Political Science

What is Political Science?

Political science focuses on the theory and practice of government and politics
at the local, state, national, and international levels. We are dedicated to
developing understandings of institutions, practices, and relations that constitute
public life and modes of inquiry that promote citizenship

When you think of the term political science, you might think of presidential
campaigns, political parties or policy analysis on the evening news. But political
science also seeks to analyze and predict critical issues that affect our lives
every day, including globalization, terrorism, climate change, civil rights and
diplomacy.

In fact, political science broadly refers to the study of governments, public

policies and political behavior both in the United States and abroad, according to
the American Political Science Association.
  Purpose of Political Science

The purpose of our major is to deepen knowledge and understanding of one of

the most powerful forces operating on people, communities and corporations
today, namely government and politics in the USA and around the world. This
knowledge and understanding is valuable for all citizens. It is also essential in
many careers today; business executives, for example, need to have some
understanding of the likely trajectory of policy and politics in China or Europe as
well as in the United States in order to make wise investment decisions.

Because political science is a discipline that uses different approaches, our

courses train you in a number of different critical skills that will help you succeed
in almost any career. Most of our courses have assignments that develop your
skills in writing. Almost all good jobs require writing skills. Other courses develop
skills in quantitative reasoning. An ability to assess statistical arguments is
equally important in modern life. Our political theory courses train you in
analytical thinking, an essential skill for almost all attractive careers.

Not surprisingly, alumni of political science majors can be found succeeding in

many different professions and organizations including law and business; the
CEOs of several Fortune 500 companies are political science majors. Some find
government so fascinating that they make government service their career.
While many professions such as Law require you to go to a professional school
for postgraduate training, the intellectual skills acquired in a political science
major are a great foundation for future success.
  Research Title

Political Science is a branch of knowledge that studies the state and the
systems that form a government. It also includes the scientific analysis of the
political activity of states and their behavior on the international arena. Students
at universities are often tasked with writing social science research intended to
deepen their knowledge of the particular subject and teaches them to follow a
certain structure that makes the research logical and interesting for many.
However, finding good political science research topics is a challenging task. A
research topic is a subject or issue that a learner is interested in when
conducting an investigation. Thus, good research is only possible if the topic is
of interest to the student. You should select only those political science research
paper topics that inspire you to dig deeper, read more, and analyze better.

 Methods
Political methodology provides the practicing political scientist with tools for attacking
all these questions, although it leaves to normative political theory the question of
what is ultimately good or bad. Methodology provides techniques for clarifying the
theoretical meaning of concepts such as revolution and for developing definitions of
revolutions. It offers descriptive indicators for comparing the scope of revolutionary
change, and sample surveys for gauging the support for revolutions. And it offers an
array of methods for making causal inferences that provide insights into the causes
and consequences of revolutions. All these tasks are important and
strongly interconnected. While causal inference is fundamental in political science,
making good inferences depends entirely on adequate conceptualization and
measurement of the phenomena under study—tasks that receive substantial attention
in this volume. Yet time and again our authors return to the question of what might
constitute a valid causal inference using qualitative or quantitative data, small‐Nor
large‐n data, in‐depth interviews or sample surveys, historical narratives or
experimental data.
  Findings
Since theory-building serves as the cornerstone of the discipline, it may be
useful to see how it works. You may be wrestling with theories or proposing your
own as you write your paper. Consider how political scientists have arrived at
the theories you are reading and discussing in your course. Most political
scientists adhere to a simple model of scientific inquiry when building theories.
The key to building precise and persuasive theories is to develop and test
hypotheses. Hypotheses are statements that researchers construct for the
purpose of testing whether or not a certain relationship exists between two
phenomena. To see how political scientists use hypotheses, and to imagine how
you might use a hypothesis to develop a thesis for your paper, consider the
following example. Suppose that we want to know whether presidential elections
are affected by economic conditions. We could formulate this question into the
following hypothesis:
“When the national unemployment rate is greater than 7 percent at the
time of the election, presidential incumbents are not reelected.”

 Reflection
In plato's Theaetetus Socrates develops the character of the philosopher, the man of
knowledge, in contrast to the atheoretical, practical man.* He endeavors to demonstrate the
distinctive qualities of the philosopher by emphasizing his peculiar attitude towards the
political sphere.
First, the philosopher has no political ambitions, and he does not care about what is going
on in the political sphere.