David Easton

David Easton ( born June 17, 1917 in Toronto, Ontario ) is a Canadian- American political scientist.

Life

Easton grew up in Toronto and completed his studies at the university with the master's degree. In 1944 Easton at Harvard University, where he received his doctorate in philosophy in 1947. From this point on, he was closely associated with major U.S. universities such as the University of Chicago, where he taught from 1947 to 1982, or the University of California at Irvine, where he since 1982 Distinguished Professor of Political Science is. Among many other positions was David Easton 1968 to 1969 President of the American Political Science Association and from 1984 to 1989 and Vice President of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The Department of Political and Social Sciences at the Free University of Berlin gave Easton on 28 June 2001 by its dean, Prof. Sandy Schneider, an honorary doctorate. Noteworthy is Easton's commitment to and in Berlin: This concerns particularly his contribution to the Science Research Center Berlin (WZB ), where he was a Humboldt Prize winner in the years 1996 to 1998 worked as a visiting researcher. The results of his work extend far into the curriculum of the Department of Political Science.

Even after his retirement, David Easton is still active as a scientist and has worked tirelessly for the political science discipline in its theoretical as well as their empirical-analytical foundations a.

Teaching and research

Easton taught with an emphasis on empirical political theory, analysis of political systems, foundations ( foundations ) modern political science, and structural analysis of the policy.

Projects

Easton's most recent project deals with the development of the social sciences in China. This led to an exchange program for students of UCI and the Peking University and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Another project of " Study of the Development of Political Science" ( which was founded on his initiative, and which he was chairman ) brought the joint research of political scientists from all over the world out to explore the contemporary state and the development of political science worldwide. Easton was also involved in a study which examined the impact that structural and organizational variations of democratic political systems on the effectiveness of their public policy (public policies ) have.

Research priorities

His primary scientific goal was to develop a general theory of politics. His definition of political science as "the study of the authoritative allocation of values ​​" has become commonplace. The outlines of a general theory of politics he laid in 1953 in his book " The Political System: An Inquiry into the State of Political Science" before. He has contributed to the breakthrough of " behavioralistischen revolution " in political science. Easton's latest novel deals with the subject of the influence of political systems to many aspects of political life. A further focus of research David Easton is the condition and state of development of political science in relation to the political socialization of children.

Work

David Easton is concerned in his work " The Analysis of Political Structure", as the title suggests, with political structures. Easton assumes that structures are created by the community of stakeholders, so-called, governmental action, political occupation and their mutual exchange. In addition, structures, according to Easton, thereof and does eventually formed from claims, different intentions and power relationships of individual stakeholders and the resultant struggles for power and recognition victories and failures and from cooperation and compromise.

The outlines of a general theory of politics he laid in 1953 in his book " The Political System: An Inquiry into the State of Political Sciences" before. He contributed significantly to the breakthrough of " behavioralistischen revolution " in political science at.

Easton's key question, which runs through all his research is, "How does it achieve political systems to compete in a world that also has stability and change? " After Easton Political systems are adaptable action systems that are embedded in their environment. In this case, all systems should be delegated the ability that they are able to respond to disturbances and tension situations and settle them. " Interactions through which values ​​are set for a society in binding way," Easton called the political system. Two main functions have to fulfill political systems thus:

Environment Input-Output - feedback model

David Easton called the political system as part of its political system theory as a complex cluster of Procedure enter into the political system by the inputs from the respective environments of the systems ( environment). That system converts it to certain outputs, visible for humanity as strategies, decisions or reactions. The lower arrow in the diagram is called by Easton Feedback and refers to the informational feedback of the outputs to the future inputs. Under Inputs refers to receivables ( Demand ) and support services ( supports ). Make the politicians and authorities within the political system decisions which are binding and valid for our society. Easton assumes that the actual processes and procedures within the government violence and its decision areas are not visible. It refers to the conversion of inputs into outputs as a "black box". For this reason you can see, according to Easton only the result of decisions of political content, but not their coming, and therefore can not judge this course also. At this point, the media and well-researched journalism come into force with all his might try those inscrutable political developments and processes to follow and to understand. Easton is of the opinion that the political system is responsible for mandatory assignment of values ​​and goods, and the mobilization of resources. It must be openly declared to a solution, the expectations and interests of the Company is satisfied, as these adversely affect otherwise as a disturbance or stress factors the system. The system must also win through cooperation trust and legitimacy in order to continue to attract the interest in the policy itself can. The support of the system is visible through personal involvement or in the form of taxes, donations and foundations. General system attention and acceptance is mainly due to value bonds, which owe mainly successful socialization and Entkulturationsprozessen. This generalized trust in the system ensures systemic continuity, even in government and policy changes, since in him a sense of community continue acting ( we- feeling ), which contains the key spheres of society, puts it. Not to be forgotten is that even a decisive influence of political parties and politically active members runs out.

Systems want to have on hand, must meet four criteria according to the so-called AGIL scheme:

• Adaptation ( adaptation )
• Goal attainment ( targeted )
• Integration (all integrated )
• Latent pattern maintenance (latent structures preserved). (this but after Talcott Parsons, not to Easton. )

Works

• Easton, D., The Decline of Modern Political Theory, in: Journal of Politics 13 (1951 ), pp. 36-58
• Easton, D., The Political System. An Inquiry into the State of Political Science, New York 1953
• Easton, D., An Approach to the Analysis of Political Systems, in: World Politics 9 (1957 )
• Easton, D., A Framework for Political Analysis, Englewood Cliffs 1965
• Easton, D. A Systems Analysis of Political Life, New York 1965
• Easton, D. ( Ed. ), Varieties of Political Theory, Englewood Cliffs 1966
• Easton, D. ( Ed. etc.) Regime and Discipline: Democracy and the Development of Political Science, University of Michigan Press, 1995.
• Easton, D. ( Ed. etc.) Children in the Political System, McGraw -Hill, 1969; re -issued, University of Chicago Press, 1980
• Easton, D., The Analysis of Political Structure, Routledge, 1990.
• Easton, D. ( Ed. etc.) Divided Knowledge: Across Disciplines, Across Cultures, Sage, 1991.
• Easton, D. ( Ed. etc.) The Development of Political Science: A Comparative Survey, Routledge, 1991.