Sys Nica: Political Science Basics

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Political Science Basics

Introduction to Political Science

Political science is an academic discipline that deals with the study of
government and political processes, institutions, and behaviors. Political science falls
into the academic and research division known as the social sciences. Social sciences
study the human aspects of the world—human-made constructs and structures. Disciplines in the social sciences include: psychology, the study of the human mind and
human behavior; sociology, the study of society and the relationships within it;
communications, the study of the flow of discourse through media; economics, the study
of the allocation of resources; and history, the chronology, analysis, and interpretation of
past events.

Why Is the Study of Political Science Important?

Political science is important because politics is important. Politics is the study of
power—who gets what, and how. This power can be as modest as a city council
making budgetary choices over municipal services and personnel, or it can be as
significant as two world superpowers on the brink of all-out nuclear war.
Regardless, the extent to which politics has served as the basis for the most
important (and devastating) events in U.S. and world history cannot be understated. For example, certain political ideologies—Communism, Fascism, and Nazism—were
responsible for the murder of tens of millions of people throughout the 20th century by
regimes with fanatical beliefs about the proper role of government and its leaders. All
people’s lives are affected by the priorities and choices of political institutions, and by
the power structures that exist in society.

According to one prominent political scientist “the study of political science is
motivated by the need to understand the sources and consequences of political stability
and revolution, of repression and liberty, of equality and inequality, of war and peace, of
democracy and dictatorship.” The study of political science reveals that the world of
politics, along with its institutions, leaders, and citizens, is a complex and far-reaching
one. Cross-Disciplinary Connections

What distinguishes political science as an academic discipline is its emphasis on
government and power. However, the study of government and power is not confined
to political science—it naturally permeates into other social sciences as well. For
example:  Economics: Economic and political processes are closely related because the
actions of political institutions frame—and can either expand or constrain—
economic activity. Republicans are more likely to promote free-market policies
such as tax breaks and business deregulation, while Democrats favor business
regulation and government intervention as a way of promoting economic equality. Additionally, economic conditions can have a direct influence on political

Saylor URL: www.saylor.org/polsc101 Subunit 1.1
The Saylor Foundation Saylor.org

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institutions. Throughout history, the outcomes of many presidential and
congressional elections have rested on the economy. Voters tend to vote
against the party in power if they perceive a decline or standstill in their personal
financial situations.  Sociology: Political scientists also study the social bases of politics. For
example, what are the political activities of various social classes, races,
ethnicities, and religions? How do political values, attitudes, and beliefs come
about? How do social forces work together to change political policies on issues
such as abortion, criminal justice, foreign policy, and welfare? How do social
movements outside of the formal institutions of political power affect politics? For
example, the civil rights and women’s suffrage movements helped to not only
reshape public policy but public opinion as well. 

History: Political scientists attempt to analyze and understand historic political
patterns in addition to specific political events. This requires putting historical
events and texts into a political context. For example, how have political party
systems helped to create long-standing changes in the electoral landscape and
reshape traditional party coalitions throughout the 19th and 20th centuries? A
good textual example is the U.S. Constitution. It is both a historical (and historic)
document, in that it describes the creation of a new form of government by the
Founding Fathers, and a political one, in that it sets the framework for the
functioning of the U.S. government as a system of shared powers, checks and
balances, and federalism. Subdisciplines in Political Science

Political science is organized into several subdisciplines, each representing a
major subject area of teaching and research in colleges and universities. These
subdisciplines include comparative politics, American politics, international relations,
political theory, public administration, public policy, and political behavior.
Comparative Politics

Comparative politics involves the study of the politics of different countries. Some subdisciplines study a single country or a culturally similar group of nations, such
as the countries of Southeast Asia or Latin America. Political scientists who study these
countries, also known as “area specialists,” tend to be well versed in the languages,
histories, and cultures that are most relevant to their work. Other political scientists
compare countries that are culturally, politically, and linguistically dissimilar. These
comparisons are often motivated by the need to develop and test theories—for
example, theories of why revolutions happen.
This may lead political scientists to
discover commonalities between countries that are widely separated and appear very
different. For example, political scientists have found many similarities between the

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transitions from authoritarian rule to democracy in Latin America and Eastern Europe in
the 1980s and 1990s.
American Politics
Political scientists usually organize the study of their own country into a separate
subdiscipline, so within the United States, American politics is recognized as its own
specialty. Given the size of the United States and its role as a world superpower, the
American politics subdiscipline is very large. Political scientists interested in American
politics often study political institutions such as Congress, the presidency, and the
judiciary. They also examine the various factors that impact these institutions, such as
political parties, elections, public opinion, voting, and interest groups.

International Relations

International relations is the study of the interactions between nations,
international organizations, and multinational corporations. There are two traditional
approaches used by international-relations scholars—realism and liberalism. Realism
emphasizes the danger of the international system, where war is always a possibility
and the only source of order is the balance of power.
Liberalism is more idealistic and
hopeful, emphasizing the problem-solving abilities of international institutions such as
the United Nations, NATO, and the World Trade Organization. According to many
scholars, after the Soviet Union dissolved and the Cold War ended in 1991, the balance
of opinion briefly shifted in favor of liberalism, but realists were quick to point to the
potential for future international conflicts.

Political Theory

Political theory involves the study of philosophical thought about politics from
ancient Greece to the present. Political theory is concerned with the fundamental
questions of public life. It addresses such issues as the nature of political authority, the
relationship of the state to the individual, and citizens’ obligations and responsibilities to
one another. Political theory seeks to interpret abstract concepts such as liberty,
justice, human rights, and power, and in so doing it draws upon classics in the field—by,
for example, Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, David Hume, Thomas
Jefferson, James Madison, and John Stuart Mill. Many scholars use these classics to
help them fully understand present-day issues such as terrorism, civil rights and
liberties, and domestic and foreign policy.

Public Administration

Political scientists interested in public administration study government
organizations. Public administration is the art, science, and practice of effectively
managing government. Americans are impacted in innumerable ways by the actions of
public administrators (also known as “bureaucrats”), often without even being aware of

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it. Government is one of the largest employers in the United States, and government
spending accounts for almost half of the gross national product. In addition, with
increasing interaction between the public and private sectors, those who do not work in
government increasingly must work with government, making an understanding of
government and public administration essential. Public administration includes the
study of public financing and budgeting systems, public management, human
resources, public-policy analysis, nonprofit management, and urban planning. Political
scientists investigate how these organizations work, and try to devise methods of
improving them. For example, the landmark book Reinventing Government (1992)
inspired many state and local governments (as well as the federal government) to cut
red tape and adopt more competitive, efficient, and customer-friendly approaches to
delivering services to the public.

Public Policy

The subdiscipline of public policy involves the study of specific policy problems
and governmental responses to them. Political scientists involved in the study of public
policy attempt to devise solutions for problems of public concern. They study issues
such as health care, pollution, crime, welfare, and the economy. Public policy is about
problem solving, designing and implementing strategies, and evaluating outcomes. Additionally, this field is concerned with the process of policymaking and the many
actors and agencies that are involved in it.

Political Behavior

Political behavior involves the study of how people participate in political
processes and respond to political activity. The field emphasizes the study of voting
behavior, which can be affected by social pressures; the effects of individual
psychology, such as emotional attachments to parties or leaders; and the rational selfinterests
of voters. The effects of gender, ethnicity, religion, income, and the media are
also factors in analyzing political behavior. The results of these studies are applied
during the planning of campaigns and elections, and influence the design of
advertisements and political-party platforms.