Introduction to Political Science (POL 101)

Lecture 01:
Definition, History and Approach of Political Science
Is Political Science a Science?

Dr. Noor Mohammad Sarker

Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science and Sociology
North South University, Dhaka
Email: noor.sarker@northsouth.edu
Introduction

 Politics is everywhere.
 Politics is as old as humanity.
 Politics exists because people disagree.
 Politics is dominant in all aspects of human existence.
 Almost everyone is subject to some form of political system,
whether they like it or not.
 Politics determines the relationship between the individual and
their social and political surroundings.
 Politics is “the master science” [Aristotle]
Origin of the term ‘Political Science’

 The term ‘Political Science’ is closely related to the word ‘Politics’.

 The term ‘Politics’ is derived from the Greek word polis, which
means ‘city-state’.
 ‘City-state’ was the basic system of political organization/ center
of political activities in the Ancient Greece.
 Perhaps the first person to use the term political science was
Aristotle, a Greek philosopher who argued in favor of living a
virtuous life.
Father of ‘Political Science’

 Aristotle is widely regarded as the ‘Father of Political Science’ in

the West.
Definition of ‘Political Science’

 “Hence it is evident that the state is a creation of nature, and

that man is by nature a political animal. And he who by
nature and not by mere accident is without a state, is either
above humanity, or below it; he is the ‘Tribeless, lawless,
hearthless one,’ whom Homera denounces—the outcast who
is a lover of war; he may be compared to a bird which flies
alone.” (Aristotle, Politics, Book 1, Part 2 [350 B.C.])
Definition of ‘Political Science’
Key Definitional Attributes of ‘Political Science’
(Nature of the Discipline)

 Human being is a social and political animal

 The nature of a rational human being is therefore to live in a
society, either:
◦ By nature
◦ By compulsion
 The safety of human being and the security of human life can only
be ensured in a well-governed society.
 An organized society is called ‘state’.
 Human being needs of a well-governed state to ensure progress in
human life.
Definition of ‘Political Science’

 Politics is the ongoing competition between people, usually in

groups, to shape policy in their favor. To do so, they may seek to
guide policy indirectly by shaping the beliefs and values of
members of their society.

 Political Science is a method of how to study politics.

Politicians vs. Political Scientists

Politicians Political Scientists

love power are skeptical of power
seek popularity seek accuracy
think practically think abstractly
hold firm views reach tentative conclusions
offer single causes offer many causes
see short-term payoff see long-term consequences
plan for next election plan for next publication
respond to groups seek the good of the whole
seek name recognition seek professional prestige
 The Scope of the Discipline
 Because power takes many forms, political science often overlaps
with economics, psychology, sociology, and the other social sciences.
 a conference of political thinkers held in September 1948 at the
UNESCO, titled “International Conference on Methods in Political
Science,” decided the scope of Political Science as follows:

1. Political Science is the study of Political theories

2. Political Science is the study of Political Institutions
3. Political Science is the study of Political Parties and Pressure Groups
4. Political Science is the study of International Relations
5. Political Science is the study of the relationship between government
and civil society
6. Political Science is the study of Power, Authority, Influences, Political
activities, Political Processes
7. Political Science is the study of Political system and its environments
 Chronological Development of Political Science

 Plato (427–347 BC): One of the greatest western philosophers, Plato wrote
several dialogues about political matters, including The Republic (c. 360 BC).
 Aristotle (384–322 BC): A student of Plato’s, Aristotle applied empirical
methods to the study of politics.
 St. Augustine (354–430): Augustine’s City of God (419) argued for the
centrality of salvation to life, even with regard to politics.
 St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274): Aquinas helped reintroduce Aristotle to
Europe and melded Aristotelian thought with Christianity.
 Confucius (551–479 BC): China’s most famous teacher, philosopher, and
political theorist, whose ideas have profoundly influenced the civilizations of
China and other East Asian countries.
 Kautilya (flourished in 300 BC): Hindu statesman and philosopher who wrote
a classic treatise on polity, Arthashastra (“The Science of Material Gain”), a
compilation of almost everything that had been written in India up to his time
regarding artha (property, economics, or material success).
 Chronological Development of Political Science

 Ibn Khaldūn (1332–1406): greatest Arab historian, who developed one of the
earliest nonreligious philosophies of history, contained in his masterpiece, the
Muqaddimah (“Introduction”).
 Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527): Machiavelli’s book The Prince (written c.
1513; published in 1532) portrayed politics as a struggle for power, and in it
he urged rulers to lie, cheat, and kill to get ahead.
 Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679): Hobbes attempted to use the methods of
geometry to arrive at an irrefutable science of politics. Hobbes argued for
absolute monarchy.
 John Locke (1632–1704): Locke argued for a democratic government that
respected individual and property rights. His writings greatly influenced
Thomas Jefferson, as reflected in the Declaration of Independence.
 Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778): Rousseau’s iconoclastic attack on
tradition contributed to the French Revolution. His book The Social Contract
(1762) states, “Man is born free, and he is everywhere in chains,” an
important sentiment during the American and French revolutions.
 Chronological Development of Political Science

 Karl Marx (1818–1883): A philosopher and social scientist who saw the
economy as the key institution in society. He argued that employers in a
capitalist society exploit their workers and that the capitalist classes pass laws
to benefit themselves. His books The Communist Manifesto and Capital
spurred the Russian Revolution of 1917.
 John William Burgess (1844–1931): A professor who created a political
science department at Columbia University that sought to train students for a
life of public service. This was the first such department in the United States,
and it helped institutionalize and legitimize political science as an academic
discipline.
 Max Weber (1864–1920): An economist and sociologist who argued that
religion, not economics, is the central force in social change. According to
Weber, Protestants seeking an outward affirmation of their godliness brought
about the birth of capitalism.
 Robert O. Keohane (1941– Present): A professor who helped developing the
neoliberal theory of international relations. A 2005 poll in the journal Foreign
Policy named him the most influential scholar of international relations.
Major Approaches to the Study of Political Science
1. The Traditional Approaches

◦ Philosophical approach: The oldest approach to the study of politics. The

thinkers of this age move closer to ethics and try to advise the rulers.
Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, and others belong to this
reference speculative frame & not objective.
◦ Historical approach: The feature of this approach is to throw focus on the
past or on a selected period of time and on a sequence of events to
explain the origin and growth of any political institution
◦ Legal approach: Here, the study of politics is linked with the study of legal
or juridical processes (constitutions) and institutions created by the state
for maintaining political organization.
◦ Institutional approach: Here, the study lays stress on the formal
structures of a political organization like the legislature, executive, and
judiciary (impartial account of political reality).
Major Approaches to the Study of Political Science
2. The Behavioral Approaches
◦ The sociological approach: this approach emphasizes that social
context is necessary for understanding and explaining the political
behavior of the community members. Terms like political socialization,
political culture, and political sociology are the contributions of this
approach.
◦ Psychological approach: a study of politics is made to deal with the
role of emotions, habits, sentiments, instincts, go, etc., that constitute
essential elements of human personality. Psycho-analysis of political
leaders reveals significant knowledge about politics.
◦ Economic approach: matters relating to the production and
distribution of goods have an economic character. But as the state
makes their regulation, they are very much involved in the process of
politics.

3. The Post-behavioral Approach

◦ Post behaviorists argued that political scientists should be more
concerned with values, with issues of justice, freedom, equality, and
political activity. It is not appropriate to take a value-free, academic
detachment from public policy and political reform.
Major Approaches to the Study of Political Science
Traditional Behavioral Post-behavioral
Facts and values tied
Inter-relates facts and Separate facts and
to action and
values values
relevance
Non-prescriptive,
Prescriptive and Humanistically
objective and
normative problem-oriented
empirical
Quantitative and
Qualitative Quantitative
qualitative
Concerned with Concerned with Concerned with
irregularities and uniformity and regularities and
regularities regularities irregularities
Focus on European Focus on Anglo Focus on third world
countries American countries countries
Major Approaches to the Study of Political Science
4. The Marxist Approach

◦ The Marxist approach to political analysis is primarily associated with

the contributions of Karl Marx. The Marxist approach’s significance is
due to its emphasis on the production and distribution of goods in
assessing social changes and political revolutions. This is quite
different from traditionalism and behaviorism.
◦ Using these three concepts, Marxism treats State as an instrument of
exploitation and oppression by one class over the other. Also, the
struggle for power constituting the base of politics should be studied
in the context of the conflict between two opposing classes.
 Is Political Science a ‘Science’?

 What is Science?

◦ In French, the word “science” means “knowledge”.

◦ “Science is a systematic body of knowledge, the facts of which have been
accurately and impartially collected, arranged and classified through the
use of various scientific methods of observation, comparison and
experimentation”.
◦ Pure scientists maintain that/ The natural sciences rely on:
 Precise measurement and
 Mathematical calculation.
 Is Political Science a ‘Science’?

 Genesis of the Debate

◦ Political scientists attempt to become like natural scientists

◦ They also quantify their data and manipulate them statistically to validate
hypotheses.
 Examples:
 Public opinion study.
 Forecasting election results.
◦ But there is a problem: Large areas of politics are not quantifiable. It’s
because a lot of things in politics (how and why decisions are made) are
too complex to be quantified.
 Many decisions in Politics are made in secrecy, for example:
 We do not know exactly how decisions are made in the White House
in Washington or in the Zhongnanhai in Beijing.
 Is Political Science a ‘Science’?

Political Science is not a Science: Arguments

Political Scientists like Maitland, Burke, Gettel do not think that Politics is
really a Science. Their arguments are as follows:
◦ Disagreement in Definition, Terminology and Methods:
 There is no general agreement among Political thinkers regarding
definition, scope, terminology etc.
◦ Lack of Precision:
 Principles of Political Science are not precise, clear and they lead to
many controversies.
◦ The Study of Unpredictable Human Behavior:
 Human behavior is unpredictable and not always logical, whereas
physics and chemistry deal with matter or inanimate objects (non
living objects).
 Natural scientist work in laboratories and the objects are perfectly
under their control. Hence their rules and laws are absolute, and
universal.
 Is Political Science a ‘Science’?

Political Science is not a Science: Arguments

◦ Limited Experimentation:
 Experimentation in laboratory or in an isolated environment is not
possible in Politics like natural sciences.
◦ Lack of Objectivity:
 Political Science lacks objectivity but subjective element is very strong.
 Political-science is subjective and relative because political scientist
has to deal with human beings in relation to society, State,
Government etc.
◦ Difficult to Predict Future:
 Political phenomena do not follow proper sequence like exact science.
 At times, the effects are contrary and therefore the results cannot be
predicted.
 Is Political Science a ‘Science’?

Political Science is a Science: Arguments

 Politics is a systematized body of knowledge. Its facts are collected and

organized through proper observation, comparison and experimentation,
etc. e.g. studies on election. Science is a systematic and formulated
knowledge of a specified subject. In that sense Political Science is certainly a
science.
 Political Experiments are not completely ruled out. The government itself is
a continuous experiment. The application of Marxist principles in the USSR
was one such experiment.
 Broad Conclusions can be drawn in Political Science, e.g. Independent
impartial judiciary, free press is essential for democracy.
 Political Science puts hypothesis to empirical verification. Theories are not
built on speculation. Political Scientists today employ survey methods,
graphs, charts etc. to arrive at their research conclusions.
Is Political Science a ‘Science’?

End of the Debate

 Based on persistent pattern, political scientists “generalize”.

 When the generalizations become firmer, they call them “theories”.
 In a few cases, when theories become firmly established, they call
them “laws”.
 In this way, the study of politics can become “science”.
 But the challenge for political scientists is to see things clearly.
 They need to study things as they are, not as they wish them to be.

Political science is not a pure science, but a social science.