Vol. 23 · No. 4 · Issue 77 · Winter 2005

Gregory Baldi

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Abstract

Simon Green and William E. Paterson, eds., Governance in Contemporary Germany: The Semisovereign State Revisited (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005)
Gordon Smith, William E. Paterson, and Stephen Padgett, eds., Developments in German Politics 3, (Durham: Duke University Press, 2003)

Among the subdisciplines of political science, comparative politics is arguably the most prone to periodic fads and fashions. Arguments and ideas that dominate academic debates for one generation of comparative graduate students may well seem like curious historical artifacts by the time the next cohort arrives. Indeed, the great majority of comparative books and articles have an active shelf life of only a few years and, with some notable exceptions, works that do find their way into the current discourse are often cited only as examples of the old paradigms or simply used as markers that show how far the field has come in the intervening period. Some may argue that such rapid depreciation is hardly a drawback in an academic field. Instead, they view it as a reflection of the vibrant character of an active and advancing discipline.