Human Evolution and Public Policy An Evolutionary Approach

About this book

Arguing for an evolutionary perspective, this book directly challenges the Standard Social Science Model (SSSM). The SSSM maintains that human behaviour is solely the product of culture and learning. In contrast the Evolutionary Model (EM) holds that our behaviour flows from the interaction from learning and culture, on the one hand, and biological factors on the other.

Contents

PART I: INTRODUCTION - The Standard Social Science Model versus the Evolutionary Model: Implications for Public Policy; A.Somit & S.A.Peterson - Reflections on Human Nature and Policy; L.Tiger - The Missing Dimension in Public Policy: Knowledge from the Life Sciences; L.K.Caldwell - PART II: INTERNATIONAL APPLICATIONS - Human Propensities, War, and Self-Correcting Mechanisms; J.D.Singer - Evolutionary Theory, the Origins of Ethnic Conflict, and State Building; B.Thayer - Implications of Legalized Euthanasia in Democracy: The Case of the Netherlands; E.L.F.Falger, M.R.Quirine & V.S.E.Falger - PART III: DOMESTIC POLICY - Evolutionary Theory and Prostitution Laws; M.McGuire & M.Gruter - Neuroscience, Free Will, and Individual Responsibility: Policy Implications; R.Blank - Biotechnology Is Very Rapid Evolutionary Progress; H.Caton - Explore and Exploit: An Evolutionary Analysis of Institutional Dynamics; P.Zak & A.Denzau - Evolutionary Theory and Criminal Justice; L.Ellis - Evolution and Political Marketing; G.Saad - MacLean's Evolutionary Neuroscience: Some Clinical and Policy Implications; G.A.Cory - The Genetics of Altruism and Good Samaritan Laws; J.Strate

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Biography

ALBERT SOMIT is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Southern Illinois University. He has been Executive Vice-President of the State University of New York at Buffalo and President of Southern Illinois University. One of the earliest pioneers in the field of biology and politics, he is the founder of the International Political Science Association's Research Committee on Biology and Politics. - STEVEN A. PETERSON is Director of the School of Public Affairs and Professor of Politics and Public Affairs at Penn State Harrisburg. His areas of research interest include American Politics, Public Policy, and the relationship of biology to politics. He is on the Council of the Association for Politics and the Life Sciences and serves as Vice-President and Secretary of the International Political Science Association Research Committee on Biology and Politics. - DRS. SOMIT and PETERSON have co-authored or co-edited such volumes as Evolutionary Theory and the Social and Behavioral Sciences (2001), Research in Biopolitics (1996), The Dynamics of Evolution: The Punctuated Equilibrium Debate in the Natural and Social Sciences (1992), and, of course, their highly controversial Darwinism, Dominance, and Democracy (1997).