Politics and Political Science
Defining Characteristics of Politics
1. Involves the making of decisions for groups of
people
2. Decisions are made by some members of the
group exercising power over other members of
the group
– Power = ability of one person to cause another to what
the first wishes, by whatever means
• Manifest: based on observable action
• Implicit: cannot be observed
Political Power
• Power is not identical to politics, but it is a key
ingredient
• The exercise of power:
– Coercion: force a person to do something he/she does not
want to do
– Persuasion: convince someone that it is what he/she really
wishes to do
– Construction of Incentives: make the alternative
look so unattractive that only one reasonable
option remains
Power enables the carrying out
of policies and decisions
Political Power
• Biological –it’s in human nature to form social groups with
“dominance hierarchies,” e.g., governments; but humans often do not
obey authority
• Psychological – shows how humans behave in various situations,
asserts that the behaviors are innate; however, there tend to be
some who violate norms
• Cultural – argues that much human behavior is learned, derived
from our culture
• Rational – people form governments because it is a
rational thing to do; we need institutions to help us
survive
• Irrational – argues that people are emotional, moved by
myths and stereotypes
• Composite – elements of all these explanations have
some truth
Key Political Concepts
Regarding Power
• Legitimacy – Mass feeling that the government’s rule
is rightful and should be obeyed
• Sovereignty – A national government’s being boss
on its own turf, the last word in law in that country
• Authority – A political leader’s ability to command
respect and exercise power, relying on a sense of
obligation based on legitimate power of office
The Master Science
• According to Aristotle, politics is “the master
science”
– Almost everything happens in a political context
• Politics determines “who gets what, when and how”
~ Harold Lasswell
• Political decisions set up government structures and
determine how the economic system operates
Relationship of Political Science to
Other Social Sciences
• History—Chief data source for political scientists
• Human Geography—Territorial components of human behavior
have political ramifications
• Economics—Many political quarrels are economic
• Sociology—Empirical basis to political-culture, political-opinion,
and electoral studies
• Anthropology—Political culture subfield; Influence of tribes,
clans, families, etc. on politics
• Psychology—Helps political scientists
understand
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Which personalities are attracted to politics
Why and when people obey authority figures
How people form national, group and voting attachments
Why leaders make particular decisions
Is Politics a Science?
• In the natural sciences, a clear process is at work
• Data is collected according to a well-defined and welltested methodology, either by observation or experiment
• The data is quantified and manipulated statistically to test
hypotheses (speculations)
• With enough hypotheses tested, generalizations (theories)
can be developed about related phenomena
Political Science
Interpretive
• “qualitative”
• Interprets sequence of
events
• Create general patterned
interpretation of what
process unfolded through
events
– Similar to History
Behavioralist
• Lean toward broad
patterns across cases
using statistical
analysis of numeric
data
Is Politics a Science?
Key Requirements
• Political Science can be empirical like natural science
• Good scholarly work should be:
– Reasoned – Clear, logical reasoning required;
assumptions have to be explicit
– Balanced – Need to acknowledge there are several
possible viewpoints on the topic
– Supported with Evidence – Data required for
good scholarship; qualitative as well as
quantitative data may be needed, as many
aspects of politics aren’t readily quantifiable
– Theoretical – Scholarship requires a theoretical
framework that relates several factors to explain
a broad array of phenomena
What Good Is Political Science?
• Professional political scientists set aside personal
views in their research; alter their views if evidence
suggest
• Political science training induces objective, complex
analysis, in contrast to popular politics where fixed
views and oversimplification are the norm
• Political science contributes to good
government by informing policy officials
of problems; political science may offer
good solutions and public policy
choices
The Subfields of Political
Science
• U.S. Politics – focuses on institutions and processes, such as
parties, elections, public opinion, and executive and legislative
behavior
• Comparative Politics – examines politics within other nations to
establish generalizations about democracy, stability, and policy
• International Relations – studies politics among nations,
including conflict, diplomacy, international law
• Political Theory – attempts to define the good polity
• Constitutional Law – studies the applications and
evolution of the Constitution within the legal and
political system
• Public Policy – analyzes the relationships of
economics and politics to develop effective
programs