Political science: reflecting on concepts, demystifying legends

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Rainer Eisfeld’s book emphasizes the value of socio-historical research on topics often overlooked by mainstream political science. It urges a critical examination of the established post-Nazi and post-Communist political narratives, prompting reflection on the discipline's history and current state. This collection serves as a companion to the 2012 volume, Radical Approaches to Political Science: Roads Less Traveled, and is similarly grounded in a theory of participatory pluralism. The chapters explore the fragmentation of the discipline and its withdrawal from public discourse, the roles of political science and international relations in promoting democracy, and normative and analytical concepts from thinkers like Hannah Arendt, Klaus von Beyme, and Robert A. Dahl. Additionally, it deconstructs the “Peenemünde Legend,” which romanticizes the scientific integrity at the Third Reich’s missile development center, and examines the complicity of Peenemünde engineers in the exploitation of concentration camp labor for the mass production of the V-2 missile. Eisfeld’s expertise in pluralism and his involvement with the International Political Science Association lend significant authority to this collection of essays.