Critical reflection on Samuel Huntington’s thesis of regimes and political science: the case of China

Samuel Huntington once remarked that authoritarian societies are unable to produce great political scientists, that political science is closely linked to democracy, and that political scientists have a moral duty to promote political reform. Huntington did not, however, discuss in detail why authoritarianism cannot produce great political scientists. He also overlooked a number of other issues with regard to the relationship between regimes and political science. Through an examination of the case of China, this article confirms the main finding of Huntington’s thesis through a discussion of why democracy is associated with political science and why authoritarianism does not produce great political scientists. The article, however, also points out the problems associated with Huntington’s thesis on connections between regimes and political science. The article offers a number of causal mechanisms and constructive criticisms of Huntington’s thesis.