What We Need to Do to Deliver Pluralism
| Published date | 01 February 2022 |
| Author | Gerry Stoker |
| DOI | 10.1177/1478929921991025 |
| Date | 01 February 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Pluralism and Political Studies in the UK |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1478929921991025
Political Studies Review
2022, Vol. 20(1) 24 –26
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/1478929921991025
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What We Need to Do
to Deliver Pluralism
Gerry Stoker
Abstract
A response to Pluralism and Political Studies in the UK: A Pilot Study into Who Gets What in the
Discipline by Brenda Gonzalez Ginocchio, Andrew Hindmoor and Liam Stanley.
Keywords
political pluralism, political science
Accepted: 18 December 2020
I write with an assumption in favour of pluralism, as do most contributors to the debate
about the nature of political science as a discipline. I favour diversity, a voice for a range
of perspectives and a discipline that strives to provide respect and recognition for all con-
tributors. One modest expression of that commitment has been through multiple versions
of Theories and Methods in Political Science in my role as a co-editor. For me, the argu-
ment for pluralism is irrefutable and persuasive. But the issue that holds back the devel-
opment of a discipline that is fair and representative of the real world of politics is not the
willingness to pay lip-service to pluralism but practice and structural obstacles in making
our commitment to pluralism count. Pluralism is only of value if it is accompanied by a
commitment to dialogue, exchange and mutual learning.
What are the practice obstacles? First, too many colleagues say they are pluralistic in
outlook but do so in a way that pays little respect to the contribution of other parts of the
discipline other than their own specialism. Theirs is a pluralism that lacks depth in that
approaches and outlooks offered by others have no impact on their work. Pluralism
expresses for them an awareness of a world out there but no desire to engage with it. They
want to plough their own research agenda, methods and work within their network and
not look beyond except to wonder occasionally what all those other political scientists are
doing and ask why they engage in pointless activities. Second, there are too many col-
leagues that engage with others’ work but in order to pigeonhole and thereby dismiss it.
The theories and epistemological assumptions of these others are crudely summarised
and distorted, and any subtlety in position and argument is denied. For these faux
Politics and International Relations, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
Corresponding author:
Gerry Stoker, Politics and International Relations, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK.
Email: G.Stoker@soton.ac.uk
991025PSW0010.1177/1478929921991025Political Studies ReviewStoker
research-article2021
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