Interdisciplinarity as a Source of Relevance for Political Science

Abstract

This article seeks to shed light on the critical role of interdisciplinary qualities for the societal relevance of Political Science. It traces the historical development of Austrian Political Science embedded in the larger international context and by considering the cases of the United States, France, Germany and Italy. It serves as a means to demonstrate the close linkage between interdisciplinarity in Political Science and its professional, political and civic relevance. By addressing the question of Political Science's societal relevance from a historical and cross-national perspective, it prepares the ground for consecutive studies that conduct in-debt comparative analysis

From the Periphery to the Center of Global Knowledge Production? A Bibliometric Analysis of the Evolution of a Social Science Community from a Small Country: Austria

“…Most available analyses about the general trajectory of political science in Austria concurred with the general conclusions of Pelinka's analysis, published two and a half decades ago: a relatively low degree of internationalization of the discipline in the country (Decker et al 2018;Heinisch 2004Heinisch , 2018König 2010König , 2011König , 2013.…”

“…More pessimistic accounts of the trajectory of the discipline in the most periods abound. Decker et al (2018) reiterated the assessment already published by König 2011, who argued that the discipline appears incapable to adapt its theoretical and methodological instruments in order to deal with pertinent societal problems. König bemoaned the lack in communication and cooperation on the national and international level and the lack of inter-disciplinary qualities.…”

“…The overall development of political science in Austria can now look back on more than five decades of development (Brand, Kramer 2011;Decker et al 2018;Heinisch 2004;Karlhofer, Plasser 2012;König 2010König , 2011König , 2013Markovits, Rosenberger 2001;Pelinka 1995Pelinka , 2018. The list of the past presidents of its professional association, the Austrian Political Science Association, 12 assembles the names of the leading personalities who played a pivotal role in the establishment of the discipline since the late 1960s.…”

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“…Notwithstanding, as previously mentioned, e -government has developed in various interactional measurements, for example, government-to-government, government-to-business, government-to-resident and government-to-representative, and every one of these measurements have empowered the change of e -government in general. In endeavoring to investigate these measurements, the creator gives a more profound knowledge into e-government (Decker, et al 2018).…”

“…These activities endeavor to make exchanges, for example, reestablishing licenses and accreditations, covering regulatory expenses and applying for advantages, less tedious and less demanding to complete. G2C activities additionally frequently endeavor to upgrade access to open data using scattering devices, for example, Web destinations as well as stands (Decker, et al 2018). Some e-government advocates propose that one of the objectives of executing these activities ought to be to make a "one-quit shopping" site where subjects can complete an assortment of errands, particularly those that include different organizations, without requiring the national to start contacts with every office independently.…”