover Stories he UFC has announced its research Albert Weale have power. The most significant question to arise from the Panel's working is how such rankings and departments must live University of East Anglia T with the results. For some there was an elementary distinction could have been pleasure at the boost to their reputations; for ignored when the subject of assessment was most there was a sigh of relief that things not political power but academic perfor- could have been worse; and for the unlucky tive and qualitative - the objective and the mance. third there is a period of anxiety while they subjective. To ignore the quantitative assess- The answer to this question is, I believe, wonder what their future will be now that ment of output not only missed one essential simple. It is this. Once the premises on they have been cast as goats rather than element of any worthwhile research ranking, which the UFC was conducting the exercise sheep. but meant that the subjective assessment of were granted, the members of panels had no But the natural tendency to take comfort the Panel members operated unconstrained option but to act as they did. The UFC had or despair from one's individual situation by any objective account of output per head. taken over the UGC's commitment to a should not inhibit the proper academic ap- comprehensive research ranking of all sub- Moreover, the process had to be under- praisal of the exercise as a whole. Least of jects in a short period of time. Once you taken in a short period of time, and it was all should those who have done less well than accept that this is the task to be undertaken, therefore impossible for Panel members to they hoped or expected be put off from you must also accept that it cannot be done read and form a judgement upon anything criticism by the 1980's cliche of 'they would in a satisfactory way. more than a small portion of the items listed say that, wouldn't they?'. For it has become in the returns. In consequence, Panel mem- apparent that the panels' exercises of judge- bers fell back upon indirect indicators of Trying to do the impossible ment were severely constrained by the cir- quality, for example the standing of journals cumstances in which they had to work. or book publishers, or the reputation of the he sheer quantity of information in- 1 Unconstrained subjective items listed. volved would ensure that a relatively I assessments Children are taught they should not judge T small number of assessors would be l a book by its cover. The assessment Panel swamped if they sought to make a series of I 'ficial accounts and 'off-the-record' seems to have erected the opposite of this genuinely independent rankings, let alone l riefings are by now so widespread principle into the chief basis of the rankings. sought comparability across different sub- iat it is quite easy to establish the Their principle was the cover criterion. Since jects. The UFC assessment was reputational basic tacts of the panels' operation. The one of the Panel members is well known for because that is how it had to be. Reading giving bad reviews to books he has read, it and reflection take time and this is something Politics Panel met three times. On the first l must have been a novel experience to be able that the panels did not have. occasion its members discussed the ground l to give bad reviews to books he has not read. rules and sought to become clear about the It is by now a familiar lesson of political definitions of excellence in terms of which economy that the basic problem with at- they were to make their judgements. The Lack of substance tempts at comprehensive planning of re- second meeting was given over to a compari- sourse allocation is that central planners will son of the innitial gradings of departments nd here is the nub of the matter. quickly be overwhelmed by information they that individual members had produced inde- The exercise appears in its public cannot process in the time available. The pendently. The third, and final, meeting A presentation to be one of peer UFC has obviously not read Hayek. So they dealt with marginal cases and the overall review, familiar to us all as authors and press ahead trying to perform the impossible. profile of the rankings. referees. Whatever the verdict when our Since what they are trying to do is impossi- work is assessed as a result of peer review, ble, they have to reject all the mechanisms It had become clear to the Panel from an it is a reasonable and generally well-founded of scrutiny and accountability that are nor- early stage of the exercise that a significant expectation that it has been read and an mally so central to the academic enterprise. amount of error was likely to be present in independent expert assessment made. But The whole style of the review - with its the returns. The Panel made the judgement the outward show of peer review lacks any absence of written justification of assess- that this might not be random error, and so substance in the case of the UFC exercise. ments, its non-disclosure of criteria until would affect the relative assessment of diffe- If the panels read only a small proportion of after the assessments had been made and its rent departments. The chief effect of this identified items, they were not conducting a absence of appeal mechanisms - confirms assessment was a decision to dispense with peer review but merely exchanging reputa- this basic fact. Until the standard procedures the quantitative information of published tional assessments. of academic peer review are restored to the output, and to focus attention upon the When political scientists teach their stu- management of universities, the grading entries for two published items per indi- dents about the weakness of the reputational exercises will remain what they currently are vidual member of staff. technique in the assessment of political - cover stories. It is worthwhile pausing to ponder the power, they point out that such a technique significance of this decision. A research rank- is defective since it will identify not just those Albert Weale is Professor of Politics at the ing should properly be a mixture of quantita- with power but those thought or perceived to University of East Anglia.

PSA NEWS

PSA Conference I Keohane Wins Grawemeyer Award Venues The second University of Louisville Grawemqyer Award for Ideas Improving the World Ordet. has been won by Robert Kmhane for his wfk Afca Begmy: Coopetutia and FoDowing the forthcooling Annual Coafer- Discord in the World Pditicat Ecmmmy, published by Princeton Univerity Press. Winners ence at the University of Durham, the 1991 of the Erst (1988) award were Rtchard Neustadt and Ernest May for their ideas set out in AnnuaI Conference will be hosted by the Thinking in Tinse (Free Press). University of Bristol, at which the Lea1 Nominations are invited for the third annual competition for the best idea, promoting Organiser will be Dr Nick Renggtr. Queen's improved rejarions berween nations, published between July 1985 aad August 1989. University, Belfast isearmarked for the 1992 Submissions for the award may address a wide range of international concerns such as: Conference, subject to final agreement on foreign policy and its formation, the conduct of foreign relations, inter-cultural reIations detailed arrangements. and communications, international Iaw and organistion, the rule of law and the role of Offers to host subsequent conferences force, international development, and international trade and investment; or any idea have been received from a number of hstitu- which could at least incrementally lead to more just and peaceful inte~ationalrelations. tions, for which the PSA is very grateful. r Nominations are invited from throughout the world by individual political scientists, by The Executive is keen to receive further such professional associations lof political scientists or related disciplines in internatio~al offers so that the geographical rotation of selati.ons, by university presidents or by publishers and editors of journals and books in PSA conferences can be managed on as fair political science and international affairs. a basis as possible. Departmentb wi~hingt~x Nominations and requests for entry fvms or further information should be sesenr to: host future conferences should infarm PSA University of Lauisville, Grawemeyer Committee, Department of Political Science, Executive Director Ian Furbes. University of Lauisville, Louiwille, KY 40292, USA.

Professor Stuart Walkland interest in constitutional reform of which Charter 88 is a recent ~xmple. Stuart WalMand, who died in May of this year, was a leading authority on Parliament and a strong advocate of constitutional reform. He lectured on politics at Sheff~ldUniversity Major contribution from 1917 untiI his early retirement because of ill health in 19185. He was appointed to a personal chair in 1981. Sruart Walkland's academic distinction walk land*^ research focused on the powers and procedures of Parliament. Hc was one brought him international reeognition as a of the founders, and hter chairman, of the Srudg of Parliament Group, which brought specialist on legislatures. He collaborated on together university teachers active in the field of parliamentary s~udyand officials in the several comparative European projects and Home of Commons and House of Lords. He wrote and edited a number of major studies, had a keea intemt in political education and including The fk!gislari~eProcess in Great Britain /1968), The Hause of Gmmons in the 20th the extension of educational opportunity. Csn8w-y (1979) and, with Michael Ryle, The Commwof zn tAe 1970's f 1977) and The Cmnmons Today (1981). He made a major eonaibution CO Sheffield University and to the political science profes- Desirable reforms Firm advocate sion through his work for the Politics Ass&- 1 ation, the London Examination Board, md the Joint Matriculation Board. He fought He was heavily invalved in the debate in the The validity of Walkland's critique of the hard to widen access for mature students to 1960s on the reform of Parliament initiated limits of procedural reform is now widely universities at a time when it was distinctly by Bernard Crick. The reformers were in accepted. The critique arose from reflection unfashionable to do so, and generations of favour of sweeping procedural changes de- on the hadul consequences of the adver- mature students will remember him for the simed to ducethe dominance of the execu- sary style of the two-party system. Walkland assistance and encouragement he gave them. tive over the legislature. They wanted to argued that adversary politics undermined implove tbe ability of the Commons to the consensus and destroyed continuity of Stuart Walkland was an incisive and at subject the actions of the executive to more policy and was also the key factor in subor- times paIemic reviewer, but as a teacher and detailed scrutiny, and advocated, among dina*g the legislature to the executive, colleague he was known for his warmth and other reforms, the greater use of select com- through the operation of party discipline. He generosity and for the support he gave to mittees. became a firm advocate of the need for students and friends. He had a great love of WalMmd supported the goals of the refor- constitutional reform, in particular ekctoral wine, whisky, Italian ears and the music of mers, but during the 1970s became ex- reform, to improve both the representative- George Meliy. He was an unforgettable pre- tremely sceptical of many of their remedies. ness and the effectiveness af Parliament. sence in the university. He argued that procedural changes, however desirable and overdue, wouId only be effec- The conclusion?j from his own studies of Andrew Gamble tive if real power Was shifted to the legisla- why parliamentargr reforms could not suc- ture. The creation of a swong opposition to ceed under the existing system made him Stzaart AlQn WalFtEaad; lectwer and complement a strong government was un- political& homeless for a time. But in 1981 writer m politics; bmShefiEd 13 realisable so long as the working uf the he joined the SDP, the principles of which Januauly 1925; mm'd 1965 Iris British Constitution concentrated all red so closely resembled his own. His academic Faula Kahn; Hkd SheffzeId 39 May power in the hands of the executive. wrrk had anticipated the great upsurge of 1989.

PSA NEWS British Sociological Association ISPA Oslo Round Annual Conference Tdble 2--5 April 1990

The IPSA Round Table, hosted by the The 1990 Annual Conference of the British Norwegian Association of Political Science, Sociological Association will be held at the took place in Oslo from'22-25 August 1989. University of Surrey, Guildford. The aim of Cuba: 30 Years On The keynote address was given by Professor the Conference is to bring together two of Johan Olsen (University of Bergen) on 'Mod- the key issues in sociology: social divisions An international gathering of Cuba ernisation Programmes in Perspective'. and social trends. Papers on any aspects of specialists, including Professor Jorge social divisions are welcomed, as are Dominguez of Harvard, several other US- Other papers included: Jorgen Christen- methodological papers addressing the based Cuba scholars and Professor Pedro sen (Aarhus) 'Parallel Politics: Deregulation analysis of social change. Key questions in- Monreal Gonzalez of Havana, met at the Uni- and regulation'; Les Metcalfe (European Zn- clude: versity of Warwick on 12-14 May for a con- stitute of Public Administration) 'Accountabil- ference organised by Dr Peter Ferdinand and ity and effectiveness'; B. Guy Peters How are the social relations of consump- Dr Richard Gillespie of the Politics Depart- (Pittsburgh) 'The Modernisation of the Pub- tion changing? ment. The revised papers on 'Cuba, 30 Years lic Sector'; Tom Christensen (Oslo) What are the consequences of the shift On: The Dynamics of Change and the Inter- 'Bureaucratic Roles: Political Loyalty and from a 'Fordist' towards a more 'flexible' national Dimension' will be published in the Professional Autonomy'; Krister Stahlberg mode of accumulation? near future in The Journal of Communist (Aabo Academy) 'The Pursuit of an Adminis- Are advanced societies moving from a Studies, which sponsored the event. trative Policy'; William Smirnov (USSR modernist towards a post-modernist cul- Academy of Sciences) 'Modernisation and ture? Political Reforms in the USSR: Rival What are the implications for social jus- Forces'; Oscar Oszlak (CEDES, Bwos tice of the current restructuring of wel- omir U Aires) 'Redemocratisation and the Moderni- fare? K.**F**a sation of the State: The Alfonsin Era in What social divisions and social changes "nces... Argentina'. are occurring inside contemporary families? ESRClESF Conference on Political 1 Are longitudinal data methods essential Participation in Europe for understanding social change? 5-8 January 1990 Conference on Rights, Politics and Reproductive Technology Further details can be obtained from: The 24 February 1990 Organising Committee, Department of The Conference is being held at the Univer- Sociology, University of Surrey, Guildford, sity of Manchester A and is being sponsored GU2 SXH. by The Economic and Social Research Coun- The venue for this one-day conference is the cil and the European Science Foundation. LSE in London. It is organised by the PSA The aim of the Conference is to review the Women and Politics Group and the BSA current state of studies of political participa- Gender Studies Group, and further details tion and to investigate the possibilities of de- are available from: Joni Lovenduski, Depart- veloping new work and of coordinating exist- ment of European Studies, Loughborough European Consortium for Political ing research efforts. Details are available University, LE1 l 3TU (Telephone: Research Annual Workshops from: Professor Geraint Parry, Department 0509.222981). 2-7 April 1990 of Government, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL. The venue for the ECPR Joint Sessions is the Ruhr-Universitat, Bochum, West Workshop on the Politics of Germany. Workshops have been arranged Consensus in Britain and France on a wide variety of topics including: 0 the 7 February 1990 Seventh International Conference of welfare state high-risk technologies Europeanists economic models of political behaviour na- The venue is the University of 2S25 March 1990 tional executives women in European poli- Loughborough, A and the seminar is or- tics socialism in the Third World polit- ganised by the Association for the Study of ical violence intermediation of interests e Modern and Contemporary France, in as- The Council for European Studies will con- administrative reform national economic sociation with the European Research Centre vene its Conference in Washington, DC. strategies political biography election at Loughborough University. Speakers are The Conference is cross-disciplinary and in- campaigning crisis management territo- Serge Berstein (IEP, Paris) and Peter Morris ternational. Sample issues of the Council's rial minorities foreign policy and public (University of Nottingham). Further details European Studies Newsletter are available opinion the extreme right. Full details are from: Denise McKnight, European Re- from: Conference 90, Council for European available from: Helen Hughes, Central Ser- search Centre, Loughborough University, Studies, Box 44, Schermerhorn, Columbia vices, ECPR, University of Essex, Col- LE1 l 3TU (Telephone: 0509.222997). University, New York, NY 10027, USA. chester, C04 3SQ.

WINTER 1989 POLITICAL STUDIES Democratisation in Comparative Conference on Gender Equality and ASSOCIATION Perspective Conference Changing Regimes ANNUAL CONFERENCE 1G17 May 1990 1-2 June 1990 10-12 April 1990 The venue for the Conference is the Univer- The IPSA Study Group on Women, Politics sity of Tampere, Finland. Papers on the and Developing Nations is holding a Confer- Full details are given in the PSA Conference following themes are invited: theoretical ence in New York on the theme 'Issues of section of this issue of PSA NEWS. The explanations of democratisation; political Gender Equality and the Politics of Changing Academic Organiser, to whom offers of strategies; social prerequisites; global or Regimes'. Papers are invitedon the following panels should be made, is Albea Weale, regional analyses of democratisation. The panel topics: national liberation from col- School of Economic and Social Studies, Conference is organised by the IPSA Study onialisation; transition from authoritarian University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 Group on Comparative Democratisation and regimes to democracies; grass roots move- 7QP (Telephone: 0603.592064). The Con- the Finnish Political Science Association. ments and mass mobilisation; foreign inter- ference meets in Durham at the University Further information from: Tatu Vanhanen, ventions. ~urther:nformation from: Profes- of Durham and the local organiser is Dr Department of Political Science, University sor Najma Chowdhury, Department of Polit- R.W. Dyson, Department of Politics, Uni- of Tampere, P.O. Box 607, 33101 Tampere ical Science, Dhaka University, Nilkhet, versity of Durham, Durham, DHl 3LZ 10, Finland. Dhaka, Bangladesh. (Telephone: 091.374.2000).

Democracy and the Development of British Association for Japanese Political Science Conference Studies Conference, 15-18 May 1990 17-19 April 1990 The Conference, organised by the Intern- Round Table on Ethnic and Linguistic The Conference is being hosted in New- ational Committee for the Study of the Minorities and the State castle upon Tyne by the Northumbrian Uni- Development of Political Science, will take 4-7 July 1990 versities' East Asia Centre. Further details place in Barcelona, under the chairmanship from: Professor R. Drifte, Department of of David Easton. Full details from: Professor The Round Table will be held at the Univer- Politics, University of Newcastle, Newcastle David Easton, Social Science Tower, Uni- sity of Limerick, Ireland, and is being upon Tyne, NE1 7RU (Telephone: versity of California, Irvine, CA 92717, USA. organised by the IPSA Research Committee 091.222.6444). on Politics and Ethnicity. The objects of the meeting are to explore the principal domains in which subordinate ethnic and linguistic History of Ideas Colloquium Workshop Study of Political Science groups come into conflict with the state, and 18-20 April 1990 21-22 May 1990 to analyse the principal strategies used to resolve these conflicts. Further details from: The Colloquium will be hosted by the The IPSA Research Committee on the Study John Coakley, College of Humanities, Uni- Humanities Department at Brighton of the Discipline of Political Science is hold- versity of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland. Polytechnic. Papers will include discussions ing a workshop in Paris on the theme of different theoretical and methodological 'Approaches to the Study of Political Science approaches. Further details are available as a Discipline'. Further details from: Profes- from: Bob Brecher, Department of sor Michael Stein, Department of Political Science, McMasters University, 1280 Main Humanities, Brighton Polytechnic, Falmer, Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4M4, Brighton, BN1 9PH (Telephone Canada. 0273.606622 Ext. 326). International Association for Communist Studies IPSA Research Committee on 20-21 July 1990 Nietzsche Society Conference Comparative Judicial Studies 28 April 1990 late Maylearly June 1990 The theme of the Conference is 'Reform and Resistance to Reform in Marxist-Leninist A one-day conference on Nietzsche in April The meeting will be in Victoria, British Col- States'. There will be panels on: 'Friends 1990 will take place in Colchester. It will umbia, during the Canadian Learned and Foes of Perestroika', 'Restructuring and be hosted by the Department of Philosophy Societies Annual Meeting. The main themes Labour', 'The Market and Political Control', at the University of Essex and the occasion are 'Courts and the Enforcement of Rights and 'Research Directions in Comparative will mark the launch of the Nietzsche Society in Comparative Perspective' and 'Govern- Communism'. Further information from: of Great Britain. Anyone who would like to ment Responses to Judicial Policy Mistakes'. Stephen White, Department of Politics, organise or participate in a workshop should Details from: Professor C. Neal Tate, Con- University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8RT; write to: Keith Ansell-Pearson, Department venor, Research Committee on Comparative David Lane, CREES, University of Birming- of Political Studies, Queen Mary College, Judicial Studies, Department of Political Sci- ham, Birmingham, B15 2TT; Bogdan Szaj- University of London, Mile End Road, ence, University of North Texas, Denton, kowski, School of Administrative Studies, London, El 4NS. TX 76203-5338, USA. University of Wales, Cardiff, CF2 3AS.

PSA NEWS PSA Members' Questionnaire Results At the time of the ballot for the Executive, in May 1989, members were also invited to fill in a brief questionnaire in which they assessed the value of the PSA's publications and activities. A large number of members responded and a summary of the results is provided here. In each case the responses are given in percentages.

ASSESSMENT PRIORITY ACTIVITIES

. F*" . .. ;..... -verypQbr Members were also asked to indicate which -. .G.:.. - pjO:. activities and publications they would like 7,.; ,:'.j.l; .. to see given priority during the next twelve months. Activities which scored particularly ,.. : - -2$4:. .:.:..,.l:,2-., high were defence of the profession [very .:&l , . ::lt,:o.',. ao-,:.' high priority: 77%; high priority: 21%] and public relations [very high: 62%; high: 34%]. Annual conference was given 'high' or 'very high' ratings by 95%, and graduate conference was also given high priority [very high: 31%; high: 46%]. Other activities which scored highly were research promotion [very high priority: 35%; high priority: 46%] and graduate train- ing [very high: 33%; high: 34%]. All the PSA publications received high priority ratings, with Politz~alStudies receiving a 'very high' or 'high' rating from 84%, and Politics and Survey of thProfession each being ranked as very high or high priority by some 63%.

PSA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE I Executive Meetings As a result of the postal ballot held in May, the following members were elected to serve The dates of the Executive Committee meet- on the Executive Committee of the Association: ings during the next year are as follows: 17 February 1990; David Denver University of Lancaster Ian Gordon Kingsum Polytechnic 12 April 1990; 5 Howard Elcock Newcastle Polytechnic David Morgan University of Liverpool 16 June 1990; 5 Andrew Gamble University of Sheffield $ Pippa Norris University of Edinburgh 22 September 1990; 5 Vince Geoghegan Queen's, Belfast Andrew Reeve University of Warwick 24 November 1990. 5 Mike Goldsmith University of SaIford Ursula Vogel University of Manchester Any items for discussion should be sent to Ian Forbes, Executive Director, at least indicates that the member is elected to serve until May 1990; three weeks before the meeting. indicates that the member is elected to serve until May 1991. Stein Rokkan Prize NEW The International Social Science Council IPSA COMMITTEES (ISSC) Stein Rokkan Prize in Comparative Research will be announced in December The International Political Science Association (IPSA) has established two committees, one 1990. The prize, worth $2000, is awarded on the Status of Women, to be chaired by Carole Pateman, and the other for the for a very substantial and original contribu- Advancement of Young Scholars, to be chaired by Itzhak Galnoor. Their mandates are to tion in comparative social science research explore and propose actions to allow and encourage women and young scholars to expand by a scholar under forty years at the end of significantly their participation and leadership in IPSA, both as a means of advancing their 1990. The closing date for entries is 15 careers, and of enriching the intellectual and institutional life of the Association. The March 1990. Full details can be obtained Executive attaches great importance to these committees, and would very much appreciate from: Secretary General, International So- suggestions and ideas. Please write to: Carole Pateman, Department of Government, cial Science Council, UNESCO, l Rue University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006 Australia; Itzhak Galnoor, Department of Miollis, 75015 Paris, France. Political Science, Hebrew University, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel.

WINTER 1989 m . PSA NEWS OP~I~~UI~m** The Editor invites contributions, and reactions, to PSA NEWS Opinion A Perplexing Portrait The gist of this short book has been retailed Dennis Kavanagh account on another occasion. His final chap- over a number of years, at seminars, dining ter, of but ten pages, suggests ('a few remarks tables and research councils. Indeed, readers University of Nottingham . . . if only a sketch') what politics is about. of Nevil Johnson's (usually) pained book One might think it an odd choice of priorities reviews, in THES and elsewheie, will know for an author to spend so much time in that the author finds little pleasure in reading destruction and so little in reconstruction. most politics books these days. Much of Johnson calls for a greater infusion of what he reviews appears to be poor stuff, history and philosophy into the study of indeed should not have been written at all. politics. One provides a source of experience, Johnson's book will be grist to the mill of the other cultivates the means of critical our political masters and spokesman for appraisal. Politics should be part of the competing social sciences, who will see that humanities and seek to explain rather than politics can be a soft touch in the search for search for generalisations. limited funds. settled, this is not so 'when the actor is still The passing show Endangered species at work, nor even when the events or cir- cumstances in which he or she played a part In Johnson's new world there will be much The Limits of Political Science is a statement lie in the recent past, and therefore, project study of the great political theory texts (not of how and why we have gone wrong. But themselves into the present' (p. 45). Dr Johnny-come-latelies like Nozick and it is no mea culpa. It is, rather, a story of Johnson wants to see the body before con- Rawls). These will be the historical and how the rest of us have gone astray and the ducting an autoposy. This is the best chapter philosophical components of what he calls author's own type of work is held up, with and his warnings against the 'higher gossip' 'pure politics'. There will also be 'applied commendable candour, as a model which we and need for distance are salutary. politics': much public administration will be should emulate. Although a Fellow in Bri- 'useful' for those going into government tain's foremost college of postgraduate social Critical appraisal service. science research and a past chairman of the One fails to see that these two idioms will politics section of the ESRC, he writes like The second idiom to be debunked is make the subject more coherent. There will a member of an endangered species. He is 'Politics as Science'. The model of the natural be little scope for surveys or quantitative an 'insider' writing as an 'outsider'. sciences, particularly the quest for reg- studies. Quantitative behaviour is 'necessar- The brevity of the book allows the argu- ularities and generalisation, is rejected as ily behaviour stripped of its important qual- ment to stand out; it is also repeated fre- inappropriate for the study of political be- ities, behaviour taken out of its context and quently. It is a forthright attack on much of haviour. This is old hat. His attack rests often aggregated for use within some artifi- what goes on in political science today - in upon a particularly narrow definition of cial framework' (p. 123). No doubt political teaching and writing. Johnson attacks the science, perhaps an obsessive misuse of the studies related to gender, the environment sheer diversity and shapelessness of what is term. This temper lay at the root of Lord and much else will also be ruled out. offered. There is no core: 'The menus are Joseph's decision to rename the Social Sci- Finally, Johnson eloquently appeals for nearly always too diverse in contect to offer ence Research Council the 'Economic and the restoration of a humanistic perspective the prospect of even a minimum of intellec- Social Research Council'. It is a pity that a to the study of politics. He claims that the tual coherence' (p. 115). So much for those few social scientists naively made ambitious study belongs to general education, to the who point to diversity as a strength. claims. moral sciences. Positivists, utilitarians and those 'corrupted by the fascination of the For Johnson the politics departments at the passing show' are disqualified fiom such Old hat universities of Oxford and Essex are where study. the two respective idioms are in the ascen- The book discerns two principal idioms. In dant. There are only occasional references 'Politics as Present Action' we are charged to specific pieces of faulty work. Johnson with whoring after fads or the latest develop- feels safer in making generalised attacks. He ments in current affairs. But politics is more has not, however, looked far outside his than what politicians do. We can, for exarn- small Oxford college for illustrations of in- ple, reasonably study the premiership of adequacy. Lloyd George but not that of Margaret In the last two chapters Johnson leaves the Thatcher. debris behind and tries to be constructive. Wheareas the events and practices sur- One chapter offers a brief 'reconstruction' rounding Lloyd George are completed and of how we should proceed, promising a fuller

PSA NEWS Confident and unqualified

MUC~of this could have been written at any

. . . . - Volume 1, Number 4 Winter 1989-90

The Newsletter of the Polit tudies Association of the United Kingdom Centre for the Study of Public Order, University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH

Heads of Departments meet to discuss the problems and uncertainties facing departments in polytechnics and colleges POLITICS IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR In March Heads of Department met at the loan payments should be linked to the Na- Royal Commonwealth Society for a one-day Swrised and gratified tional Insurance system (income-contingent conference, organised by the PSA, on the loans). problems facing Politics in public sector Viewed from the private and social basis, This approach, he argued, would be far institutions. higher education exhibits a rate of return to more equitable and administratively effi- From the Chair, Ian Gordon (Kingston justify the expansion of the whole sector. Jim cient. Moreover, student loans would not Polytechnic) outlined some of the major issues Nugent pointed out, however, that higher have a negative bpact upon access to higher and one of these was taken up by the first education should be viewed more widely education. Indeed, if the funds generated by speaker, Ms E. Lanchbery (Assistant Direc- than simply the financial rates of return, a sfudent loan system were re-directed to- tor, Kingston Polytechnic), who addressed the since the considerable benefits to the indi- wards the 16-18 age group, this was a much question of new contracts and conditions of vidual and society are often not captured in more effective strategy for widening access service. After reviewing the details of the these calculations. in higher education than the present grant PCFC proposals, she explained that they system. reflected the duties already undertaken by public sector lecturers. Consequently, the Plan of action 'Silver Book' conditions were outdated. In the final session, Ian Gordon outlined the conclusions of the PSA working party which examined the problems facing Politics in the MS Lanchbery then presented the Public Sector. The working party's deliber- employers' arguments for a 'professional' ations were reported in the last issue of PSA contract, alluding to the Marks and NEWS (Volume 1, Number 3, p. 36). Spencer's contract, which requires one per- In summary, its proposals were: sonnel officer for every sixty employees! The benefits and 'relevance' of political Unfortunately, Mrs Lanchbery failed to ad- studies should be publicised widely; dress the issues of professional autonomy, The audience was both surprised and The changes in political studies in public the need for an adequate salary structure to gratified to learn about the high standing of sector institutions should be closely mon- compensate lecturers for the proposed social sciences as reflected in the measured itored; changes, and the question of the allocation rate of return, based primarily upon Govern- The 1982 survey of political studies in the of lecturers' time between teaching, re- ment sources. Moreover, they felt that this public sector should be repeated; search, consultancy and administration. The information should be more widely dissemi- The PSA should lobby the PCFC, the nated in higher education institutions to audience was left with the impression of a Employers' Forum and the DES on the very 'managerialist' approach which ap- counteract the prevailing mythology. In- conditions of service of politics lecturers peared to be alien to the objectives of higher deed, the only studies that claim to establish in the public sector; education. an overall shortage of engineers and scientists The position of postgraduate training in The second speaker, Jim Nugent (Kings- are those prepared by the relevant profes- political studies in the public sector ton Polytechnic), examined the question of sional bodies! should be examined by the PSA; 'relevance', which has been discussed in past The ESRC should be approached to dis- issues of PSA NEWS. He argued that it was Widening access cuss public sector departmental recogni- ironic that a Government committed to mar- tion and the PSA should seek ways to ket forces had ignored the private and social After lunch, the Conference heard from give assistance to part-time and full-time rates of return to higher education. In a clear John Barnes (London School of Economics) postgraduates in the public sector. exposition, Nugent pointed out that the about student loans. He provided a summary These proposals were fully accepted by subjects popular with the present Govern- of the variety of schemes available, which those present at the Heads of Department ment had a private and social rate of return are more fully documented in his paper with Conference and will provide the basis for which was apprownately one-third of that Nick Barr - The Alternative White Paper in future action by the PSA. The Conference achieved by social science subjects. Clearly, Higher Education. In his summary, he criti- concluded by thanking Neil Collins and Ian if the market was pre-eminent, the Govern- cised the Government's scheme, which is Gordon for organising the event, con- ment should acknowledge the transfer skills based upon loans from the banking sector gratulating the speakers for their stimulating associated with a social science education. , (mortgage-type loans), and proposed that presentations. PSA NEWS Wish~ERedzrs a H* MdProsperous New Year