Assessing the Prospects for an Ecological Turn in Political Science

• In Event: International History and Politics & Science, Technology and Environmental Policy Virtual Poster Session
  In Virtual Poster Session: Science, Technology and Environmental Policy Virtual Poster Session

Abstract

The mid-twentieth century behavioral turn in the social sciences has absorbed decades of criticism, and yet individual behavior remains a basic unit of much political analysis. While the shortcomings of relying on individual behavior to explain complex political phenomena are well known, a workable alternative framework for empirical inquiry has yet to gain widespread purchase in the discipline. This paper investigates how conceptual and methodological tools borrowed from contemporary ecological science can be adapted to the explanation of political processes, which have traditionally been analyzed with categories and procedures derived from the economic and physical sciences (consider, for example, the current mania for political science experiments). Drawing on recent developments in field ecology, evolutionary biology, and interdisciplinary social science, this study asks what novel interventions and modes of explanation are available to researchers who apply an ecological perspective to the study of political change. Data and findings are presented from case studies of initiatives to develop renewable energy in both Europe and the United States, in an effort to evaluate the consequences of adopting such a framework in policy research.

Author

• Robert Darrow, UMass Amherst