Editorial
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-9248.2006.00562.x |
| Date | 01 March 2006 |
| Published date | 01 March 2006 |
| Subject Matter | Editorial |
Editorial
It is always a daunting task taking over the editorship of an important journal,
especially when the previous editors have played such a major role in develop-
ing it and firmly establishing its reputation as a leading international journal of
politics and political science. As incoming editors of Political Studies,our main
aim must be to maintain and enhance the reputation of the journal whilst at the
same time ensuring that it reflects the rich diversity of the discipline. We are
committed to publishing work of high quality whatever its theory,methodology
or empirical substance. The way we study politics in the UK has never been
dominated by a single method or theory and the richness of political science is
its pluralism. As editors, we would like to endorse the notion that there is more
than one way to do good social science.
The journal actively encourages submissions from all fields of politics, including
– and this is by no means an exhaustive list – international relations/politics,
comparative politics, development, (international) political economy, domestic
politics, and political theory.We want to support the wide variety of research
across the discipline of politics and reflect the best of its work. Our intention is
to publish work that is able to speak across sub-disciplinary debates and be of
general interest to the community of researchers. Work published in Political
Studies from all the rich sub-fields of politics should aim to say something that
is of wider interest and fits into a broad definition of politics. For this to happen,
articles in Political Studies must be intelligible to all readers of the journal and
not simply to specialists within particular sub-fields.There is a wider point here,
too, beyond the fact that Political Studies has as its remit that of reflecting research
carried out across the discipline: interdisciplinarity and intellectual cross-fertili-
sation within social science produces better research. Funding bodies and uni-
versities increasingly recognise that the richest research frequently stems from
multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary work. Whilst many researchers pay lip
service to the concept of holistic social science and to interdisciplinarity, there
is still little truly interdisciplinary work published in politics journals.We would
like to play a role in developing and publishing work of this nature.
Political Studies has always sought to represent the discipline as a whole, but, nev-
ertheless, it is also clear that in the past there have been some absences. As a
result, we would particularly like to encourage submission in areas which have
been underestimated in the past. It is important that political science is an inter-
national discipline in all senses of the word.We want to publish work that rep-
resents all areas of the world.We have undoubtedly under-represented large parts
POLITICAL STUDIES: 2006 VOL 54, 1–2
© 2006 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2006 Political Studies Association
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