Please see the important message below from Fiona Mackay.

Dear colleagues,
As PSA members, we have recently been circulated with a request to
rank  the "best" book in political science since the PSA's inception.
Depressingly familiar is the relative absence of female scholars on
the list. There are only two women nominated: Susan Strange (States
and Markets) and Anne Phillips (Politics of Presence) although there
is space for one alternative nomination. I would have thought that
Pippa Norris and Joni Lovenduski's   groundbreaking 1995 book on
Political Recruitment: gender, Race and Class in the British
Parliament  is an obvious and glaring omission - and there are others,
too.
There are so many reasons why these sorts of surveys are objectionable
but I suggest that we consider a concerted effort to vote and top rank
Phillips, Norris and Lovenduski, and Strange.
How do other people feel?
regards,
Fiona Mackay

Begin forwarded message:

From: PSA News <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 28 September 2010 12:52:38 BST
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: PSA News PSA 60th Anniversary: The best of of political studies
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
1. Top Voted Articles in Political Studies journal

This virtual issue of Political Studies contains a very special set of
articles, compiled in honour of the 60th Anniversary of the Political
Studies Association of the UK and showcasing some of the 'best'
articles published since the launch of Political Studies in 1953. The
process for compiling this issue has covered many stages, beginning
when the Editorial Board asked as many (former) Chairs of the PSA as
possible to select the articles that they personally considered to be
the most significant from the Political Studies archive. The list was
then sorted by decade and an email survey was conducted with all
current PSA members, asking them to vote for the best articles in each
decade. The results showed that  in each of the six decades there were
two articles that clearly ranked above the others. The Editorial Board
therefore took the decision to make the issue a compendium of the
twelve 'Top Voted' articles between 1953 and 2010, and these are the
articles which are on-line on the PSA web site here.

Martin Smith and Rene Bailey

2. Best Book in British Political Studies

As part of the 60th anniversary celebrations, the ‘2010 Committee’
came up with the idea of making a special PSA award to honour what was
judged to be the best book to win the Mackenzie prize since its
inception in 1987. On further reflection, however, it was decided to
make the award really special by extending the field to cover the
lifetime of the PSA. Rather than having a small committee decide on
the award winner committee we want to ascertain the views of the
membership.

We are perfectly aware that not everyone will think that choosing a
‘best book’ is a sensible idea. There is no difficulty in deciding
what counts as ‘British political studies’ – about the UK or written
by someone employed in a UK institution. On the other hand, it is not
easy to decide what is to count as ‘best’ and very difficult to judge
between books in different areas. Nonetheless, the exercise is
virtually costless and might generate some interest in the Association
and the kind of work that we do. At the very least, it is a bit of
harmless fun.

You will find here [Word] [pdf] a simple form containing a (relatively
long) short list which we are asking you to rank. Obviously some
people will want to complain about inclusions and exclusions but we
have done our best and there is a space to write in anything you think
should be there. We also ask you to provide your name and PSA
membership number so that we can ensure that voting is confined to
members.

Please complete the form and return to me (either by email or by post)
by Friday 15th October. The results of this consultation will
determine the award winner and will, of course, be publicised.

David Denver
Department of Politics and International Relations
Lancaster University


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