Is Political Science Crumbling?

There's a great word you likely know, but don't use very often.  It's metonymy.  Synechdoche is similar, but it literally means a part for the whole, or the whole for a part.  So "boots on the ground" is synedoche (boots meaning an infantryman, the part standing for the whole), and "US beats China in the finals!" is synedoche (two teams were playing, not the countries, so the whole is standing for the parts).

Anyway, metonymy is a little different, where a symbol or feature stands for something else.  "The Oval Office said today...."  means that the President issued a statement.  The Oval Office is not part of the President, but rather is associated with the President, and can be used to symbolize him.

This picture suggests the metonymy we find in the title for this post:

 APSA headquarters at Dupont Circle:  The apocalypse?  No!  Not now, not if my main man John Aldrich is the new President!  It's morning again in APSA.

With a nod to Anonyman...