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AbstractThis article compares political science to another discipline, with which it has much in common. That discipline is architecture. The political-science-as-architecture analogy has a long history in political thought. It also has important implications for the ends, means, and uses of political science. It follows from the political-science-as-architecture analogy that political science is necessarily a heterogeneous and pluralistic discipline. It also follows that political scientists have a common purpose, which is to conceive of institutional structures that allow humans to live together in societies, just as the purpose of architecture is to conceive of physical structures in which humans can live together.

TIS PAPER ATTEMPTS FIVE GOALS:TO DESCRIBE AND ILLUSTRATE THE USE OF FORMAL METHODS OF POLITICAL BEHAVIOR; TO EXPLAIN WHY SOME USE MODELS IN RESEARCH; TO IDENTIFY SUBFIELDS IN WHICH MODELS EXIST AND SUGGEST OTHERS WHERE MODELS SHOULD EXIST; TO DISCUSS VARIOUS TYPES OF EXISTING MODELS; AND, TO OFFER SOME CRITICAL STANDARDS ACCORDING TO WHICH RESEARCH WHICH INVOLVES MODELS CAN BE JUDGED.

Political science is two realms, the intellectual and the organizational, and the task is to consider how the organizational realm might be adapted to the highest improvement of the intellectual realm. Political science has a certain competence (domain) in the study of politics as the organization of power. It also seeks to expand competence as capability. Charles Merriam provides a point of departure Merriam's most successful idea has been that of enhancing competence through improvements in "the field of method." Competence, however, now demands methodological flexibility, so as to probe more into theexerciseof power. Four fields are strategic: public administration, political interests, urbanization, and the interpenetration of politics and economics. Competence also leads into unorthodox subjects, such as force and foolish, irrational, and pathological decision making (or "the Oxenstierna-Mullins Effect"). Finally, competence demands (and is enhanced by) the reach of political science into serious practical problems of human affairs.

▪ Abstract  This article reviews the use of experiments in political science. The beginning section offers an overview of experimental design and measures, as well as threats to internal and external validity, and discusses advantages and disadvantages to the use of experimentation. The number and placements of experiments in political science are reviewed. The bulk of the essay is devoted to an examination of what we have learned from experiments in the behavioral economics, political economy, and individual choice literatures.