Politics

• Comes from Greek word “polis” which means “city-state” – meaning that politics relate to the state.
• Politics are activities aimed at shaping the rulings and decisions of political authorities.
• Citizens engage in these activities because the official’s rulings and decisions – deeply affect their lives.
• Thus, they try to shape them in a form that satisfies their needs and aspirations.

Common Features

• First, politics take place within state structure – local or regional – in legislatures, executives, bureaucracy, and in political parties.
• Second, political activity is designed to pursue some objectives – to obtain resources or benefits that cannot be acquired automatically because there are others demanding them (competition).
• Third, those engaging in politics employ tactics and assets likely to maximize their power or influence to counter-balance the influence and power of others

Politics (Continued)

• The use of strategy and influence to obtain, control and distribute resources in demand by society through mainly peaceful means of resolving community conflict.
• Pursuit and exercise of power
• Harold Lasswell: who gets what, when, how and why?
• David Easton: the authoritative allocation of resources and values

Implications

• Resources are finite or Limited
• Demands are infinite or unlimited
• Competition for limited resources in the society invariably leads to conflict.
• Society needs someone with power and authority make binding decisions and to resolve the resulting societal conflicts
• To carry out its duty the government must have monopoly over coercive assets—weapons
• They need this power to sanction opposition to their decisions or rules.

Power

• The ability to make others do what they would not otherwise do either through physical coercion or through influence.
• Power involves capabilities and legitimacy.
• Governments need power to guarantee security, maintain order and peace, promote economic growth, and implement policies
• Power is concentrated in the hand of a few people “elites” or those who rule.
• Raises the issue of whether power is exercised fairly, effectively, and for the common good of all.
• Is there “Justice” – are government policies fair, and is the interest of the public safeguarded?

Sovereignty

• This is a legal concept
• It means that government of a sovereign state has jurisdiction over the people who live under or within its territory
• It also means that no other government or international organization has the legal authority to impose its will on the government of a sovereign state.

Nation-State

• The most pervasive form of modern political organization in the world.
• Nation-refers to a distinct group of people who share a common background, geography, history, language, and culture, racial or ethnic characteristics, religion, or common beliefs.
• State-refers to the existence of a viable sovereign government exercising authority and power in the name of society.
• Nation-State is a legal entity that has a territory, a population, and a sovereign government.
• Combines several nations, ethnic groups, or tribes – who come to share allegiance to the state as a whole – this is difficult task because it involves nation-building.
• Some nation-states are heterogeneous – diverse (USA)
• Some nation-states are homogeneous (Japan)
• USA has been able to assimilate its ethnic groups more successfully than other countries—for instance, Yugoslavia, Soviet Union, Africa.

Government

• Refers to those individuals who are vested with the authority to make binding rules, formulate and implement policies, settle disputes among citizens, and use the coercion machinery of the state when their authority is challenged.
• Refers to the individuals, institutions, and processes that make rules for society and posses the power to enforce them.
• It attempts to resolve conflicts peacefully if possible.

Political Science

• Is the organized and methodological study of political institutions, activities of government and political behavior of citizens
• Deals with both formal and informal activities and interactions related to the state as an institution
• Uses the scientific method to study the political phenomena.

Aristotle

• We have no consensus on how politics should be studied.
• Aristotle is considered to be the first political scientist.
• For him, political science meant “political investigation”.
• He wrote about the nature of politics, and engaged in empirical inquiry.
• He argued that a political scientist should seek, through political inquiry, to understand the truth about politics.
• He collected 157 Constitutions of Greek City-States – from where he generalized about politics.
• He came up with classificatory scheme:

Rule By	If Bad	If Good
One	Monarchy	Tyranny
Few	Aristocracy	Oligarchy
Many	Polity/Mixed Democracy	Mob-Rule or Extreme Democracy

Approaches

• There are three main approaches to the study of politics:
• TRADITIONAL APPROACH
• BEHAVIORAL APPROACH
• POST-BEHAVIORAL APPROACH

Traditional Approach

• Analysis here is focused on the structure of the state, elections, and political parties.
• It describes formal institutions of government
• Focuses on evolution and origins of formal institutions
• It is normative – prescriptive – studies what ought to be.

Behavioral Approach

• Concerned with science of social engineering, and systemic empirical investigation.
• Calls for elaboration of classificatory schemes, conceptualization, and testing of hypothesis by empirical data.
• Seeks to construct models
• They emphasize separation of fact and value, verification, and validity of generalizations.
• They seek regularities and uniformities in political behavior.
• Such regularities are expressed in terms of generalizations and theory.
• Employ sophisticated statistics and computer techniques to analyze survey data.

Post-Behavioral Approach

• They argue that fact and value cannot be separated.
• Science cannot be evaluatively neutral.
• Value premises must be related to knowledge
• Intellectuals must put knowledge to work and engage in shaping society.
• Substance must precede the technique

Sub-disciplines of Political Science

• Comparative Politics – Here political systems are compared and contrasted. Differences and similarities are delineated.
• International Relations – Here the focus is on how countries interact. Why do nations live in peace and sometimes go to war? It looks at issues of diplomacy, foreign policy, international organizations, and Multinational corporations
• Public Administration – Looks at how governments utilize and manage various functions. It deals with techniques of professional government management and finance.
• Political Theory – Asks, what is good government? How can social justice be achieved in society. Looks at contributions of great philosophical thinkers like John Locke, Aristotle, Plato, David Hume, Rousseau, Hobbes, etc.
• American Government – Studies how American government works, and how it is organized, and the processes that underlie public decision making.
• International Political Economy – Looks at global economy, and interactions between politics and international economy. Looks at role of World Bank, IMF, MNCs, and international trade.