Political Science and Law in the Interdisciplinary Space: A Comparative Analysis of National Traditions

Abstract

The article analyzes the correlation between political science and law within the framework of modern interdisciplinary approaches as a fundamental methodological problem of the social sciences of the XXI century.

Different national traditions of interaction between these disciplines are considered, in particular, the American model of «law and politics» with its empirical approach to the judicial system as a political actor and the development of behavioral research methods; the German school of state studies (Staatslehre) with the traditions of synthetic knowledge about the state and methodological separation of disciplines; the French concept of «sciences of the state» (sciences de l'État) with a strong theoretical component and historical and institutional approach, the British tradition of «government studies» with a practically oriented institutional analysis of parliamentary studies; the post-Soviet model, which is being formed in the context of the simultaneous institutionalization of political science as an independent discipline and the transformation of the legal system under the influence of European integration.

The author analyzes modern interdisciplinary areas: constitutional political science (constitutional design), judicial political science (courts as political actors), electoral law (the impact of electoral systems on political behavior) and European studies (a model of interdisciplinary integration).

The author reveals specific features of institutionalization of political and legal studies in different scientific traditions and proposes the author's own typology of interdisciplinary approaches to political and legal analysis.

The author outlines the strategic prospects for the development of political and legal studies in the context of the global democratic backslide and the need to rethink the traditional relationship between law and politics in authoritarian and hybrid political regimes of our time.