From analytic eclecticism to structured pluralism

Beyond Paradigms provides a clear vision of how political science can advance by de-emphasizing paradigmatic debates and using diverse theories to develop policy-relevant research. The book makes two vital contributions. First, it draws on the philosophy of social science to diagnose the problems and costs associated with organizing political science around self-styled Kuhnian paradigms or Lakatosian research programs, such as the “isms” in the international relations sub-field: (neo)realism, (neo)liberalism, constructivism. Second, it demonstrates that an alternative way of doing business already exists, presenting numerous examples of analytically eclectic research that builds upon but goes beyond paradigmatic frameworks to produce theoretically interesting and policy-relevant results. Although the book is focused on the international relations subfield, the authors rightly note that these contributions can promote closer connections to other subfields in political science and to the social sciences more generally, including psychology, sociology, history, and economics (2010: 36)