100-year Anniversary of Charles Merriam’s Manifesto of Scientific Political Science

Abstract

The article presents an outline of the biography and the main phases of the scientific, political and teaching activities of Charles E. Merriam (1874—1953), setting the stage for the publication of the Russian translation of his work The Present State of the Study of Politics (1921). The author examines Merriam’s contribution to the development of Political Science in the United States, primarily his New Science of Politics program, aimed at achieving a new quality of political research and teaching discipline, which should not be confined to the narrow framework of purely theoretical reflection. According to Merriam, only the update of methodological tools (in particular, widely borrowing methods from natural sciences, especially biology), productive interaction with other branches of knowledge and a general reorientation to systematic expert support of public administration can ensure the transformation of Political Science into a truly scientific discipline. The article analyzes the role of Merriam in the formation of the Chicago School of Political Studies, his participation in providing expertise to the public administration, including F.D.Roosevelt’s New Deal. The article demonstrates that, being a product of its time, the canonical text of Merriam has not lost its relevance today, stimulating a new understanding of the criteria for the scientific nature of political knowledge and touching on a number of issues that are still acute for modern political scientists.