Radical Attitudes, Kafka’s Motorbike, and the Sage/IPSA Encyclopedia of Political Science

Do you remember the book launch scene from the first Bridget Jones movie (I do – the shame, the shame), when she talks about “the greatest book of our time”? I was reminded of that scene when I recently attended a reception at the fringe of ECPR 2011 to mark the launch of the the all-new, IPSA-approved Encyclopedia of Political Science. The food was lousy, the audience was illustrious (well, by PolSci standards, perhaps), and the speeches just that tiny bit overenthusiastic (someone even mentioned Diderot). The only thing missing was the 45 pounds (referring to weight, not value, mind you!) tome itself, the mother of all political science  encyclopedias. Apparently, transport was too expensive, and so we got the Vice President of Sage instead. An USB stick with an ebook copy for the attendants would have been nice, though.

What earned me the invitation was that I have written a tiny contribution to the book so many years ago that I had forgotten about it. So here, for your edification, are my two cents on radical attitudes.

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