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This ground breaking volume offers a range of alternative approaches to political science, highlighting problems too rarely confronted by "mainstream" political scientists. Ranging from Gunfighter Sagas to the changing faces of an imaginary Mars, the innovative chapters introduce whole new ways of rethinking politics, stirring up the all too conventional ways of the discipline. "Klaus von Beyme, one of the most erudite members of our profession, in his introduction conclusively demonstrates the book's cross-disciplinary merits. I believe this valuable work will be a powerful boost to an international, comparatively informed, pluralist political science." The collection is a very good example of old fashioned socio-historic research that will leave the reader with the good feeling of having learned something interesting and being able to make the connection between our hectic, new, super-modern, digital present and a past that remains relevant and informative if studied carefully and employed to contemporary challenges that often lie at the heart of international development. Radical Approaches to Political Science is a unique collection of essays which is of value not only to any political scientist sensitive to political phenomena and their developments, but also or perhaps primarily, to all those who in their academic work find room for methodological reflection with regards to the state of our discipline. It is this kind of awareness that affords us the avoidance of such pitfalls as excessive descriptiveness and aim at what Eisfeld propagates throughout the book: becoming critical thinkers. By doing so, we can master the science of democracy. Eisfeld's ambitious engagement with the subject matter casts light upon new and alternative approaches in terms of reshaping political science with 21st century relevance, the creation of a discipline with a heightened regional scope, and the adoption of flexible new frameworks that are of service to pluralism and the changing nature of democratic governance. Inherent within the chapters are chords of critical political theory, factors of diversity and convergence, private and public interest amid an environment of anti-democratic thought, ideological dimensions of violence within culture, frontier myth, as well as transitions toward democracy within the Western Europe sphere. As such, the volume features a rich blend of traditional practices and perceptions, radical interpretation, historical dynamism, societal conflict, and power relations that cut across conventional boundaries from being both interdisciplinary and anti-disciplinary in critical thought and expression. This very comprehensive volume offers a range of alternative approaches to political science, highlighting problems too rarely confronted by mainstream political scientists. "Klaus von Beyme, one of the most erudite members of our profession, in his introduction conclusively demonstrates the book's cross-disciplinary merits. I believe this valuable work will be a powerful boost to an international, comparatively informed, pluralist political science."

Radicalism. --- Political science. --- Administration --- Civil government --- Commonwealth, The --- Government --- Political theory --- Political thought --- Politics --- Science, Political --- Social sciences --- State, The --- Extremism, Political --- Ideological extremism --- Political extremism --- Political science --- non-mainstream political science --- Political Science --- radical politics --- Ideology --- History of ideas --- political history --- critical theory --- Poland --- Portugal --- Germany --- USA