Political Science

 Derived from the words “ polis ” and “ scire ” which means “ city-state ” and “to know ” or “to study ”
 Branch of Social Science that deals with the theory and practice of politics, description and analysis of
political system and political behavior
 The study of the activities of the goverment determining who gets what and how
 Is the study of politics and power from domestic, international and comparative perspective
 Branch of public law which deals with the organization and operations of the govermental organs of the state
and defines the relations of the state with the inhabitants of its territory

Political Actors
 This would include all think leaders and relatively high level policymakers who have a significant impact on
the formation and execution of policies that have an impact on society or foreign affairs.

FUNCTIONS AND IMPORTANCE OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

 Supplies frameworks from which special interest groups, politicans, and electorate may analyze issues
 Guides politicans, political parties, political movements, or non-governmental organizations in the course of
their work
 Seek patterns in the reasons and outcomes of political events so that generalizations and theories can be made
 Solves political, cultural, and social problems
 Make generalizations that would explain individual and group political actions

NATURE OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

 According to the department of social sciences and philosophy political science is a classical discipline that
deals with the study of political phenomena
 It focuses of fundamental values of equality, freedom and justice and the process linked with the dynamics of
conflict resolution and corporations

3 SCOPES OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

1. Political Theory
 Deals with the entire body of doctrines relating to the origin, form, behavior, and purposes of the
state
2. Public Law
 Deals with the organization of government
 Deals with limitations upon government authority
 Deals with power and duties of government officers and offices
 Deals with limitations upon government authority
3. Public Administration
 Focus upon the method and techniques used in the actual management of the state affairs by the three
branches of government

PERSPECTIVE OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

I. Comparative Politics - is a comparative study of other countries, citizen, different political units either in
whole or in part and analyze the similarities and differences between those political units.
II. International Relations - attempts to explain the interaction of state in the global interstate system and it also
attempts to explain the interactions of others whose behavior originates within one country and east targeted
toward members of the countries
III. Political Research Methods - involves the study of the history of political thought as well as problems in
contemporary political life that have a philosophical dimension

Why Study the Three?

 The three field are essential to understanding societal problems.
 While they may be independent from each other, it is one way of knowing that social issues cannot be seen in
one angle alone
 It promotes a holistic approach to understanding problems in order to find holistic and realistic solutions as
well

GOALS OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

a. Education for Citizenship
  The primary objective of the political science curriculum is to equip students to discharge the obligations of
demogratic citizenship

b. Essential part of Liberal Education

 Intelligent, responsible citizenship can save democracy; ignorance and negligence lost it

c. Knowledge and Understanding of Government

 The “good” citizen knows how his government operates, what his rights and obligations are, and what the
stand for

STATE AND NATION

 State
o A community off persons permanently occupying a fixed territory and possessed of an independent
government organized for the political ends to which great body of inhabitants render habitual
obedience
o Group of people permanently inhabiting a definite place or a territory, having an organized
government while exercising sovereignty
 Nation
o Group of people permanently inhabiting a definite place or a territory, having an organized
government while exercising sovereignty
o People bond together by common attractions and repulsions into a living organism possessed of a
common pulse, a common intelligence and inspiration and destined apparently to have common
history and fate

ELEMENTS OF THE STATE

1. People/population
o The mass of the population living within the state
2. Territory
o Fixed space or portion of the earth inhabited by the people of the state
o Demarcated area that rightly belongs to the population
3. Government
o Agency or instrumentality through which the will of the state formulated, expressed and realized
4. Sovereignty
o May be defined as the supreme power of the state to command and enforce obedience to its will form the
people within its jurisdiction and corollarity to have freedom from foreign control

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN STATE AND NATION

STATE NATION
o legal/political concept o ethnic concept
o free from external o may or may not be free from external
o control one state may consist of one or control
more nations o one nation may made up of several states

FORMS OF GOVERNMENT

1. Monarchy
o The power of the government is vested upon a single person
o Example: king and queen

2. Aristocracy and Oligarchy

o The power of the government vested on a few privileged class (aristocrats)
o Aristocracy - refined version of oligarchy Rule of the rest; Corrupt but served the people
o Oligarchy - serve only for their own interests

3. Democracy The power of the government is vested on the people

o Pure Democracy/Direct the people participate in the affairs of the government directly
 o Indirect/Republican the people participate in the affairs of the government indirectly through their elected
representative

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN STATE AND GOVERNMENT

STATE GOVERNMENT
o principal o government agent
o abstraction o enternalize the will of the state
o cannot exist with out the government o can exist without a state
o cannot be changed so long as the elements o can be changed
are present

POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES
o could be seen as commitments in order to change political system
o Ideologies provide an explanation for problems but confronts modern societies by providing futuristic visions

FEATURES OF IDEOLOGY
o It offers an account of the existing order, usually in the “ world view ”
o it advances a model of the desired future, a vision of the good society
o it explains how political change can should be brought about - how to get from the two other features
INTELLECTUAL COMPONENTS OF AN IDEOLOGY
o Values
o The vision of the ideal polity
o the conception of the human nature
o the strategy of action
o Political Tactics

IDEOLOGIES
1. Liberalism (the left)
o “liber ” which means ‘’free men ”
o A view that sees more need for change and improvement in social relations requiring governmental
involvement and that society must be free, free from government interventions

2 types of Liberalism
1. Classical Liberalism
o subscribed to egotistical individualism; have a belief in negative freedom and have a broadly positive
view of civil society
2. Neoliberalism
o the state are constantly interacting with each other and that they value cooperation as part of their own
interest

2.Conservatism (the right)

 the term “ conservatism ” derived from the term conservation. It is a political philosophy that tend to support
the status quo and advocates change only in moderation upholding the value of tradition and seeks to preserve
all that is good about the past

3. Socialism
 derived from “ socialist” meaning to combine or to share is an economic and political doctrine advocating
governmental ownership and direction of production and services but would retain existing institutions as the
means of regulating

4. Social Democracy
 it is moderate or reformist brand of socialism that favor the balance between the market ang the state rather
than the abolition of capitalism
 become welfare states that the focus on improvement of living conditions such as unemployment and medical
insurance, generous pension and subsidized food and housing

5. Communism
  it is an economic, social and political system seeking government ownership of the means production and
services directed by a process of scientific administration and universal assent
 it is an extreme left wing ideology, based on the revolutionary teachings of Karl Marx, characterized by
collective ownership and planned economy

6. Fascism
 derived from “fasces ” , which means a bundle of rods with an axe-blade protruding that signified the
authority that magistrates in Imperial Rome
 is a movement that stand outmoded, repressive social and political condition rejecting democracy, repudiates
constitutionalism and stresses that all values arise from the state against which the individual has no rights

Salient Features of Fascism

 Totalitarianism
 Nationalism
 Anti-Liberalism
 Militarism and Violence
 Leadership

7. Religious Fundamentalism
 fundamentalism from the Latin word “fundamental” , meaning base
 it is associated with inflexibility, dogmatism, authoritarianism or worst violence. it is characterize by a
rejection of the distinction between politics and religion

Themes of Religious Fundamentalism

 Religion as Politics
 The fundamental impulse
 Anti- modernism
 Militancy

8. Feminism
 derive from the Latin word “femina ” meaning female or woman, concerned with the attainment of gender
equality in the political, economic and social spheres of life
 The basic idea of feminism: that woman experience a poor state of society as consequence of the patriarchy,
male domination of women should be overthrown

9. Environmentalism
 an ideology focusing on the idea that environment is endangered and must be preserved through regulation
and lifestyle changes
 its concern is about the natural environment and particularly about reducing environmental degradation that is
more policy