Introduction and Comments

Extract

The masthead of Perspectives articulates our mission in these words: “Perspectives on Politics is a journal of political science that seeks to provide political insight on important problems, as it emerges from rigorous, broad based, and integrative thought.” Although I inherited this mission statement, I find it broadly in keeping with my own aspirations for the journal. I also recognize that there are broad and deep disagreements among political scientists about such things as what counts as “political,” what is “important,” whether the discipline ought to be driven by “problems,” and what it means to be “rigorous,” to say nothing of “broad” or “integrative.” Indeed, it might fairly be said that the journal itself exists in large measure as a result of the ferment generated by such disagreement.