Approaches and Methods

Used in the Study of Politics

Escao
&
Iway

G E R R Y S T O K E R & D AV I D M A R S H

What is Political Science?

Ranney (2003): The systematic study of political and
governmental institutions and processes
Aim: to provide an introduction to the way that
political scientists carry out their studies;
L o o k s a t t h e g e n e r a l w a y s o f t h i n k i n g o r t h e o r i z i n g o ff e r e d
by political scientists and the methods they use to discover
more about the subject
Introduces the main approaches to political science,
thereafter providing a balanced assessment of some of the
debates and disagreements that are an appropriate feature of
a discipline that has several thousand years of history
behind it and many thousands of practitioners in the modern
world

What is
What should be
DESCRIPTIVE AND PRESCRIPTIVE

Focus of Discussion
Is there one best approach to the study of
politics?
What is covered by the umbrella of the subject
matter of politics?
W h a t i s m e a n t b y a s c i e n t i fi c a p p r o a c h t o t h e
study of politics?
What is the connection between the study of
politics and the actual practice of politics?
Is there a standard method to use when
undertaking political science researc h?

The D isc i pl ine of Poli ti c al Sc i e nc e : A

Ce le brati on of Div e rsity
Po l i t i c a l s c i e n c e h a s b e c o m e m o re d i v e rs e a n d
more cosmopolitan in character
S c i e n t i fi c r e v o l u t i o n w a s e x p e c t e d t o l e a d t o a
unity in the understanding of political science
Agreement on what constitutes minimal
professional competence has sprung; ho wever,
the higher aspirations are many and varied
There is a de facto pluralist view of the nature
of political science endeavor

 Emphasis is given on only two points beyond supporting

the pluralism that is now widely acknowledged:
There is a need to recognize just how considerable is the
variety of political science at the beginning of the 21st
century
The key challenge is not to launch a campaign for unity but
to argue for diversity to be combined with dialogue

The approach must be eclectic and synergistic =

celebrating diversity
Political science is enriched by the variety of
approaches that are adopted within the discipline

Approaches
Scope of
Political
Studies

Understanding
of the
s c i e n t i fi c
claim

Attitude to
normative
political
theory

Relationship
to the
practice of
politics

Behaviouralism

Concentrates
on processes of
politics
associated with
mainstream
politics and
government

The generation
of general laws
and at a
minimum the
development of
theoretical
statements
that can be
f a l s i fi e d

In early years
the behavioural
revolution was
keen to
emphasize the
d i ff e r e n c e
between the
new science
and the old
armchair
theorizing; now
more willing to
tolerate

Claims to e
value-free,
neutral, and
detached

Rational Choice
Theory

Concerned with
conditions for
collective
action in
mainstream
political world

T
o
a
p
p
p

Similar
attitude to
that of the
behaviouralists
; normative
political theory
is okay as a
hobby

C l a i m s t o o ff e r
value-free,
expert advice
about how to
organize
politics

Institutionalism

Focus is on the
rules, norms,
and values that
govern
political
exchanges,
tends to look
at institutional
arrangements
in mainstream
political world

Science is the
production of
organized
knowledge. The
best political
science is
empirically
grounded,
theoretically
informed and
r e fl e c t i v e

Keen to make
connections
between
empirical
analysis and
normative
theory

Keen to make
connections,
sees itself as
working
alongside the
practitioners
of politics

he generation
f general laws
nd in
articular with
redictive
ower

Scope of
Political
Studies

Understanding
of the
s c i e n t i fi c
claim

Attitude to
normative
political
theory

Relationship
to the
practice of
politics

Feminism

A broad
process
d e fi n i t i o n t h a t
recognizes that
personal can
be political

A mixed range
of responses to
this issue but
with strong
tendencies
towards antifoundational
and critical
realist
perspectives

Normative
theory, like all
aspects of
political
studies, needs
to take gender
issues seriously

Political
engagements is
strongly part
of the feminist
impulse

Antifoundationalis
m (Interpretive
Theory)

Politics is a
narrative
contest that
can take place
in a wide
variety of
settings

Claims to
knowledge are
always
provisional and
contested.
Understanding
of human
activity is
inherently
d i ff e r e n t t o
that of the
physical world

Te n d S t o t h e
view that there
is a fusion
between all
types of
theorizing.
Political
analysis is
essentially
contested and
has necessarily
normative
content

A mixed range
of responses
but tendency is
towards wry
commentary on
the narrative
battles of the
political world

Marxism

Politics is a
struggle
between social
groups, in
particular
social classes

Critical realist:
a focus on the
discovery of
unobservable
structures that
guide, but do
not determine,
historical
events

Normative
theory The key
to
understandingi
s at its most
useful when
it
provides a
guide to
action: the
point is to
change the
world

Committed to
engagement in
struggles of
oppressed
social groups
or classes

There is no one best way to undertake political science

We should celebrate diversity
Normative Political Theory continues to play a key role in political science