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Political science

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Politics and government

   Political science is the field of the social sciences concerning the
   theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of
   political systems and political behaviour.

   Fields and subfields of political science include political theory and
   philosophy, political concepts, political systems and ideology, game
   theory, psephology ( voting systems and electoral behaviour), political
   economy, geopolitics and political geography, policy studies and public
   policy analysis, comparative politics, national systems, cross-national
   political analysis, supranational and intergovernmental politics,
   globalisation studies, political development, international relations,
   foreign policy analysis, peace studies, conflict analysis,
   international law and politics, public administration and local
   government studies, political psychology, bureaucratic, administrative
   and judicial behaviour, legislative processes and public law. Political
   Science also studies power in international relations and the theory of
   great powers and superpowers.

   Political science is methodologically diverse. Approaches to the
   discipline include classical political philosophy, interpretivism,
   structuralism, and behavioralism, rationalism, realism, pluralism, and
   institutionalism. 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   sought: primary sources such as historical documents and official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, and model building.

   Herbert Baxter Adams is credited with coining the phrase "political
   science" while teaching history at Johns Hopkins University.

History

Antecedents

   While the study of politics in the Western tradition is first found in
   ancient Greece, political science is a late arrival in terms of social
   sciences. However, the discipline has a clear set of antecedents such
   as moral philosophy, political philosophy, political economy, history,
   and other fields concerned with normative determinations of what ought
   to be and with deducing the characteristics and functions of the ideal
   state. In each historic period and in almost every geographic area, we
   can find someone studying politics and increasing political
   understanding.

   In ancient India, the antecedents of politics can be traced back to the
   Rig-Veda, Samhitas, Brahmanas, and Buddhist Pali Canon. Chanakya (c.
   350-275 BC) was a professor of political science at Takshashila
   University, and later the Prime Minister of Mauryan emperor
   Chandragupta Maurya. Chanakya is regarded as one of the earliest
   political thinkers, and is also known as the Indian Machiavelli. He
   wrote the Arthashastra, which was one of the earliest treatises on
   political thought, economics and social order, and can be considered a
   precursor to Machiavelli's The Prince. It discusses monetary and fiscal
   policies, welfare, international relations, and war strategies in
   detail, among other topics on political science.

   The antecedents of Western politics can also trace their roots back
   even earlier than Plato and Aristotle, particularly in the works of
   Homer, Hesiod, Thucydides, Xenophon, and Euripides. Later, Plato
   analyzed political systems, abstracted their analysis from more
   literary- and history- oriented studies and applied an approach we
   would understand as closer to philosophy. Similarly, Aristotle built
   upon Plato's analysis to include historical empirical evidence in his
   analysis.

   During the rule of Rome, famous historians such as Polybius, Livy and
   Plutarch documented the rise of the Roman Republic, and the
   organization and histories of other nations, while statesmen like
   Julius Caesar, Cicero and others provided us with examples of the
   politics of the republic and Rome's empire and wars. The study of
   politics during this age was oriented toward understanding history,
   understanding methods of governing, and describing the operation of
   governments.

   With the fall of the Roman Empire, there arose a more diffuse arena for
   political studies. The rise of monotheism and, particularly for the
   Western tradition, Christianity, brought to light a new space for
   politics and political action. During the Middle Ages, the study of
   politics was widespread in the churches and courts. Works such as
   Augustine of Hippo's The City of God synthesized current philosophies
   and political traditions with those of Christianity, redefining the
   borders between what was religious and what was political. Most of the
   political questions surrounding the relationship between church and
   state were clarified and contested in this period.

   In the Middle East and later other Islamic areas, works such as the
   Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and Epic of Kings by Ferdowsi provided
   evidence of political analysis, while the Islamic Aristotelians such as
   Avicenna and later Maimonides and Averroes, continued Aristotle's
   tradition of analysis and empiricism, writing commentaries on
   Aristotle's works.

   During the Italian Renaissance, Niccolò Machiavelli established the
   emphasis of modern political science on direct empirical observation of
   political institutions and actors. Later, the expansion of the
   scientific paradigm during the Enlightenment further pushed the study
   of politics beyond normative determinations.

Studies

   The advent of political science as a university discipline is evidenced
   by the naming of university departments and chairs with the title of
   political science arising in the 1860s. Integrating political studies
   of the past into a unified discipline is ongoing, and the history of
   political science has provided a rich field for the growth of both
   normative and positive political science, with each part of the
   discipline sharing some historical predecessors. The American Political
   Science Association was founded in 1903 in an effort to distinguish the
   study of politics from economics and other social phenomena.

   In the 1950s and the 1960s, a behavioral revolution stressing the
   systematic and rigorously scientific study of individual and group
   behaviour swept the discipline. At the same time that political science
   moved toward greater depth of analysis and more sophistication, it also
   moved toward a closer working relationship with other disciplines,
   especially sociology, economics, history, anthropology, psychology, and
   statistics. Increasingly, students of political behaviour have used the
   scientific method to create an intellectual discipline based on the
   postulating of hypotheses followed by empirical verification and the
   inference of political trends, and of generalizations that explain
   individual and group political actions. Over the past generation, the
   discipline placed an increasing emphasis on relevance, or the use of
   new approaches and methodologies to solve political and social
   problems. Sociologists are interested in political science.

Contemporary

   Political scientists study the allocation and transfer of power in
   decision-making, the roles and systems of governance including
   governments and international organizations, political behaviour and
   public policies. They measure the success of governance and specific
   policies by examining many factors, including stability, justice,
   material wealth, and peace. Some political scientists seek to advance
   positive theses by analyzing politics. Others advance normative theses,
   by making specific policy recommendations.

   The study of politics is complicated by the frequent involvement of
   political scientists in the political process, since their teachings
   often provide the frameworks within which other commentators, such as
   journalists, special interest groups, politicians, and the electorate
   analyze issues and select options. Political scientists may serve as
   advisors to specific politicians, or even run for office as politicians
   themselves. Political scientists can be found working in governments,
   in political parties or as civil servants. They may be involved with
   non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or political movements. In a
   variety of capacities, people educated and trained in political science
   can add value and expertise to corporations. Private enterprises such
   as think tanks, research institutes, polling and public relations firms
   often employ political scientists. In the United States, political
   scientists known as "Americanists" look at a variety of data including
   elections, public opinion and public policy such as Social Security
   reform, foreign policy, U.S. congressional power, and the Supreme
   Court—to name only a few issues.

Alternative terms

   Alternative terms for the academic study of politics are political
   studies, or even politics. While political science implies use of the
   scientific method, political studies implies a broader approach. The
   term government is used by Dartmouth College, Harvard University,
   Cornell University, Georgetown University, University of Sydney,
   University of Ulster and the London School of Economics and Political
   Science to describe the field, but the choice of a label for a
   department often has little to do with how the subject is studied.

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