Progress in the Social Sciences : Scientific Research and the Quest for Knowledge about Democracy

This book assesses the social sciences on its own terms and shines a positive light. Using scholarship on democracy as a case study, it highlights achievements made through conceptual, theoretical and empirical research. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

Progress in the Social Sciences examines the degree to which social scientists have made progress in their understanding of democracy and democratic transitions. It provides a framework to assess social science research and a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of the field of democracy studies from the late eighteenth century to the present. The book finds that sustained progress has been made by the social sciences and that progress has come through the development of concepts, theories, data, and empirical tests. Moreover, the book argues that advances in knowledge have been made via bold innovations rather than through many small incremental steps. Driven by a desire to better understand whether the social sciences contribute to knowledge about societies and their problems, Progress in the Social Sciences is an ambitious and innovative work that counters the pessimistic views about accomplishments in the social sciences. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.