A global Guide for Political Scientists? A discussion of teh International Encyclopedia of Political Science

The publication of the International Encyclopedia of Political Science (IEPS)1 has been certainly a major event for the community of political scientists around the world: published by Sage in partnership with the International Political Science Association, the IEPS is the result of an enormous effort, with more than four thousands pages and hundreds of entries reviewing both the theoretical and the empirical developments of political science, and including coverage of all its relevant sub-disciplines. There is no comparable work, in the history of political science, with regards to the scope of the notions covered and to the prestige of the authors involved – an impressive group of scholars from Europe and North America but also from the other continents. Designed as a definitive guide to the «global readers» interested to the interpretation of political phenomena at the beginning of the XXI century, the IEPS combines the analyses of traditional concepts and approaches of political science with the discussion of the most recent developments of the discipline. In addition, the encyclopedia is also available on line for individuals and libraries, thus providing a practical and innovative tool for the work of future students and scholars. As expected, the good sales of the IEPS and the good circulation of its on line version show the great interest of political scientists for such a monumental work, which has been recently awarded an Honorable Mention for the Dartmouth Medal, an important prize honoring the creation of a reference work of absolute outstanding quality. Still, a number of questions arise in front of enterprises of this kind: what audience is it intended for? What is the overall impact of such a complex work on the discipline? Will its «static» nature be able to stand the test of time, in an age of increasingly quick communication? In order to better explore these questions, and to assess the effective value-added provided by the IEPS, the RISP has collected the reflections of three eminent reviewers, representing different approaches and disciplinary views.