Är USA:s statsvetenskapliga hegemoni en myt? En kartläggning av internationella influenser på svensk statsvetenskap

Abstract

Is the American hegemony within political science a myth? An investigation of international influences on Swedish political science. To what extent is Swedish political science influenced by its international surroundings? It is a commonly held view that the United States is a hegemony within the political science discipline. Using three different indicators—percentage of foreign references in doctoral dissertations, percentage of foreign references in the articles of Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift, and a questionnaire to the professors in political science at the five major universities—this article demonstrates that the alleged US hegemony is a myth. It is more appropriate to talk of an Anglo-American axis of dominance. Although Swedish political science is strongly influenced by international theory and methodology, we have not found any major changes in foreign reliance (apart from internal variance) over the last thirty years. Hence, Swedish political science—according to Swedish political scientists, at least—is as strong as it was one scholarly generation ago.