Fundamentals of Political Science
Definition and Scope of Political Science
Political science is that branch of the social sciences that studies the state, politics, and
government. Political Science deals extensively with the analysis of political systems, the
theoretical and practical applications to politics, and the examination of political behavior.
The Greek thinker, Aristotle, defined political science as the study of the state. Many
political scientists view themselves as being engaged in fleshing out the connections
between political events and conditions, and by this understanding they hope to construct a
system of general principles that posit the way the world of politics works. Political science
is not a standalone field and it intersects many other branches like sociology, economics,
history, anthropology, public policy among others. Political scientists are much sought after
these days because of the changing landscape of politics across the world and since the
society wants to understand how the political world works, they need someone to explain
the nuances of the political economy. Any casual perusal of the newspapers and the
television channels reveals that political scientists are at the forefront of debates and
discussions for their knowledge and expertise.
Scope of Political Science
The scope of political science is vast and experts have divided the field of political science
into five sub-disciplines that are political theory, public administration, comparative politics,
international relations, and public law. It needs to be noted that these sub-disciplines cover
the entire gamut of the modern political economy and provide the basis for the study and
understanding of how the global political economy works. The study of the matters
concerning the allocation and distribution as well as the transfer of power is one of the main
preoccupations of political scientists. The success or otherwise of the governance
structures is gauged by political scientists who examine the multifaceted and multilayered
factors at work that contribute to good or bad governance. The scope of the political
scientists has now been broadened to include the realm of the study of the democratic
elections across the world. In other words, with the explosion in the political systems all
over the world, political scientists, and their scope of study has been considerably
enhanced.
The Importance of Political Science
The importance of political science lies in the fact that all of us live within political systems
and we are affected by the changes in the global political economy. With the advent of
globalization, there has been a concomitant rise in the interest taken by the people of the
world in understanding the political systems of other countries. Hence, political scientists
become valued and important as they provide the lens through which we can understand
the global political economy. There are many universities that provide graduate and
higher-level degrees in political science and in recent years, because of the renewed
interest in political science as a field of study, there are many takers for these courses.
,Political Science and Other Social Sciences
As mentioned in the introductory article in this module, political science is the systematic
study of the state and the workings of the political economy. The study of political science
gives people the ability to influence and persuade the authorities to conform to broad
developmental thrusts and to steer the direction in which the government is headed. Since
political science is concerned with the study of the global political economy, it has links to
other social sciences like history, sociology, philosophy, and psychology. It needs to be
mentioned that political science is that branch of the social sciences that is concerned with
the workings of the global political economy and hence, shares a symbiotic relationship with
the other social sciences that study the other parts of the global political economy. We have
chosen history, sociology, philosophy and psychology in this article as these are the
disciplines that have a bearing on how political scientists go about their work.
History, Sociology, and Political Science
Political science is intimately linked to history as the patterns of the past provide clues to
the future. There can be no better guide to understanding the present and to predict the
future than by studying the events in the past and extrapolating them to the future. For
instance, when political scientists try to predict the likely direction, which the global political
economy takes, they would be relying on history to predict political behavior. Next, political
science is closely intertwined with sociology as both branches attempt to study human
behavior in groups. Whereas sociology studies the entire societies, political science is
concerned with the political systems that are part of the larger society. The study of the
interactions between the people and the state is something that both sociology and political
science aim to do and hence, there is a symbiotic relationship between sociology and
political science.
Philosophy, Psychology, and Political Science
The next aspect is to do with philosophy. Since political behavior and governance are
studied in terms of political philosophy which deals with abstract notions of the role of the
state and the relationship of people and the state with an emphasis on understanding the
concepts of public welfare and larger social good, both political science and philosophy
have common grounds in these aspects. The final social science discipline chosen is
psychology and as this discipline studies human behavior in society, there are meeting
points between political science and psychology as they both are concerned with the
examination of why people in the larger political economy behave the way they do. Political
science cannot be a standalone or isolated field as all branches of the social sciences
purport to explain the larger questions concerning people and the state. Hence, there are
symbiotic relationships between political science and other sub-disciplines of social
sciences as they have common ground in their quest to understand how political systems
work and how politics and governance play themselves out.
Definitions
Politics: ‘Man is by nature a political animal.’ - Aristotle
, Politics, in its broadest sense, is the activity through which people make, preserve and
amend the general rules under which they live. Although politics is also an academic
subject, it is then clearly the study of this activity. Politics is thus inextricably linked to the
phenomena of conflict and cooperation
For Heywood, politics is “who gets what, when and how”.
Politics is defined in such different ways: as the exercise of power, the science of
government, the making of collective decisions, the allocation of scarce resources, the
practice of deception and manipulation, and so on.
‘Politics is not a science . . . but an art’, Chancellor Bismarck is reputed to have told the
German Reichstag. The art Bismarck had in mind was the art of government, the exercise
of control within society through the making and enforcement of collective decisions. This is
perhaps the classical definition of politics, developed from the original meaning of the term
in Ancient Greece.
The word ‘politics’ is derived from polis, meaning literally ‘city-state’. Ancient Greek society
was divided into a collection of independent city-states, each of which possessed its own
system of government. The largest and most influential of these city-states was Athens,
often portrayed as the cradle of democratic government. In this light, politics can be
understood to refer to the affairs of the polis – in effect, ‘what concerns the polis’
US political scientist David Easton (1979, 1981), who defined politics as the ‘authoritative
allocation of values. By this, he meant that politics encompasses the various processes
through which government responds to pressures from the larger society, in particular by
allocating benefits, rewards or penalties. However, what is striking about this definition is
that it offers a highly restricted view of politics. Politics is what takes place within a polity, a
system of social organization centered on the machinery of government. Politics is
therefore practiced in cabinet rooms, legislative chambers, government departments and
the like; and it is engaged in by a limited and specific group of people, notably politicians,
civil servants and lobbyists. This means that most people, most institutions and most social
activities can be regarded as being ‘outside’ politics.
Businesses, schools and other educational institutions, community groups, families and so
on are in this sense ‘non-political’, because they are not engaged in ‘running the country’.
Negative view of politics reflects the essentially liberal perception that, as individuals are
self- interested, political power is corrupting, because it encourages those ‘in power’ to
exploit their position for personal advantage and at the expense of others. This is famously
expressed in Lord Acton’s (1834–1902) aphorism: ‘power tends to corrupt, and absolute
power corrupts absolutely’. Nevertheless, few who view politics in this way doubt that
political activity is an inevitable and permanent feature of social existence.
Famous Greek philosopher Aristotle. In Politics, Aristotle declared that ‘man is by nature a
political animal’, by which he meant that it is only within a political community that human
Definition and Scope of Political Science
Political science is that branch of the social sciences that studies the state, politics, and
government. Political Science deals extensively with the analysis of political systems, the
theoretical and practical applications to politics, and the examination of political behavior.
The Greek thinker, Aristotle, defined political science as the study of the state. Many
political scientists view themselves as being engaged in fleshing out the connections
between political events and conditions, and by this understanding they hope to construct a
system of general principles that posit the way the world of politics works. Political science
is not a standalone field and it intersects many other branches like sociology, economics,
history, anthropology, public policy among others. Political scientists are much sought after
these days because of the changing landscape of politics across the world and since the
society wants to understand how the political world works, they need someone to explain
the nuances of the political economy. Any casual perusal of the newspapers and the
television channels reveals that political scientists are at the forefront of debates and
discussions for their knowledge and expertise.
Scope of Political Science
The scope of political science is vast and experts have divided the field of political science
into five sub-disciplines that are political theory, public administration, comparative politics,
international relations, and public law. It needs to be noted that these sub-disciplines cover
the entire gamut of the modern political economy and provide the basis for the study and
understanding of how the global political economy works. The study of the matters
concerning the allocation and distribution as well as the transfer of power is one of the main
preoccupations of political scientists. The success or otherwise of the governance
structures is gauged by political scientists who examine the multifaceted and multilayered
factors at work that contribute to good or bad governance. The scope of the political
scientists has now been broadened to include the realm of the study of the democratic
elections across the world. In other words, with the explosion in the political systems all
over the world, political scientists, and their scope of study has been considerably
enhanced.
The Importance of Political Science
The importance of political science lies in the fact that all of us live within political systems
and we are affected by the changes in the global political economy. With the advent of
globalization, there has been a concomitant rise in the interest taken by the people of the
world in understanding the political systems of other countries. Hence, political scientists
become valued and important as they provide the lens through which we can understand
the global political economy. There are many universities that provide graduate and
higher-level degrees in political science and in recent years, because of the renewed
interest in political science as a field of study, there are many takers for these courses.
,Political Science and Other Social Sciences
As mentioned in the introductory article in this module, political science is the systematic
study of the state and the workings of the political economy. The study of political science
gives people the ability to influence and persuade the authorities to conform to broad
developmental thrusts and to steer the direction in which the government is headed. Since
political science is concerned with the study of the global political economy, it has links to
other social sciences like history, sociology, philosophy, and psychology. It needs to be
mentioned that political science is that branch of the social sciences that is concerned with
the workings of the global political economy and hence, shares a symbiotic relationship with
the other social sciences that study the other parts of the global political economy. We have
chosen history, sociology, philosophy and psychology in this article as these are the
disciplines that have a bearing on how political scientists go about their work.
History, Sociology, and Political Science
Political science is intimately linked to history as the patterns of the past provide clues to
the future. There can be no better guide to understanding the present and to predict the
future than by studying the events in the past and extrapolating them to the future. For
instance, when political scientists try to predict the likely direction, which the global political
economy takes, they would be relying on history to predict political behavior. Next, political
science is closely intertwined with sociology as both branches attempt to study human
behavior in groups. Whereas sociology studies the entire societies, political science is
concerned with the political systems that are part of the larger society. The study of the
interactions between the people and the state is something that both sociology and political
science aim to do and hence, there is a symbiotic relationship between sociology and
political science.
Philosophy, Psychology, and Political Science
The next aspect is to do with philosophy. Since political behavior and governance are
studied in terms of political philosophy which deals with abstract notions of the role of the
state and the relationship of people and the state with an emphasis on understanding the
concepts of public welfare and larger social good, both political science and philosophy
have common grounds in these aspects. The final social science discipline chosen is
psychology and as this discipline studies human behavior in society, there are meeting
points between political science and psychology as they both are concerned with the
examination of why people in the larger political economy behave the way they do. Political
science cannot be a standalone or isolated field as all branches of the social sciences
purport to explain the larger questions concerning people and the state. Hence, there are
symbiotic relationships between political science and other sub-disciplines of social
sciences as they have common ground in their quest to understand how political systems
work and how politics and governance play themselves out.
Definitions
Politics: ‘Man is by nature a political animal.’ - Aristotle
, Politics, in its broadest sense, is the activity through which people make, preserve and
amend the general rules under which they live. Although politics is also an academic
subject, it is then clearly the study of this activity. Politics is thus inextricably linked to the
phenomena of conflict and cooperation
For Heywood, politics is “who gets what, when and how”.
Politics is defined in such different ways: as the exercise of power, the science of
government, the making of collective decisions, the allocation of scarce resources, the
practice of deception and manipulation, and so on.
‘Politics is not a science . . . but an art’, Chancellor Bismarck is reputed to have told the
German Reichstag. The art Bismarck had in mind was the art of government, the exercise
of control within society through the making and enforcement of collective decisions. This is
perhaps the classical definition of politics, developed from the original meaning of the term
in Ancient Greece.
The word ‘politics’ is derived from polis, meaning literally ‘city-state’. Ancient Greek society
was divided into a collection of independent city-states, each of which possessed its own
system of government. The largest and most influential of these city-states was Athens,
often portrayed as the cradle of democratic government. In this light, politics can be
understood to refer to the affairs of the polis – in effect, ‘what concerns the polis’
US political scientist David Easton (1979, 1981), who defined politics as the ‘authoritative
allocation of values. By this, he meant that politics encompasses the various processes
through which government responds to pressures from the larger society, in particular by
allocating benefits, rewards or penalties. However, what is striking about this definition is
that it offers a highly restricted view of politics. Politics is what takes place within a polity, a
system of social organization centered on the machinery of government. Politics is
therefore practiced in cabinet rooms, legislative chambers, government departments and
the like; and it is engaged in by a limited and specific group of people, notably politicians,
civil servants and lobbyists. This means that most people, most institutions and most social
activities can be regarded as being ‘outside’ politics.
Businesses, schools and other educational institutions, community groups, families and so
on are in this sense ‘non-political’, because they are not engaged in ‘running the country’.
Negative view of politics reflects the essentially liberal perception that, as individuals are
self- interested, political power is corrupting, because it encourages those ‘in power’ to
exploit their position for personal advantage and at the expense of others. This is famously
expressed in Lord Acton’s (1834–1902) aphorism: ‘power tends to corrupt, and absolute
power corrupts absolutely’. Nevertheless, few who view politics in this way doubt that
political activity is an inevitable and permanent feature of social existence.
Famous Greek philosopher Aristotle. In Politics, Aristotle declared that ‘man is by nature a
political animal’, by which he meant that it is only within a political community that human
