Importing Concepts from Biology into Political Science
The Case of Punctuated Equilibrium
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6329636 |
|---|---|
| Authors | David F Prindle (The University of Texas at Austin, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 21-44 |
| Publication date | 2012-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Policy Studies Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0190-292X • E-ISSN: 1541-0072 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1541-0072.2011.00432.x |
| OpenAlex | W1590752826 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 27 |
| References cited | 71 |
From the 1950s to the 1990s, the “incrementalist” model dominated theories of policymaking. Since Baumgartner and Jones's Agendas and Instability in American Politics was published in 1993, however, the “punctuated equilibrium” model, borrowed from evolutionary biology, has supplanted the incrementalist model. But what do such alien models do to the discipline of political science, and what does the discipline do to the models, when they are thus imported? In this article, I first discuss the functions of concepts in political science, then discuss and analyze the creation and meaning of the concept of punctuated equilibrium in biology, then trace its transformation as it was initially adopted by political scientists, then analyze the manner in which its meaning developed and altered as it grew in popularity within the discipline, and finally assess its value to political science now. I will conclude with some general observations about the process of importing concepts from outside the discipline
Biology · Economics · Epistemology · Evolutionary biology · Meaning (existential · Political science · Politics · Popularity · Positive economics · Punctuated equilibrium · Sociology · Value (mathematics · Computer Science · Law · Management and Organizational Studies · Philosophy · Political Science Research and Education · Qualitative Comparative Analysis Research
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Uncovering the political dimension of social-ecological systems
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On the forces of policy change and joint causation
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Reflections on contemporary debates in policy studies
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Culture and Legal Policy Punctuation in the Supreme Court's Gender Discrimination Cases
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The Comparative Policy Agendas Project
How Authoritarianism Intensifies Punctuated Equilibrium
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Critical elections and the mainsprings of American politics.
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Partisan realignment
The American party systems
Time's arrow, time's cycle
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The neural theory of metaphor
Punctuated equilibria
The Conduct of Inquiry
Bounded Rationality
The Theory of Democracy Revisited
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Social science concepts
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Cybernetic legal analysis and human agency
Punctuations and agendas
Operationalizing Incrementalism
Policy Punctuations in Danish Local Budgeting
Policy punctuations in the UK
Models of Man
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Rhetoric and the science of history
Policy Punctuations
Punctuated Equilibrium in Limbo
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A Theory of Critical Elections
The Confusing Case of Budgetary Incrementalism
A New Partisan Voter
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On Change
Information Processing and Policy Dynamics
Punctuated Equilibria and Budgets in the American States
Political Attention and Public Spending in the United States
The Politics of Attention
Political Science and Beyond
Bounded Rationality and Political Science
Bounded Rationality
A General Empirical Law of Public Budgets
Punctuated Equilibrium in Comparative Perspective
Punctuating Which Equilibrium? Understanding Thermostatic Policy Dynamics in Pacific Northwest Forestry
Congressional Oversight Overlooked
Explaining Policy Punctuations
Towards A Predictive Theory of Government Expenditure
Social Science Concepts
A Theory of the Budgetary Process
Stability" and "Competition" in Budgetary Theory
Realignment and Macropartisanship
Nonincremental Policy Making
Concept Misformation in Comparative Politics
A Model of Muddling Through
Policy Punctuations in American Political Institutions
Bounded Rationality in Budgetary Research
The Changing Shape of the American Political Universe
Conceptual "Stretching" Revisited
The Concept of a Critical Realignment, Electoral Behavior, and Political Change
Policy and Priority in the Budgetary Process
Politics, Economics and Welfare
Dinosaur in a Haystack
The Dynamics of Evolution
| Unique citing works | 27 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,93 |
| Citation span | 2012 - 2026 (15) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 27 |