SSRC: 'Too Much Information:' International Affairs, Political Science and the Public Sphere

"To what extent is the inability of political science, international relations, area studies, social science, academia—pick your university problem—to engage effectively with the public sphere a reflection not just of our own foibles, but also of the larger world in which we operate–that is, the public sphere itself? What if our trials are merely a part–a symptom–of a larger environmental change in the way the “public” interacts with authorities like professors, generals, senators, journalists? And insofar as they are, what accounts for that environmental change, that general circumstance, which might contribute to the frailty of all these institutions?" -- from - Too Much Information:' International Affairs, Political Science and the Public Sphere

Note: Check out the other posts in the SSRC's Transformations in the Public Sphere essay forum - there are some really interesting essays available (and SSRC is a free institutional repository of scholarly policy writing).