What is Political Science?

It is the study of politics and government. It is concerned with the control, use, and abuse of authority and institutions through which authority is exercised.

How old is political science?

It is one of the oldest fields of knowledge. The philosophers of the golden period of Ancient Greece, particularly Plato and Aristotle, may be considered the earliest political scientists?  In their political writings these philosophers linked empirical description with philosophical speculation. Since the Greeks, the history of political science is studded with great names. Let us mention a few: Polybius, Cicero, St. Thomas, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Hegel, Marx etc. These giants of political science speculated upon problems such as the nature of the state, the nature of representation, the origin of government, the duties and obligations of the rulers and the ruled, just to mention a few.

Political Science in America.

Political Science, as an academic discipline, was slow in becoming established in the United States. It has come of age during the last half century. It was hardly distinguishable from the study of law, history or philosophy. It was essentially descriptive. Today it is more analytical.

It continues to deal with the classic questions of government and politics: What is the best kind of political system? What is justice? How should wealth be distributed? Are economic and social inequalities justifiable? etc. However, it uses more sophisticated tools and techniques: polls, surveys, interviews, and case studies. It is attempting to become more scientific. It seeks to find patterns and regularities, to generalize more widely and to search for causal factors. Political Science is becoming a profession. Political scientists in America are public policy advisors, research scientists; they train people for government and public service. They are loosely organized in the American Political Science Association and regional organizations.

Political scientists differ widely in temper, technique and philosophy. For a long time American political scientists have been divided into two camps: the behaviorist and the traditionalists. The behaviorists  apply scientific methods and state their findings in quantitative terms. The traditionalists question some of the assumptions and methods of the behaviorists. They insist that human beings are not machines and are seldom predictable. They also charge the behaviorists of draining political science of its proper moral and ethical concerns.

Why should one study political science?

There are practical and non-practical considerations. In a number of important areas the study of government and politics are important: Civil Service, Journalism, Broadcasting, Teaching and Diplomacy. But more importantly, everyone should be concerned with public affairs. The ancient Greeks used the term "idiot" in describing people who showed no interest in public affairs.

The main purpose of this course is to prevent you from becoming or remaining an "idiot." It should provide basic frames of reference by which one can sort out the trivial from the significant. The intention of the course is not to give you knowledge of facts but to teach you mental habits to form independent opinions. One forgets facts in due time. The important thing is that you know how to reason, how to think. There is nothing more harmful than a passive acceptance of the teachers' or the textbooks' wisdom. I invite your questions, free discussion, and warn you against any contempt of the opinion of others.

After these preliminaries one must turn to the subject matter itself. The title of the course is Introduction to Politics and Government. It is necessary, therefore, to start with a definition of the terms "Politics" and "Government". Several definitions exist. Politics, has been described in many ways, including the "art of the possible,"  "who gets what when and how," and "the competition among individuals and groups over the allocation of values and rewards." As for "government" a more comprehensive definition is given by Thomas H. Eliot.

Government is a set of rules which are enforceable in a given territory and institutions through which those rules are made, or by which they can be enforced.

Rules include constitutions, statutes, executive decrees and court decisions. In a democratic political system such as ours the principle of hierarchy of rules is followed. This means that some rules are deemed more important than others. For example the constitution of the United States is considered the highest set of rules. In case of conflict between a constitutional rule and an act of Congress the constitution will prevail.

The institutions that Professor Eliot is referring to include the legislative, executive and the judiciary branches of governmental structures. In the United States they are: Congress, Presidency, and the Supreme Court.

Why did people create government?

There are several theories:

1. God created it as a chastisement for original sin, like a dress it is a badge of lost innocence.

2. It was established as a means of common defense against outside aggressors. Evidence for this theory is provided by the fact that many of our cities end with syllables such as burgh, ton, polis, don ; all mean the same : "fortified city." This theory presupposes that people lived in large groups peaceably together. This assumption, of course, can be taken for granted.

3. Government was created to establish domestic security and tranquillity. Two theories require mention: Thomas Hobbes' and John Locke's.  Both philosophers postulate that people at one time or another lived without government, a condition they describe by the term "state of nature." However, their description of state of nature is different.  According to Hobbes: "life in the state of nature was solitary, short, brutish and nasty." Locke on the other hand viewed the state of nature as a condition of bliss. In Locke's view most people in the state of nature followed the "dictates of right reason." There were, nevertheless, some who did not. To establish government, law and order, people in various communities created Social Contracts.  In these contracts they gave up all their freedoms (Hobbes) or part of their freedoms (Locke) to a sovereign in exchange for security. It would be interesting to speculate as to why these two philosophers viewed the state of nature differently and why their concept of social contract is dissimilar.

4. Charismatic, modern psychological theory. The most prominent representative of this theory is Eric Fromm. In his book, Escape from Freedom he explains that lust for power in some individuals is combined with a general longing for security. These two undisputable facts give rise to governments.

5. Communist theory. It is derived from Rousseau and places the blame on the rise of private property. With the rise of private property societies split into "haves" and "have nots". The "haves" created coercive institutions to protect their private property and to keep the "have nots" in their suppressed condition.

Forms of government.

Aristotle gave us the earliest scheme of classification in his celebrated essay on Politics.
 

GOVERNMENT	GOOD	BAD
By One	Monarchy	Tyranny
By Few	Aristocracy	Oligarchy
By Many	Polity	Democracy

Democracy, according to Aristotle is the worst kind of government. It leads to disorder, and
insolence. People follow demagogues. Sometimes fees are paid to the poor to make them participate in the
government.

Another way of classifying governments is by their degree of independence: Using this criterion the
following categories emerge:

     1. Sovereign government.
     2. Dominion. Although self-governing, it does recognize some allegiance to the mother
     country especially in foreign policy.
     3. The Protectorate. Controlled by another government, although not completely annexed.
     4. Colony. A territory annexed and governed by a foreign power.

     Another classification is based on structural differences:
     1. Unitary
     2. Federal
     3. Parliamentary. (legislative is the source of the executive branch; executive emanates
     from the legislative; i.e. Great Britain.
     4. Presidential. The executive branch is separated from the legislative branch of the
     government.

The role of the government.

This is a much more controversial problem than the form of the government. In the US we have
democracy and a presidential form of government and nobody seriously challenges the form of our
government. But there is a sharp controversy over the question: what should be the role of the government?
Concepts of the government's proper role range all the way from anarchism to communism.

     A somewhat oversimplified picture can be gained by referring to the political spectrum of isms.
 

THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM
Communism, Socialism, Liberalism, Conservatism, Anarchism

The Anarchists maintain that no government should exist. Government is evil because it represses
our freedoms.  Insofar there is any organization at all, it should be a free and spontaneous association of
citizens. Social progress of mankind depends on mutual aid and cooperation.

Conservatives believe that state and government are necessary to maintain law and order and to
provide for common defense but according to them the government should not assume direct responsibility
for human happiness. It is the individual who should order his life. It was Edmund Burke who gave the most
complete expression of the conservative political philosophy at the time of the Great French Revolution.
The main tenets of this philosophy may be summed up as follows:
     Experience is more reliable than abstract reason.
     Wisdom is the greatest political quality.
     Private property is sacred.
     State should support the church. (Not applicable to American Conservatives).
     Changes in the political system should be infrequent and minimal.

This conservative philosophy has survived in the US. American Conservatives (Coolidge, Hoover,
Goldwater, and Reagan) have been consistently opposed to governmental intervention in the economy.
Think of Coolidge: "The business of government is to keep out of the business." or Goldwater: "The best
government is the government that governs the least." American conservatives also have been opposed to
the expansion of the powers of the federal government.

Liberalism emphasizes reason. It does not revere customs and traditions. Liberals are not
excessively concerned with the rights of the privileged social classes. Their main concern is the "the greatest
happiness of the greatest number," as Jeremy Bentham, an English liberal of the 19th century put it. In
American politics the liberal tradition has been associated with names such as Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow
Wilson, FDR, JFK and Johnson. Liberals show a strong willingness to regulate, to interfere with private
property if necessary. Liberalism is not so much a political philosophy but an attitude.

Socialism advocates a considerable amount of public ownership as solution to the evil of human
inequality. Socialism developed as a reaction to the industrial revolution. Socialism's aim has been to
develop a society in which all important means of production are publicly owned and thus exploitation of man
by man becomes impossible. This is the ultimate objective of the Communists, but there are important
differences between Communists and Socialists. These differences concern the means to be used to achieve
stated objectives. To confuse socialism with communism is a bad mistake. It should be noted that socialism
has many branches: Christian Socialism (Robert Lamennais); Marxian Socialism, Fabian and Utopian
Socialism.

Communism: appeared as a separate movement after the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was
dedicated to the violent overthrow of capitalism and refused to accept parliamentary democracy as a
legitimate form of government.

After these preliminaries one must turn to the subject matter itself. Over the years Political Science
has developed many fields or subdisciplines. But not all political scientists will agree that the following list
is either complete of sufficiently exact.

Political Philosophy

     Political Philosophy is concerned with the values that are regarded as essential to the good citizen
and the just state. What is Justice? What makes political power and its exercise legitimate? How should
property be distributed among citizens? What is the justification for the existence of private property? Are
economic and/or social inequalities justifiable? To what extent should citizens be entitled to participate in
the decision-making processes of the government? Should elected legislators be the rubber stamp
representatives of the opinion of a majority of their constituents, or should they be entitled to vote according
to their own conscience and their interpretation of public interest?

Answers to these and similar questions have been and will continue to be endlessly debated because
the answers are in terms of value, not facts. By its nature political philosophy is the least scientific
subdiscipline of political science. It is concerned with the normative implications of political organization and
behavior. (The way the state and society ought to be organized and the way the citizen ought to behave,
given certain fundamental values.)

Judicial and Legal Process

How do constitutions affect the operations of government and how do operations of government
affect the development of constitutions? How are the laws administered, interpreted, and enforced? What
are the rights of the citizens under the law? Which governmental agency is in charge of the interpretation
of the constitution? How are conflicts between the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches of
government resolved? How are the jurisdictions of federal and state governments defined? This subdiscipline
overlaps with Constitutional Law.

In recent years an analytical dimension has been introduced into the study of the judicial and legal
process. Judges' decisions have been evaluated according to their liberal or conservative content. These
findings may be explained by the socio-economic background of the judges before their appointment to the
bench.

Executive Process

The most visible symbol of the state is its chief executive. How is he elected? What are his formal
and informal responsibilities? How does he exercise the powers of his office? What are his own views
concerning the powers and duties of his office?  For example to understand the powers of the American
Presidency one must look beyond the text of the Constitution. It is important to observe that the nature and
scope of presidential power depends to a great extent on the person of the incumbent and his concept of
the Presidency. Presidents in the past had different concepts of the nature of their office. Three leading
theories should be mentioned. First the constitutional theory of William Howard Taft expressed in his famous
book, The Chief Magistrate and His Powers (1916). This theory holds that Art II contains an enumeration of
executive powers, and that the President must be prepared to justify all his actions on constitutional grounds.
(i.e.: on the basis of enumerated or implied powers.)

In opposition to Taft, Teddy Roosevelt took the position that the President is a steward of the people
and is under duty to do anything "that the needs of the nation demanded unless such action was forbidden
by the Constitution." A third theory, going far beyond the stewardship idea was expounded by Franklin Delano
Roosevelt; it was based on John Locke's famous "prerogative theory." It is "the power to act according to
discretion for the public good, without the prescription of the law and sometimes even against it." This theory
was fully reflected in FDR's constitutional practices. He, perhaps more than any other President sacrificed
constitutional niceties on the altar of emergency.

Other important questions to be studied in "Executive Process" include: How is the executive branch
of the government organized? What is the shape of the bureaucracy? How the executive establishment may
be accountable to the electorate?

Administrative Behavior and Organization

This subdivision of Political Science is concerned with the study of the administrators. Current
research in this subdivision is concerned not only with the formal characteristics of administrative
organizations, but also with the patterns of behavior that appear to coincide with particular administrative
roles, responsibilities and personality types.

How are decisions actually made? Why is the clearest "line organization" of administrative personnel
frequently irrelevant to the actual distribution of influence within the administrative hierarchy and to the actual
process of decision making? Are administrators responsible to the voters? Do they enjoy too much security?
Researchers in this subdiscipline often rely on case studies. These case studies help to clarify the
administrative process, not only in the government but also in various organizations where policy decisions
are made i.e.: corporations, colleges etc.

Legislative Politics

How are laws made? Not only in procedural terms, but also in terms of the clash of interests inside
and outside of the legislative arena. How do the rules and procedures of the legislature, its system of
committees and subcommittees affect the substance of legislative policy. How is power distributed among
the legislators themselves? What makes a particular legislator powerful? And if it is true that legislatures
have lost their policy making initiative to the executive branches of the government, what are the principal
functions of legislative institutions? If they function primarily as watchdogs over the executive, how
successful are they in monitoring the operations of executive agencies? How well do legislators attend the
diverse needs of their constituents?

Political Parties and Interest Groups

What is a political party? What is a pressure group? What is the difference between a political party
and a pressure group? What is their role in the legislative process? What are the characteristics of their
leadership and their membership? What methods do they use to formulate and implement their policies?
Where do they get their support? How do they make decisions? How do they go about selecting their
leaders? How do they select their members? How do they raise money? These are some of the questions
studied in this subdivision of Political Science.

Voting and Public Opinion

What is public opinion? How do the opinions of citizens affect the policy making of political elites?
What are the functions of public opinion in a given political system? How do we assess public opinion on a
given political controversy?

What motivates citizens to vote or not to vote? Why do they vote the way they do? Are voters
interested more in issues or personalities of the candidates? Is their vote an expression of long standing
loyalty to a particular party, regardless of its candidates or policies? What is the relationship between voting
and such factors as age, sex, race, religion, profession, income, and place of residence? Why do people
abstain from voting? Why do they get excited about certain types of elections while they remain indifferent
about others?

Political Socialization and Political Culture

How do citizens acquire the opinions, attitudes, and basic beliefs that help to determine their political
behavior? To what extent do people acquire their political opinions from their family, school, church,
acquaintances, and professional colleagues, and how do these patterns of socialization vary from one
individual to another according to age, education, income, and many of the variables already cited.

The characteristics of political socialization, opinions, attitudes and beliefs exhibited by a society
make up what is labeled as "political culture."

Comparative Government and Politics

Any or all of the above subdisciplines may be integrated into a comparative framework. In fact it may
be argued that no hypothesis or theory of politics deserves credibility unless it has been tested in several
different societies - i.e.; cross-culturally. It is possible to look at executive domination, for example, by
examining executive-legislative relationships not only in the United States but also in Great Britain, in
France, and other western democracies.

From the perspectives of comparative politics, new fields of research also have been developed,
including comparative studies of political elites, political violence, and political corruption. Comparison is
very important because we have no absolute standards of measurement.

International Politics and Organization

The study of international relations focuses on the processes by which sovereign states adjust their
national interest to those of other states. Questions studied include: What is national interest? What is
national power? Foreign policy, diplomacy, war and peace among nations. Arms control, disarmament, and
the study of institutions devoted to improving the chances of peace and international cooperation.

Political Theory and Methodology

The term "political theory" is used here to mean something different from "political philosophy."
Philosophy deals with fundamental questions of values, and it studies the logical relationships between
normative propositions. Its "truths" are not immediately relevant to problems of fact. Unlike a philosophical
system of moral principles, a theory can be tested empirically. It consists of propositions that are expressed
hypothetically and the hypotheses, in turn, predict the relationship between variables that can be observed
and measured. Theories can be proved or disproved. A particular philosophy is there for the taking. This is
not meant to minimize the important role of political philosophy. Also it should be noted that there is a great
deal of theory in the thought of the great political philosophers.