( Q write some definitions of political science? (200 words)
Answers
Common people, renowned scholars and political scientists of high repute very often use the words politics and political science to denote the same thing that is they use the two terms interchangeably. But a proper scrutiny and hair split analysis will reveal that there is a difference between the terms though this difference can easily be ignored. It is believed that the term politics is derived from the word Polis the exact meaning of which is city-state.
In ancient Greece, polis or the city state was the most popular and general form of political organisation. Every polis or city- state had its own form of government, administration, management etc and all these did not depend upon the size of the polis or city-state. Thus politics means the political affairs or administration of polis. Thus politics is understood to denote something about polis or city-state.
In today’s world there is practically no existence of city-state but the term politics derived from polis has gained popularity, publicity and importance. Now-a-days by politics we generally mean the activities associated with the governance of a country or area. We thus cannot separate the term politics from the affairs of state and these affairs are associated with the administration and decision making issues of state. Politics in this way has been inextricably connected with state as it was in ancient Greece with the polis.
We have so far noted only one meaning of the term politics but there is another meaning which is also to be found in wide circulation. This meaning is—activities aimed at improving some one’s status within an organisation. In this sense politics is used to mean as a type of instrument or vehicle to achieve definite purpose.
The purpose may be of a particular person or group of persons and it may be good or bad. However it may be, politics acts as an instrument and it carries with it pejorative sense or connotation. We are thus in a position to conclude that politics has two distinct meanings—one is academic which is associated with the administration or management of state and the other is non-academic which is generally pejorative.
Political science, occasionally called politology, is a social science which deals with systems of governance, and the analysis of political activities, political thoughts, associated constitutions and political behaviour.[1]
Political science comprises numerous subfields, including comparative politics, political economy, international relations, political theory, public administration, public policy, and political methodology. Furthermore, political science is related to, and draws upon, the fields of economics, law, sociology, history, philosophy, human geography, journalism, political anthropology and social policy.
Comparative politics is the science of comparison and teaching of different types of constitutions, political actors, legislature and associated fields, all of them from an intrastate perspective. International relations deals with the interaction between nation-states as well as intergovernmental and transnational organizations. Political theory is more concerned with contributions of various classical and contemporary thinkers and philosophers.
Political science is methodologically diverse and appropriates many methods originating in psychology, social research and cognitive neuroscience. Approaches include positivism, interpretivism, rational choice theory, behaviouralism, structuralism, post-structuralism, realism, institutionalism, and pluralism. Political science, as one of the social sciences, uses methods and techniques that relate to the kinds of inquiries sought: primary sources, such as historical documents and official records, secondary sources such as scholarly journal articles, survey research, statistical analysis, case studies, experimental research, and model building.