chapter 35
...................................................................................................................................................ENCOUNTERS WITH
MODERNITY
...................................................................................................................................................samuel h. beer
1 Why Political Science?
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I have been asked to write a personal commentary on the role of institutions in
political science. This is a welcome opportunity to look into a question that has
been nagging at my thoughts in recent years. ‘‘Why did I take up the study of
politics? How did I go about it? And what have I learned from it?’’ I have sometimes
characterized my work in British and American politics as the study of ideas and
institutions and for many years I gave an interdisciplinary course titled Western
Thought and Institutions in which I used the classics of political thought to
interpret and analyze political history. This present assignment gives me the chance
to emphasize the role of institutions, while giving an account of my ventures in
the comparative study of the politics of Britain and the USA.
The main cause of that initiative was the intellectual shock of communism and
fascism. This two-edged totalitarian threat forced my generation to rethink the
meaning of freedom. At the University of Michigan, although avoiding political
science courses as boring and undemanding, I was greatly attracted to the study
of history and philosophy and managed to do well enough to win a Rhodes
Scholarship. While living and traveling in Europe in the years 1932 – 5 , direct contact
with fascism and communism as movements and as governments forced me to