Nature and Scope of Political Science

Sub-fields of political science

Presented by:

Zaheen Butt

Adeel Taswar

Attroba Adan

Saira Ayub

Political Science

The branch of social sciences that

control people, elect leaders, opinion

their voters and also help citizens to

know their responsibilities in the

society is called political science

Introduction

The great Greek political philosopher,

Aristotle was the first thinker to use

the term ‘politics’. The term “Politics”

is derived from the Greek word ‘Polis’

which means ‘city – state’.

Introduction

It begins from the time of Aristotle

and Plato, in ancient Greek.

It was introduced almost 2500 years

ago.

Definitions

Political science is a branch of social

science.

It is the study of the state.

Political science begins and ends with

the state.

It may be defined as the study of man

in the process of governing himself.

Political science deals with general

problems of the state and government.

Nature of Political Science

There are different views on the nature

of politics:

Political Science has Scientific nature.

Politics can be studied in a systematic

manner.

Nature of Political Science

Political Science, like other Sciences, has absolute and universal laws.

It is possible to make predictions in politics.

It is said that experimentation is possible in politics.

Scope of Political Science

Scope of political science is to study

the past things that happened and use

it correctly in the present and

determine what the future will say

about.

Scope of Political Science

Normally, a lay man associate politics with the party politics. But we should know that politics is much larger than that.

The scope of political science implies its area of study.

Scope of Political Science

It is classified into four zones:

Political theory

Political institution

Scope of Political Science

Political dynamics

International relation

The Four Zones

Political theory

It deals with the definition and

fundamental concepts of political

science like state, government, law,

liberty, equality, justice and

sovereignty.

Political institution

It is concerned with a study of formal

political institution such as the state and

instrument through which it runs the

government.

Political Dynamics

The term refers to the forces and

process at work in government and

politics. They influence and explain

political action. They include the study

of political parties.

International Relations

International Relations (IR) is the study of relationships among countries.

International relations draws intellectual materials from the fields of technology, engineering, economics and history.

Elements of State

The state consists of four elements:

The people.

The territory.

The government.

The sovereignty.

People

It is a people who make the state. Population

or people are essential for the state.

According to Aristotle, “the number should

neither be too large nor too small. It should

be large enough to be self sufficing and

small enough to be well governed”

Territory

It is a fixed area that rightly belongs to the

population. There can be no state without

fixed territory.

It may be remembered that the territory of

state includes land, water and air-space.

It should be permanent and large enough to

be self-sufficing.

Government

It is the third element of the state.

Government is the agency through with the

force of the state is formulated, expressed

and realized.

Sovereignty

The fourth essential element of the state is

sovereignty. The word ‘Sovereignty’ means

supreme and final legal authority above

and beyond which no legal power exists.

Sovereignty has two aspects:

• Internal Sovereignty

Means that the state is supreme over all its

citizens and associations.

• External Sovereignty

Means that the state is independent and free from

foreign or outside control.

Scope concerning with State

Scope of political science concerns

with the state as :

Present Form of the state.

Historical Form.

Ideal Form of the state.

Ideal form of a State

The state should act as ‘trustee’ of the

people means that it should hold

people power as a trust for welfare of

people. It should not consider people

as helpless subject, but as co-rulers in

its governance.

Sub-fields of Political Science

Following are the sub-fields of

Political Science :

• Sociology

• Economics

• Anthropology

• Psychology

• History

Sociology

The word ‘Sociology’ is a combination

of Two words; ‘Socio’ means ‘ Society’

and ‘logy’ means ‘to study’. Thus

sociology means the study of society.

It involves both formal and informal

behaviors of people.

Economics

Economics is the social science that

studies economic activity to gain an

understanding of the processes that

govern the production, distribution

and consumption of goods in a

country.

Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of humans’ past and present.

To understand the complexity of cultures across all of human history, anthropology draws knowledge from the social and biological sciences as well as the humanities and physical sciences.

Psychology

Psychology is an academic and

applied discipline that involves the

scientific study of mental functions and

behaviors.

History

The branch of knowledge that recordsand analyzes past events , is known as history.

"History has a long-range perspective"

(Elizabeth Gurley Flynn).

Conclusion

In conclusion, we will say that the

scope of political science comprehends

globalization, state sovereignty,

international security, and ecological

sustainability of a state.