Nature, scope and approaches

Political Science · Foundations of political science. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.

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The idea

Politics is the activity through which a society makes binding decisions: who rules, by what right, and who gets what. Political science is the systematic study of that activity. Its scope covers political theory, government and institutions, public administration, comparative politics and international relations. It borrows from history, economics, sociology, law and psychology, but its own focus is the state and power.

An approach is a way of studying politics. The traditional approach looks at history, law, institutions and ideals. The behavioural approach studies what people actually do, using data. The systems approach treats politics as a system with inputs and outputs. The comparative approach sets political systems side by side.

Rules to remember

Common mistake

Students mix up Easton and Almond. Easton is the systems approach (inputs, outputs, feedback); Almond is the structural-functional approach (structures and the functions they perform).

Worked example

A scholar draws a diagram in which citizens' demands and support enter a 'box', laws and policies come out, and reactions to those policies flow back as new demands. Which approach is this, and whose is it?

  1. Demands and support entering the box are inputs; laws and policies are outputs.
  2. The reaction that flows back is a feedback loop.
  3. Inputs, outputs and feedback are the vocabulary of the systems approach, not of structures and functions.

Answer: The systems approach of David Easton.

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