Human well-being and the lost relevance of political science

Abstract

Recently, a public debate has started questioning the relevance of political science. In the United States, public funding for political science research is under attack in the Congress and major newspapers have carried articles about this issue. In this talk, this problem is discussed from a standpoint arguing that most human misery in today’s world, by standard measures of human wellbeing, is caused by the fact that a majority of the world’s population lives under dysfunctional political institutions. It is argued that this is an issue that is ignored in most political science research. This analysis concludes by listing seven reasons (or sins) why political science does not realize the discipline’s potential for being relevant for human well-being.