Quo vadimus sartori? Political science and public policies

• Published in: Andamios (Mexico City, Mexico) Mexico), 2009-08, Vol.6 (11), p.11-40
• Main Author: Camou, Antonio
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Subjects: Decision making; Political change; Political conditions; Political science; Political sociology; Public policy; Social policy
• ISSN: 1870-0063

ABSTRACT IN ENGLISH: In October of 2004, Giovanni Sartori published a brief article, `Where is political science going?', that generated a long controversy. In the notes that follow I am going to retake this dispute but moving the attention from the mainstream of political science to the studies of public policies. My purpose is to pay attention in one of the outstanding problems marked by Sartori: the weak connection between theory and practice. My main argument has two claims. On the one hand, I maintain that the critical analysis offered by professor Sartori is applied to some aspects of the studies of public policies, but not to others. On the other hand, I indicate that their critics and proposals are up to a certain point adapted, but also are little realistic, and to a certain extent they are insufficient, because he concentrates his reflection on the epistemological aspects of knowledge but he neglects the political-institutional aspects largely. // ABSTRACT IN SPANISH: En este trabajo, utilizo el polémico artículo del profesor Giovanni Sartori, "¿Hacia dónde va la ciencia política?" (2004), para discutir algunos problemas de la compleja vinculación entre producción de conocimientos y toma de decisiones. Sostengo que el análisis crítico ofrecido por el profesor Sartori se aplica a algunos aspectos de los estudios de políticas públicas, pero no a todos; de otra parte, las críticas y propuestas sartorianas son hasta cierto punto adecuadas, pero también pecan de escaso realismo, y en cierta medida son insuficientes, toda vez que concentra su reflexión en los aspectos epistemológicos de los saberes sobre la política, y descuida en buena medida los aspectos político-institucionales. The opinion expressed in every paper in this Journal is the sole responsibility of its author, and not of the editor or the publisher, which is the Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de México. You are free to copy and distribute all the material here contained for the aim of education and research. However, you may not use this work for commercial purposes. You must cite the source and attribute the work to the author. You may not alter, transform or build upon this work.