Introduction to Political Science (Video Notes)

Introduction to Political Science

• Political science is an academic discipline that deals with the study of government and political processes, institutions, and behaviors.
• It sits within the social sciences, which study the human aspects of the world—human-made constructs and structures.
• Related social science disciplines include:
  • Psychology: the study of the human mind and human behavior;
  • Sociology: the study of society and relationships within it;
  • Communications: the study of the flow of discourse through media;
  • Economics: the study of the allocation of resources;
  • History: the chronology, analysis, and interpretation of past events.

Why Is the Study Important?

• Politics is the study of power—who gets what, and how.
  • Examples range from modest levels (a city council deciding budgets) to global threats (two world superpowers on the brink of nuclear war).
• Ideologies such as Communism, Fascism, and Nazism shaped policies and practices that led to mass tragedy in the 20th century.
• All people's lives are affected by political institutions, power structures, and policy choices.
• A prominent political scientist described the study as motivated by understanding the sources and consequences of:
  • political stability and revolution,
  • repression and liberty,
  • equality and inequality,
  • war and peace,
  • democracy and dictatorship.
• The study reveals that the world of politics is complex and far-reaching, involving institutions, leaders, and citizens.

Key quotation: "the study of political science is motivated by the need to understand the sources and consequences of political stability and revolution, of repression and liberty, of equality and inequality, of war and peace, of democracy and dictatorship."

Cross-Disciplinary Connections

• Distinguishing feature: emphasis on government and power.
• However, the study of government and power naturally permeates other social sciences as well.
• This cross-pollination gives rise to subfields that cut across disciplines and share methods and questions.

Subdisciplines in Political Science

• Political science is organized into several subdisciplines, each representing a major subject area of teaching and research:
  • Comparative Politics
  • American Politics
  • International Relations
  • Political Theory
  • Public Administration
  • Public Policy
  • Political Behavior

Comparative Politics

• Involves the study of the politics of different countries.
• Some subdisciplines study a single country or a culturally similar group (e.g., Southeast Asia, Latin America).
• Area specialists: political scientists who study particular countries tend to be fluent in relevant languages, histories, and cultures.
• Other comparisons involve culturally, politically, and linguistically dissimilar countries to develop and test theories (e.g., why revolutions happen).
• Examples of findings:
  • Transitions from authoritarian rule to democracy in Latin America and Eastern Europe in the 1980s–1990s showed many similarities.
• Areas of focus within Comparative Politics also include:
  • The methodological goal of identifying generalizable patterns across diverse states, while acknowledging unique historical contexts.

American Politics

• In the United States, political scientists study American politics as its own subdiscipline due to the country’s size and role as a global power.
• Key institutions examined: Congress, the Presidency, the Judiciary.
• Factors that influence these institutions:
  • Political parties,
  • Elections,
  • Public opinion,
  • Voting,
  • Interest groups.

International Relations

• Study of interactions among nations, international organizations, and multinational corporations.
• Two traditional theoretical approaches:
  • Realism: emphasizes danger in the international system and the balance of power; war is a perpetual possibility.
  • Liberalism: emphasizes problem-solving capabilities of international institutions (e.g., United Nations, NATO, World Trade Organization).
• Historical context: after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War in 1991, liberalism briefly gained influence, but realists highlighted ongoing potential for international conflicts.

Political Theory

• Involves the study of philosophical thought about politics from ancient Greece to the present.
• Addresses fundamental questions of public life:
  • The nature of political authority,
  • The relationship of the state to the individual,
  • Citizens’ obligations and responsibilities to one another.
• Seeks to interpret abstract concepts such as:
  • Liberty,
  • Justice,
  • Human rights (

Political Behavior

• Focuses on how people participate in political processes and respond to political activity.
• Core areas:
  • Voting behavior, which can be influenced by social pressures,
  • Individual psychology (e.g., emotional attachments to parties or leaders),
  • Rational self-interests of voters.
• Additional factors analyzed: gender, ethnicity, religion, income, and the media.
• Practical applications: results inform planning related to rights and power; scholars draw on classical works to understand contemporary issues (e.g., terrorism, civil rights, and domestic and foreign policy).
• Classical influences cited by many scholars include: Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, David Hume, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and John Stuart Mill.
• Related activity: campaigns and elections, and the design of advertisements and political-party platforms.

Public Administration

• Focuses on government organizations and the practice of managing public sector operations.
• Americans are affected by public administrators (bureaucrats) often without direct awareness.
• Government is a large employer; government spending accounts for about half of the economy's activity, and there is increasing interaction between the public and private sectors.
• Areas of study:
  • Public financing and budgeting systems,
  • Public management,
  • Human resources,
  • Public-policy analysis,
  • Nonprofit management,
  • Urban planning.
• Goals: understand how these organizations work and devise methods to improve them.
• Example: Reinventing Government (1992) inspired reductions in red tape and adoption of more competitive, efficient, and customer-friendly service delivery across many levels of government.

Public Policy

• Focuses on the study of specific policy problems and governmental responses to them.
• Tasks include devising solutions for public concerns and studying issues such as:
  • Health care,
  • Pollution,
  • Crime,
  • Welfare,
  • The economy.
• Public policy is about problem solving, designing and implementing strategies, and evaluating outcomes.
• It also emphasizes the policymaking process and the many actors and agencies involved.
• The field examines how policy is formulated, implemented, and assessed across different contexts.

Political Behavior (continued)

• Campaigns and elections are central components, and research often informs how advertising and party platforms are designed to influence voter behavior.