Introduction to Political Science

(Advanced)

Today’s class• What is “Political Science”?

• Methods

• 5 Subfields:

• Political Theory

• Comparative Politics

• International Relations

• Public Policy

• American Politics

What is political science?

Methods

• Quantitative vs. Qualitative

• Rational choice vs. Culturalists

• Structure and Function

• History

• Ideas

• Documents

• Future

5 Subfields of Political Science in academia

• Political Theory

• Comparative Politics

• International Relations

• Public Policy

• American Politics

Political Theory

• Fundamental questions about the state, government, politics, liberty , justice, property, rights and law.

• Political economy -

• Defining property rights

• Regulating access to capital

• Justice

• Distribution

• Punishment

Some Names

• Confucius (551BC-479BC)

• Plato/Socrates (428BC-348BC)

• Aristotle (384BC-322BC)

• Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)

• John Locke (1632-1704)

• Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

• Adam Smith (1723-1790)

• Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)

• Karl Marx (1818-1883)

• John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

• Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)

• John Rawls (1921-2002)

Comparative Politics

• Empirical approach based on a comparative method.

• Defined by method, not object of study.

• Method of difference

• “If an instance in which the phenomenon under investigation occurs, and an instance in which it does not occur, have every circumstance in common save one, that one occurring only in the former; the circumstance in which alone the two instances differ, is the effect, or the cause, or an indispensable part of the cause, of the phenomenon.” (John Stuart Mill)

• Method of agreement

• “If two or more instances of the phenomenon under investigation have only one circumstance in common, the circumstance in which alone all the instances agree, is the cause (or effect) of the given phenomenon." (John Stuart Mill)

• In the USA - study of foreign governments.

• Montesquieu (Separation of Powers)

• Alexis de Tocqueville (Democracy in America)

• Robert A. Dahl (Democracy and its Critics)

• Theda Skocpol (Revolutions)

• Samuel P. Huntington (Clash of Civilizations)

Some names...

International Relations

• Study of foreign affairs and global issues among states within the international system.

• Roles of states, inter-governmental organizations (IGOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and multinational corporations (MNCs).

• Positive - analyze foreign policy.

• Normative - formulate foreign policy.

• 3 levels of analysis:

• Systemic

• Domestic

• Individual

• Immanuel Kant (Perpetual Peace)

• Hedley Bull (Society of States)

• E.H. Carr (Realism and Soviet Union)

• Joseph Nye (Neoliberalism, interdependence)

• Kenneth Waltz (Levels of Analysis)

Some names...

Public Policy

• Actions of government

• Intentions that determine those actions.

• Effects of policy

• Intended

• Unintended

• Types of policy:

• Education

• Economic

• Energy

• Health

• Graham Allison (bureaucratic analysis of decision making)

• Harold Lasswell (democratic use of propaganda)

• Charles Lindblom (Incrementalism)

• Aaron Wildavsky (Budget theory)

• C. Wright Mills (power and class in the USA)

Some names...

American Politics

• National institutions

• Processes and behavior

• Political thought

• Federalism

• Intergovernmental relations

• Constitutional law

• Judicial Politics

• Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (Federalist Papers)

• Woodrow Wilson (Bureaucracy)

• Richard E. Neustadt (Presidency)

• Barbara Sinclair (Congress)

• Leon Epstein (Parties)

Some names...