This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Leca, J. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The Enduring Dialogue of Conflict and Order in a Changing World

Institute of Political Science in Paris

Political science is the science of a self-contradicting universe since the politics of human societies (that is, "politics"per se) brings together units—individual or collective—that do not conform to a hierarchy of rational preferences immutable across cultures, nor do they rigidly behave according to a sociobiological program. Hence the "two faces" of political science looking both at divisive conflict and at unifying government. Political science as a social science solves the problem by splitting into two radically opposed outlooks: a majoritarian and reasonable institutionalism on the one hand, a minoritarian and sulphurous decisionism on the other. A "grand narrative" reconciles the two views and bridges the gap between our "tacit" and our "systematic" knowledge, as well as between our cognition and our values. Yet, is this narrative still valid?

International Political Science Review, Vol. 20, No. 1, 5-22 (1999)
DOI: 10.1177/0192512199201001


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?