Fundamentals of PolSci

FUNDAMENTAL
S OF POLITICAL
SCIENCE
Definition
 Simplest term- is a science that treat with the
systematic study of state and politics
 Political is a broad term that includes practically
the whole range or scope of the legal system of a
state
 Malcolm defined it as “ to describe as the laws
regulating the relations upheld by the inhabitants
to the sovereign
Meaning of Politics
 Harold Laswell- defines it in a celebrated subtitle,
is one who gets what, when, and how
 *it is the struggle to lay hold of influence and
authority, it is a behavior used to assert
dominance
 * it is a clash of ideas and interests
Politics in the Distribution of
Advantages and Disadvantages
 Interaction-produces conflict or may result in
competition- deriving from opposition of
preference.
 Accommodation and Compromise- reconciliation
 More competition and cunning machination
THAN accommodation- some benefit more than
others- PAY OFFS than disadvantages
DUAL TENDENCIES OF MAN
 ONE towards the GOOD and another towards the BAD.
 LIKEWISE, politics is either GOOD and BAD
 *unfortunately, people are puzzled why in the practice
of politics, many politicians are more inclined towards
bad politics in GAINING POWER and SELF-
AGGRANDIZEMENT rather than towards GOOD
politics in synchronizing government activities with
those of private groups-ATTAINMENT of development
goals for the general welfare
CASE: Tendency of many Philippine
Politicians towards BAD politics(syn.
RUTHLESS EGOISM)
 “Soon our people will demand an answer to the
puzzle of why a nation with so many talented
individuals fails as a group. One answer is that
Filipino leaders in all social and political strata
have not functioned as a responsible elite unlike
their counterparts abroad. Philippine politics itself
tends to be irresponsible. To a large extent, it is
obsessed only with narrow interests of its various
sectors and factions.”
 POLITICS- essence of democracy
 * no human being can escape politics
 * a constitutional democracy cannot continue
without it
Bernard Crick
(In Defense of Politics)
 “renounce or destroy politics is to destroy the
very thing which gives order to the pluralism and
variety of civilized society, the thing which enables
us to enjoy variety without suffering either
anarchy or the tyranny of single truth…”
DOMAIN OF PS
 Prelim. Courses of study in Phil. Government
 Courses of study in political dynamics
 Courses of study in comparative government and
politics
 Courses of study in international law, international
organization and relations
 Courses of study in political theory and
methodology
Development of PS
 Aristotle – “ man, is by nature, a political animal.”
 * quintessence of social existence is POLITICS and that men
interacting with one another are continually engrossed in a
political relationship.
 - maintained that the only way to accelerate one’s capabilities
and to realize the haughty form of social life was through
political interaction with others in an institutionalized
environment structured to illuminate social conflict and to set
collective goals for the state.
ARISTOTLE’S IDEAS
 Governments and constitutions- shifting of different types
 State is organized for the greatest good of the greatest number
 Government is good when the ruler exercises power for the
good of all rather than his own interest
 The paramount consideration of the state is to train the mind
and abilities of its citizens
 The better off law should govern than any individual
 Revolutions are indispensable and reasonable if corrupt
authorities and treatment against the right and justice of the
masses cause them
Because of the foregoing…..
 Aristotle is referred to as the FATHER OF POLITICAL
SCIENCE
 Plato- considered as the FATHER OF POLITICAL

PHILOSOPHY
 * because he believed that leaders must devote
themselves to the highest tenable goals and argued that
the greatest good was the trailing of WISDOM, not
HAPINESS, NOT IMPERIAL DOMINION AND NOT
UNLIMITED WEALTH.
 STOICS(an ancient Greek school of philosophy founded at
Athens by Zeno of Citium. The school taught that virtue, the highest
good, is based on knowledge; the wise live in harmony with the
divine Reason (also identified with Fate and Providence) that
governs nature, and are indifferent to the vicissitudes of fortune
and the early Christians
and to pleasure and pain)
argued that human beings were basically equal
but stressed nevertheless the duty of obedience
to divinely ordered government
The bequest of ancient Rome to PS consists chiefly of
contributions in the field of…
 Law
 Public admin
 jurisprudence
 * all of which bore the imprint of Stoics notions of
human equity, the unique worth of every citizen, in
whatever way subservient, who had within him the
divine reason invigorating the world.
APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF
PS
 Scrutinizing Political Stance
 Scrutinizing Political Designs
 Scrutinizing Political Brainwave
 Scrutinizing Political Occurrences
 Scrutinizing Political Journals
 Scrutinizing Political Possibilities
PS: A Scientific Study
 science- simply any systematic approach to human
knowledge, a body of systematized knowledge on a
certain field of inquiry
 PS- is a corpus of systematic knowledge about a
particular area of inquiry
 - is a mass of systematically researched and
organized knowledge about the state and its
institutions
 - it conforms to Aristotle who made empirical studies
of political phenomena by using the city-state as a
laboratory.
 15thcen.- beginning of the modern period of history,
considerable changes were made in the study of and
methods of PS
 Modern political scientists- were influenced by
discoveries and theories in other developing fields of
human knowledge
 Use of empirical method was used to observe political
phenomena and processes in order to discover
fundamental laws
 World of Politics- political scientist’s laboratory
FIELDS OF PS
 before WWI, there were only 4 general
subdivisions of PS:
 A. political theory
 B. government
 C. comparative government
 D. elements of law
According to APSA
 Political Theory or Philosophy
-political thought that explains the political ideas and
beliefs
 Political philo which expresses the moral or
ethical standards that governments may adopt to
run public affairs
 as political ideology which is an official doctrine
that the people as a state adhere to and which
encompasses all aspects of human existence
Examples of Political Ideology
 FilipinoNationalism
 Liberalism or democracy
 Socialism
 Communism
Political Theory therefore…
 branch of PS which deals with the study of the
state through a systematic body of principles
relating to ORIGIN, FORM, BEHAVIOR, AND
PURPOSES of the state, and upon which political
system operates.
Three Components
 Facts and Descriptions

 Generalizations based on empirical data
 Moral components or value judgments(Pol.philo
stresses on this)
Public Law
 refers to the constitutional and legal principles/
rules governing sovereign states, governments and
individuals in their relationships with one another
 divided into: international law, constitutional law,
and admin.law
 Others: jurisprudence, science of law etc
Jean Bodin (French Political Philosopher)- first
coined the word political science
 whose predominating concern in such a study was the
organization of the state and its institutions based on
LAW.
 THEORY OF SOVEREIGNTY- state must be ruled
by a supreme power whose rule over citizens and
subjects was unrestrained by LAW.
 Sovereign was not legally accountable to his subjects,
he was nevertheless answerable to God and subject to
natural law.
 natural law is above human law- it guaranteed the
RIGHT TO OWN PEOPERTY
IR, IL and IO
 Itsfocus involves inquiries into the foreign policy
of nation-states in their mutual relationships on the
different forces- geographical, technological,
economic, demographic, psychological and
political – which help in shaping of policy
 the study of IR, IL and IO becomes more
imperative and significant in the light of an
emerging new world order which us being
stabilized and significantly affecting international
relationships
Government
 government set up of a state(national and local)
 covers the state consti, laws, citizenship,
structures of the various levels of government,
election process, judicial system, political parties
and interest groups etc.
 OPERATION---relationship between the
GOVERNORS AND THE GOVERNED
Public Administration
 It
brings forth a fountain of knowledge on the
techniques and methods of managing and
administering government in the phases of
administrative organization, personnel
administration, financial or fiscal administration
and the management of good public relation.
 most important concerns: determination and
adoption of appropriate measures pursuant to the
rule-making power of the legislative bodies
Political Dynamics
 Concerned with the interplay of different societal
forces(economics, social, political etc.) that
influence political decision( formulation and
determination of public policy)
 it includes dealing with the organization and
functions of political parties, the role of pressure
groups in the decision making process, public
opinion and propaganda
For a short activity:
 Make a creative diagram that would illustrate the
relationship of PS with the following fields:
 A. history
 B. economics
 C. sociology
 D. psychology
 E. anthropology
 F. geography
 G. philosophy
METHODOLOGY OF PS
 Observational or Empirical
 Historical
 Comparative
 Analytical

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FUNDAMENTAL

 Plato- considered as the FATHER OF POLITICAL

 Facts and Descriptions

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