Politics and Political Science

Author: Yu Keping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-02-01
Features: Politics is everywhere, and it seems that everyone knows about politics. But politics and political science are not the same thing. Political science is an independent science with its own unique concepts, scope, logical structure, analytical methods, and axiomatic system. The author focuses on discussing the historical evolution, main concepts, main methods, important axioms, and frontier issues of political science as a science in this book. This book not only explains the general knowledge of political science in an accessible way but also provides highly professional analyses and comments on some frontier theories of political science, making it a basic reference for researchers and general readers in political science and public administration.
Preface In 2000, Social Sciences Academic Press published my book "Right Politics and Public Interest Politics," which collects some of my research results on contemporary Western political philosophy over the years. I did not expect such a highly specialized book to go out of print within just over a year. At least to some extent, this shows that political science as a science is increasingly attracting people's attention. President Xie Shuguang has been urging me to make some minor additions to publish a second edition. During the process of adding content, I found that most of the political science papers I have published since receiving my doctorate in 1988, like those included in "Right Politics and Public Interest Politics," still have value for collection and publication. This led to the current small academic series. This series consists of four books: "Politics and Political Science," "Incremental Democracy and Good Governance," "Right Politics and Public Interest Politics," and "Globalization and Political Development."
"Politics and Political Science" primarily discusses general theoretical issues of political science, including frontier issues in contemporary political science research and several important schools of political theory. "Incremental Democracy and Good Governance" focuses on practical and theoretical issues related to Chinese politics, with a particular emphasis on the transforming Chinese politics after the reform and opening-up, but also touches on traditional Chinese politics. "Right Politics and Public Interest Politics" is a critique of contemporary Western political philosophy, covering the methodology, basic categories, main schools, and important figures of contemporary Western political theory. "Globalization and Political Development" emphasizes the nature, characteristics, and profound impact of globalization on human political life and political development.
The reason for naming these four books "Studies on Transitional Political Science" is mainly due to the following two points: First, the objects of discussion are transforming Chinese politics and world politics. Even when traditional politics is discussed, it is approached from the perspective of transitional politics. Second, the methods and concepts used in political analysis are mostly those developed by political scientists in recent years, and many of the analytical frameworks and conceptual categories themselves are still evolving and being refined. The expansion of the market economy, the impact of globalization, and the inherent logic of political development have made Chinese and world politics rapidly transform. Thinking about and researching transforming Chinese politics and world politics has always been my primary academic interest. Some young scholars like to call such research "transitional political science research," and I have boldly adopted this term, hoping to gain the readers' approval.
These four books are mainly compiled from works published over the past decade or so. During the selection process, only minor modifications were made to the titles and content of individual articles, while the rest remained unchanged. A small amount of new content has also been published for the first time. However, this inevitably makes each book seem less "systematic" and less "complete," with some repetition. I apologize for this in advance and hope for the readers' understanding.
I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to the original publishing institutions of the papers at this time of compiling the series, as well as to all friends and colleagues who have helped and cared about the publication of my works. Yu Keping