RSSAbstract Politics has a simple philosophy: Political scientists publish tons of good research all the time, and we need an easy way to keep track of it. We summarize and critically review recent research in the top political science journals and from the top publishers. This has two benefits for you:
- You can read our reviews to decide whether reading the entire article (or book) is worth your time.
- You can refer to our reviews to jog your memory about what a particular article (or book) argued.
- You can comment on reviews, providing an opportunity to discuss and debate with your fellow academics.
What Do We Summarize?
We summarize whatever we happen to be reading. Right now, the main contributors take the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, and State Politics and Policy Quarterly. Within those journals, we’re most likely to read articles about American political behavior. If you take additional journals, or if you are following research on other subjects, please consider becoming a contributor (keep reading).
How You Can Help
Right now, this site is in its infancy. As such, most of the work is done by a very small number of contributors. We sincerely hope that you will assist us in our effort by writing brief reviews of the research you read. More people contributing means more research (from more diverse fields) being summarized.
Helping out is easy. Start now!
Abstract Politics versus Wikisummary
In a former life, Abstract Politics was known as wikisum.com. We used wikisum to import and display large numbers of summarizes from databases like Endnote. But we found wikisum’s wiki-based structure excessively complicated for our purposes; in particular, it made discussion and debate difficult. So we switched to a blog format, and Abstract Politics was born! Wikisum is still around–check it out if you’re looking for summaries of classics (i.e. research published pre-2008)–but it is now little more than an archive. From now on, summaries will be posted only here at Abstract Politics.
Contact Information (or “Who Runs this Thing?”)
If you read the above, you know that anybody can become a contributor. So if you want to talk about an item summarized here, post a comment to the review in question. But if you feel that you need to contact our tech people–for example, to report a site bug or to make a donation toward site expenses–you can contact our webmaster here. (Note: That link takes you to an external site.)