1

UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION,
WINNEBA
DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE EDUCATION
COURSE CODE :POLI 111
COURSE TITLE: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
LECTURER: DESMOND TWENEBOAH-KODUAH (PHD)
2 TOPIC 1:NATURE AND SCOPE OF POLITICAL
SCIENCE
Discussion Points
•Introduction
•What is Political Science?
•The Scope of Political Science
•Is Political Science a Science?
•Why should I study Political Science?
•Approaches to the study of Political Science
3 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• To introduce students to what politics and political science are all about
• To highlight the major sub-fields/areas within political science as a field of study
• To introduce students to a critical question political scientists are faced with as
to whether political science is a science at all
• To discuss with you why political science should be studied at the university
• To explain various approaches proposed by scholars meant to help us study and
understand politics
4 QUESTIONS TO BE ADDRESSED

• Discuss what you understand by the term politics?

• What do you consider to be the subject matter of political science?
• Is political science a science or an art subject?
• Why are the natural sciences more “scientific” than political science?
• Explain three approaches to the study of political science and show how
they can contribute to the understanding of political science in Ghana
5 INTRODUCTION

Generally, political science is considered as a social science which deals

with the theory and practice ofpolitics , the analysis ofpolitical systems and
political behavior.
Etymologically, political science is a combination of two words ie. Political
(politics ) and Science
Politics is originated from “polis” a Greek word forcity-state
Science comes from Latin word s‘ cire ’ meaningto study/know
Thus, in simple terms Political Science is a social science that uses the
tools of natural science to study politics/states/governments.
6 WHAT IS POLITICS?

• Today, politics has variously been defined by scholars and examples are:
• Harold Lasswell (1936) in his bookPolitics; Who Gets What, When and
How defined politics as the governmental determination of who gets what,
when and how?
• David Easton (1965) define politics as “the authoritative allocation of
values” in a book titledA Framework for Political Analysis
• O'Neil (2015) It is the struggle in any group for power that will give one or
more persons the ability to make decision for the larger group
• Power which is the ability to influence others is the currency of all politics.
7 WHERE CAN WE LOCATE POLITICS?

• Politics occurs wherever there are people and organizations, where there
is a competition for public power, wherever there is a pursuit of interest,
wherever men seek to define their position in society, when men try to
influence others to accept their view, (In this broad sense, politics is
everywhere and everyone is a politician)
• Aristotle (384-322 BC) observed that “man by nature is a political animal”
• Political scientists concentrate on the struggle for leadership and power in
a political community-a political party, elected office, country (O’Neil,2015:6)
It deals with a conflict over who controls/ influences the state
8 WHAT IS POLITICAL SCIENCE?

• Political science is the systematic study of how power is achieved,

maintained and used in the realm of state governance and global
relations. Key elements to describe the nature of political science are:
• It is a social science discipline
• It applies scientific methods used by the natural sciences
• Aristotle (father of political science) sees it as the master science
• It concentrates on the study of politics, state and governments
• It studies the theory and practice of politics and political behaviour
9 THE SCOPE OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

The specialized areas within are many and the key among them
include:
• Local/Domestic politics: political parties, elections, public opinions,
local government system, pressure groups
• Comparative politics: examines political activities within individual
countries, analyze similarities and differences of domestic
experiences with a view to make generalizations. (Klesner,2014:6)
10 SCOPE CONTINUES

• Political Theory :deals with classical political philosophy and

contemporary theoretical perspectives, history of political ideas/
Political philosophy concerns with values that were considered as
essential for a just state
• Public Administration: examines the making and implementation of
public policies
• International relations: political relations between countries eg.
Diplomacy, peacekeeping, foreign policy, International
Organizations
11 IS POLITICAL SCIENCE A SCIENCE? (ELEMENTS OF
SCIENTIFIC METHOD)
• Every science discipline uses scientific method which is an orderly
and systematic way of producing knowledge
• It is believed that scientific knowledge is superior to knowledge
gained from arts- facts/value dichotomy (how it works & how they
should work)
• Reliability and replication of scientific knowledge: Should provide
information about how observation is done and others can check it.
• Quantification promotes testing of hypothesis and finding
relationships
• Scientific method seeks theories that are generalizable beyond a
12 ARGUMENTS AGAINST

• Subject matter (people) investigated by political scientists are

generally unpredictable, hence findings are dubious and lack
universal applicability
• While natural sciences deal with matter which is simple and
controllable, political science deals with man in society which is
extremely complex to observe accurately because he is ever-changing
• Though it carries out empirical investigation, it generally does not
produce precise measurement and prediction
13 ARGUMENT FOR

• Science is a set of rules and methods for investigating reality

logically and systematically. Political Science is a science because
it observes the cardinal rules of scientific logic ie. Definition,
description, explanation and prediction (Klesner, 2014)
• Generation of quantitative data: political scientists employ
scientific method used to gather quantitative data and employ
statistical analysis to test hypothesis when studying political
behaviour
• The behavioural study of politics incorporates the essential
elements of scientific method including development and testing of
14 ARGUMENT FOR CONTINUATION

• Another feature of scientific method used in the study of political science is the
systematic observation of empirical facts. The scientific observation of political
behaviour is always done with an eye toward reliability and replication.
• Political scientists accumulate facts that are verifiable, link these facts together
in causal sequences, making generalizations of fundamental principles and
formulate theories
• They can also observe historical facts and contemporary facts, use them as the
basis for political analysis, classify, connect and compare
15 ARGUMENT FOR AND CONCLUSION

• Again, science is the discovery of truth and Political Science is the “science of the
state” including organization and functions of the state. The method of political
science is “comparison” of empirical data and this is remarkably similar to model
building
• While agreeing that there is an art to politics, there are basic laws that explain
political behaviour and these laws can be discovered through scientific method
It can be concluded that political science like other social sciences has a scientific
character because of the scientific methods it employs in examining political
phenomena though it cannot be described in the sense of the pure sciences like
Physics and Chemistry.
16 WHY SHOULD I STUDY POLITICAL SCIENCE?

•For civic education: rights, duties and obligations are learnt and this helps
students to discharge the obligations of democratic citizenship
•Helps students to gain knowledge and understanding as to how governments
work and become better informed about policies and their impacts.
•The study provides students with the skills needed for critical thinking, research
and tools for making persuasive arguments.
•It also provides students with exciting career opportunities such as policy
makers, lecturers, researchers
•Politics affects all, it is also a living and breathing subject therefore to
understand the local/global ever-changing political landscape is exciting.
17 APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF POLITICAL
SCIENCE
They have been grouped into traditional and modern approaches. The traditional are:
• Philosophical approach-it stresses on inclusion of values to the study
of political phenomena. It is the oldest, idealistic and normative.Plato
• Historical approach-it is built on the belief that political phenomena
can best be understood in the light of the past. “History matters” the
past is linked with the present.Machiavelli
• Legal approach-seeks to understand politics in terms of law. Actions
of institutions must be understood within their legal framework.
Thomas Hobbes, Jean Bodin
18 TRADITIONAL APPROACHES CON’T

• Institutional approach- lays emphasis on the study of political institutions and

structures particularly their organization and functions. It heavily relies on description
rather than explanationHarold Laski
NB: All the traditional approaches which are also referred to as normative methods of
inquiry to the study of politics are not concerned with “what is” in politics but rather
what aught to be”
• During the time when all these approaches were prominent political science was
concerned with the qualitative questions with philosophical, legalistic and
prescriptive orientations.
19 MODERN/CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES

• Before the middle of the 20th century political science was mainly concerned with
qualitative questions (why or how questions) which had a philosophical, legalistic
and descriptive orientation
• According to Bond (2007), behavioural revolution between 1950’s and 60’s was
largely presented as a watershed in the development of the scientific politics
• These modern approaches provided new ways of thinking about politics and how to
analyze it in a logical and systematic manner.
• The Behavioural Scientists were worried about the dangers associated with value
judgement and preferred to concentrate on facts
20 HISTORY OF BEHAVIOURAL APPROCH

• The Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago,

USA is credited to be the birth place of behaviouralism.
• Few political scientists under the leadership of Charles E. Merriam
developed the Behavioural Approach and pioneered its use to the
study of political science.
• Other notable personalities associated with the approach include:
David Truman, Gabriel Almon, Harold Lasswell among others.
21
BEHAVIOURAL APPROACH
• Bahaviouralism (scientific method) as an approach in Political
Science emphasizes on objective and quantified approach to explain
and predict political behaviour
• It made the study and the subject of investigation in political science
shifted away from political institutions toward individual political
behaviour
• It also instigated a shift from a descriptive study of politics to one
that emphasizes causality, explanation and prediction (O’Neil, 2015:
17)
22 BEHAVIOURAL APPROACH

• The approach uses laws/logic to draw its conclusion: For example:

• Premise/ Law: All UEW level 100 students are mortal
• Observation: Florence is UEW level 100 student
• Conclusion: Florence is mortal
Here the conclusion is not based on value judgement but rather on
fact
23 BEHAVIOURAL APPROACH CON’T

• The behaviouralists employ the scientific method used by investigators in the

natural science to gather data and use the tools of statistical analysis to test
hypotheses. They also develop mathematical models to try and explain voting
behaviour and causes of war
• The approach stresses that political science studies must be empirical, analytical
and explain governments and political institutions in a rigorous and impartial
manner.
• This approach encouraged many political analysts to adopt the methodology of
the natural sciences to study areas like voting behaviour where systematic and
quantifiable data were obtained ( Heywood,2004:9)
24 MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF BEHAVIORALISM

•It places emphasis on scientific and empirical approach to the

understanding of political phenomena.
•Bahaviouralists emphasis on facts-based evaluation of political action and
oppose value judgement
•It rejects institutions as the basic unit for research and identifies the
behaviour of individuals in political situation as the basic unit of analysis
•It labels social sciences as behavioural sciences and advocates for the
development of more precise techniques of observing , classifying and
measuring data.
25 RATIONAL CHOICE APPROACH

• It assumes that all human beings are rational and their behaviour conforms to
generally understandable behaviour. Proponents include Anthony Downs, James
Buchanan
• It provides useful insights into what motivates political actors to do what they do
• The central idea of the approach is that human beings are self-interested
creatures and when it comes to decision making individuals always make
prudent choices which provides them with maximum satisfaction
• As a branch of behavioralism it advocates for the individual as a unit of analysis
and discounts the importance of history, culture and unintended outcomes in
decision making
26 SYSTEM APPROACH

• This model was developed by David Easton and he believes all political systems share
certain common characteristics and functions within the context of political culture which
consists of traditions, values and common knowledge
• It assumes citizens (environment) have expectation of and place demands (inputs) on the
political system, but they also support the system in various ways such as voting,
participation or simply obey the laws of the state
• Both the demands and the supports they provide in turn influence the government
decisions. Demands are then processed into authoritative decisions (outputs). Through a
feedback loop, changes brought about by the outcomes channel back into the system.