“Both parts think the other is too naive — historians think political scientists reduce the complexity to patterns nonsensically, and political scientists think that historians are bogged down with details that no one else would care.”

This is an excellent point – I call myself a political “scientist” but somehow for my politically active (although not necessarily aware)friends my lack of interest in “doing” politics is somehow morally problematic!

Similar issues with political scientists and anthropologists who influenced my original thinking (now desperately estranged) . There always seemed to be a suspicion that political scientists like myself were “misusing” cultural and identity frameworks of reference for political purposes – no – I am just interested in how through political processes people create culture and identity in a more fluid and dynamic way than perhaps anthropologists might.

Good post.