Professor Mark Bevir is a member of the Department of Political Science at University of California, Berkeley. He was born in London and educated at the University of Exeter, U.K., where he got a BA (1st Class), and the University of Oxford, UK where he was awarded a DPhil. Before moving to Berkeley, he worked at the University of Madras, India, and University of Newcastle, UK. He has held visiting positions in Australia, Finland, France, U.K., and the U.S. Currently he is co-convener of the Interpretive Political Science specialist group of the Political Studies Association and President of the Society for the Philosophy of History.
Interpretive' political science describes a broad range of approaches that challenge scientism for its lack of sensitivity to meanings, subjectivity and historical context. Much interpretive political study is founded on the insistence on the importance of meanings in human action and draws on the rich philosophical traditions of Schultz, Foucault, Derrida and Ricoeur, joined in the 1980s and 1990s by radical scholars influenced by cultural Marxism and post-foundationalism. Interpretive Political Science capitalizes on the growth and vigor of this field of study, bringing together for the first time a selection of writings that encompass theory and methods as well as policy and practice.
