CORTEZ, Renée Kristen D.C.

POLSC (4CLM)

Definition of Political Science:

1. James Wilford Garner defined political science as something which begins and ends
with the state”;”Politics is the study of State & Government”. J.W. Garner was an
American professor of political science who has wrote several books about the said topic
including International Law and the World War. It is within his belief that political
science.

2. R.G. Gettel, a well-known author of books dealing with the topic of political science,
defined Political Science with the basic functions of a state of “Political Science is the
historical investigation of what the state has been, an analytical study of what the state is
and a political, ethical discussion of what the state ought to be”.

3. Harold Lasswell, a leading political scientist and communications theorist defined

political science in empirical terms maintaining that politics is the study of the shaping
and sharing of power. He claimed that the fundamental issue in politics is who gets
what, when, and how?

4. Robert Dahl holds that, “politics involves to a significant extent power, rule or
authority”. Dahl was a political theorist and Sterling Professor of Political Science in
Yale University.

5. Andre Heywood claims that, “Politics can be defined as an activity through which people
make, preserve and amend the general rules under which they live.” Heywood is the author of
some of the best-selling books on politics and political ideologies.

* Adrian Leftwich (What is Politics?) finds politics is the heart of all collective social activity,
formal and informal, public and private, in all human groups, institutions and societies