GROUP 1

WHAT IS POLITICAL SCIENCE?

 Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of
governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political
behavior, and associated constitutions and laws. 

THREE BRANCHES OF POLITICAL SCIENCE:

 Comparative politics is a broad field with a variety of approaches and goals. Comparative
politics is the comparative study of other countries, citizens, different political units either in whole
or in part, and analyzes the similarities and differences between those political units. Comparative
politics also entails the political study of non-US political thought. 

EXPLAINATION: comparative politics is to provide an understanding of how and why different

societies develop different kinds of political institutions. Still others use comparative politics as
a way of discovering general laws and theories that will explain human political behavior and its
variability.

 International relations attempts to explain the interactions of states in the global interstate
system, and it also attempts to explain the interactions of others whose behavior originates
within one country and is targeted toward members of other countries.

EXPLAINATION: In short, the study of international relations is an attempt to explain

behavior that occurs across the boundaries of states, the broader relationships of which such
behavior is a part, and the institutions (private, state, nongovernmental, and
intergovernmental) that oversee those interactions.

 Political theory involves the study of the history of political thought as well as problems in
contemporary political life that have a philosophical dimension. It is the study of the
current state of politics in comparison to the way that politics should ideally work.

EXPLAINATION: Political theory is the study of how we ought to organize the forces that shape our
lives. Among the most immediate and controversial of these forces is government. It analyzes and
explains political ideas and concepts rather than advance any particular beliefs or
interpretations like what political philosophy does. In this context, political theory will mean
an explanatory proposition, an idea or set of ideas that seeks to explain matters about politics.