Fundamentals-PS- Notes
LESSON 1: THE NATURE AND SCOPE OF
POLITICAL SCIENCE
Politics is omnipresent. For as long as man tends to
disagree on various things or issues, politics exist.
Politics is the exercise of power, the science of
government, the making of collective decisions, the
allocation of finite resources, the practice of
deception and manipulation, and so on. This polemic
falls in the field of Political Science.
POLITICAL SCIENCE
The term Politics is derived from the Greek word
polis which means city-state. Science is derived
from the Latin word scire which means to know or to
study. From this etymology of the two words, we could
come up with a simple and basic definition of Political
Science as the study of state.
ARISTOTLE – regarded as the Father of Political
Science.
He started the step-by-step process of studying the
state which encompassed almost everything about
the field of Politics.
TRADITIONAL VIEWS OF POLITICS – idealistic,
philosophical, and utopian.
Politics is the study of the state in the past, present,
and future of political organization and the political
function of political institutions and political
theories. (Gettel)
Politics begins and ends with a state. (Garner)
MODERN VIEWS OF POLITICS – goes beyond the
traditional connotation of just looking at the state,
organs, and institutions but they also analyze the
other institutions and policies such as the political
cultures of the people and their leaders, controversial
issues, and other aspects concerning the operations,
powers, and functions of the state.
Political Science is the study of shaping and sharing
of power. (Laswell)
Political Science is the study of the act of human and
social control. (Catlin)
DIFFERENT FIELDS OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
1. Political Theory or Political ideology is the study
of politics, concepts, values (e.g., justice, power,
rights), and the historical record of political
thoughts, and ideas.
2. Public Administration is the branch of political science
that focuses on the practical side of administering
the government which involves the methods and
techniques of managing the organization, personnel,
fiscal and financial administration, and the
management of good public relations to cater to the
needs of the public.
3. Comparative Government describes and analyzes
the similarities and differences among different states
regarding their executive, legislative, and judicial
bodies, laws and constitutions, policies,
bureaucracy, political processes, and their political
culture and traditions.
4. International relations is a branch of Political
Science that attempts to explain the interactions of
states in the global interstate systems which also
involves the governing body that regulates and governs
the conduct of interstate systems such as the
international and regional organizations, the
international laws, norms, traditions, and treatises.
5. Public Law refers to the constitutional and legal
principles or rules governing the states,
governments, and persons (juridical and natural) in
their relationship with one another. It is subdivided
into international law, constitutional law, statutory
law, administrative law, jurisprudence, and other
laws.

6. Political Dynamics focus on the interplay of different

societal forces that influence political decisions, policies,
and governmental actions. These political forces may
be political, economic, social, religious, or moral,
educational, and cultural organizations or groups.

7. Government (Executive, Legislative, Judiciary).

This branch of Political Science focus on the
government set- up of the state on both national and
local levels, legitimate power, and authority to the
govern and the executive, judicial and legislative
processes.
 METHODOLOGY OF POLITICAL
SCIENCE
Political Science, like other fields, can also be studied
by employing different methods usually used by
political scientists to understand certain political
phenomena in society.
EMPERICAL METHOD - is based on observation and
capturing experiences of various political institutions,
and their processes. These political institutions like
the state, government, and the different actors in the
state are the “laboratories” of political scientists
where they experiment on the working of these
various institutions and stakeholders. Political
scientists by employing this method look at the
different changes in the organizational structure and
processes, the method in the formulation and
determination of policies and laws, and every new
system of administration as well as new leadership
which has a great significance.
HISTORICAL METHOD - relies on facts from the past
to explain the present and possible political
developments within the state. Thus, as you take the
major courses you will be studying the different
historical developments like the origin of the state, the
different proponents of utopian or ideal state, and
how the state evolved from times immemorial until
you reach the contemporary times. Or in the
Philippine context, you’re going to study the political
development from Pre-Colonial Filipinos, Spanish
occupation in the Philippines, the coming of the
Americans and the invasion of the Philippines by the
Japanese, the 3rd Republic until we reach the
contemporary time/Marcos presidency.
ANALYTICAL METHOD - Political scientist employed
the analytical method by looking at the cause-effect
relationships between two or more variables. For
instance, they could use the survey results in relation
to the actual results of an election or they could identify
the number of votes in an election and the
geographical distribution of those votes. Political
scientists utilize the quantitative and qualitative tools
for coming up with an analysis on certain political
phenomena they were studying and provide an
interpretation and drawing conclusion out of the
different data they gathered.
LESSON 2: MEANING AND NATURE OF THE
STATE
THEORIES ON THE ORIGIN OF THE STATE
DIVINE RIGHT THEORY - This theory hypothesizes that
the state was created by God. And those who were
given the power and authority were ordained by God.
Who’s from this theory rulers were claimed to be the
descendants of God. Thus no one could question the
authority or how they exercised or used that power or
authority because it is just like you are questioning
the wisdom and authority of God. This theory
legitimized the absolute rule of the monarch in
Europe and some parts of Asia. And no one dared to
question the authority of the monarch because any
opposition from the divine rule was an act of heresy.
And could be punished through excommunication
by the church. People during those times were being
taught to be obedient, passive, and submissive to
authority regardless of how immoral the actions or
policies of the monarch.
FORCE THEORY - This theory explains that the state
was created through force, coercion, or conquest.
Some brave and great warriors have superior physical
characteristics or know-how and impose their will
upon the weak. It is believed that all ancient
civilizations like Greek Empire, Roman Empire or
Persian Empire were established through force,
conquest, and coercion. They expanded their
territorial boundaries by subjugating other
communities or people and were annexed through
force. This is also true with what happened during the
Age of Discovery wherein Portugal and Spain annexed
undiscovered land as part of their territories through
force.
THE SOCIAL CONTRACT - theorized that the state
was formed through the agreement of men who lived
in a state of nature to create an entity higher than
them to establish peace and order and settle conflicts
in case of disagreement among them. State of nature
simply means a scenario wherein there is no
government or state. So, from there imagine what
would happen if there were no government that will
regulate their behavior, their relations, or their
interactions? It will be chaotic or lawless anyone
could impose their will to the other and no one could
regulate whether their action to each other is accepted
or not (state of war). There were several versions of
social contract theory and there are three popular
versions explained by these three political
philosophers: Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and
Jean Jacques Rousseau.
Thomas Hobbes - viewed man in a state of nature as
solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. He
compared this scenario in a jungle, wherein the
stronger animals despoiled the weaker ones or either
you are the predator, or you are a prey. So, this is in
a state of war to each other, you can do whatever
you want instinctively to preserve your life. But to
evade this war against all scenario, people agree to
create an entity higher than the people better known
as Leviathan or commonwealth. However, once this
commonwealth be established, no one could question
the authority of this government. Thus, Hobbes was
criticized for promoting absolute government.
John Locke - Compare with Hobbes, John Locke
recognized that men are rational being capable of
using the nature of man on their own good even with
the absence of government. However, he also
recognized that men need to establish a state to
maintain peace and order, to provide their needs,
have a venue for settling disputes and to maintain
and protect their right to life, liberty, and property.
Thus, he is the main proponent of civil government or
liberal government wherein the government is just
the trustee of the people. Once the government is not
responsive to the needs of the people or failed to
protect their rights (life, liberty, and property) the
people have the right to overthrow the government.
Jean Jacques Rousseau - started his Social Contract
Theory with the famous line “Men are born free, yet
everywhere are in chains.” By nature, men are free,
with impulses such as self-preservation/self-love and
pity/repugnance toward human sufferings. But
through adaptation and evolution those state of
nature evolved from self-preservation to the
discovery of self-worth evading irrational impulses.
Albeit, when men give up their natural right to the
civil society/state, their nature which is physical
freedom was being suppressed. He argued that the
only legitimate political authority is the authority
consented by the general will of the people.
Rousseau argued that those who refuses to obey the
general will shall be compelled to do so by the whole
body. Rousseau viewed the state as direct
democracy. He theorized that the freer government
was direct democracy. Wherein people could directly
participate on the affair of their community or state.
They could
directly propose policies or directly participate in the
decision-making of the state. Although this may
seem impractical in the modern times, given the huge
number of population but it also gives birth for the
direct exercise of sovereignty of the people like the
exercise of suffrage, plebiscite, referendum, initiative
or recall just to name a few.
THE NATURAL THEORY AND INSTINCTIVE THEORY
-
Who will forget the famous words of Aristotle in his
book The Politics, Man is by nature a political animal,
or Whoever who could live outside the society is
either a beast or a god. It is but natural and
instinctive to live in a society or in political term a
state to develop your own potential, to attain a fully
civilized life and for a collective preservation of your
life and common interests.
STATE
State is a community of persons more or less
numerous occupying a definite portion of territory
completely free from external control and possessing
an organized government to which the great body of
inhabitants render habitual obedience.
ELEMENTS OF THE STATE
PEOPLE - The term people refer to the inhabitants or
population of state. The number of people
comprising the state is not definite. There are some
states with small or big population. Take for instance
China and India with billions of populations
compared with Vatical with a thousand population or
Solomon Island with more or less half a million
population.
TERRITORY - consists of the land within the
boundaries of the state, the aerial domain, the
different inland waters (like rivers, lakes, bays etc.),
the mineral and natural resources and the twelve miles
of the sea beyond the state’s coastlines. In case of an
archipelago country like Indonesia or Philippines the
archipelagic doctrine applies. Archipelagic doctrine:
make an imaginary line from the outermost part of
the islands (straight baselines) and the waters
outward from the straight baseline to the extent of
territorial waters (12 nautical miles), Contiguous zone
(12 nautical miles from the end of territorial waters
and the Exclusive Economic Zone (200 nautical
miles from the baseline.)
What is the Archipelago Doctrine or Archipelagic
Principle? What is its importance or relation to the
national territory?
Under this concept ("archipelagic doctrine"), an
archipelago shall be regarded as a single unit, so
that the waters around, between, and connecting the
islands of the archipelago, irrespective of their
breadth and dimensions, form part of the internal
waters of the state, and are subject to its exclusive
sovereignty. The process of determining the boundaries
of the Philippines is based on the Archipelagic
Doctrine. The traditional boundary of a 3-nautical-
mile limitation in the primary directions – north,
south, east, and west-is not an appropriate basis in
determining the boundaries of the Philippines.
Because the Philippines is an Archipelago, it has a
wide maritime territory and long coastlines.
What is meant by territorial sea?
Territorial waters or a territorial sea as defined by
the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of
the Sea, is a belt of coastal waters extending at most
12 nautical miles (22.2 km; 13.8 mi) from the baseline
(usually the mean low-water mark) of a coastal state.
What is meant by an Exclusive Economic Zone?
An area of coastal water and seabed within a certain
distance of a country's coastline, to which the
country claims exclusive rights for fishing, drilling,
and other economic activities.
Reason for Territorial Dispute
➢ Materialistic – population, natural resources, and
strategic value of the territory
➢ Symbolic – culture and history of the
state PHILIPPINE TERRITORIAL ISSUES
Art XII. Sec 2 (para 2) - The State shall protect the
nation's marine wealth in its archipelagic waters,
territorial sea, and exclusive economic zone, and
reserve its use and enjoyment exclusively to Filipino
citizens.
Dispute in the South China Sea (West PH Sea)
🠶 The Philippines' arguments revolve around the
right to fish, as well as to exploit other resources, in
the West Philippine Sea.
🠶 This right is based on the so-called Constitution for
the Oceans, the United Nations Convention on the
Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
🠶 Under UNCLOS, a coastal state has the
exclusive right to fish within its exclusive economic
zone (EEZ), an area 200 nautical miles from the
coastal state's baselines or edges.
🠶 Territorial disputes refer to border conflicts
over a disagreement between two or more countries
about the possession of land or bodies of water.
🠶 A war between countries can start because
of territorial conflicts.
🠶 The territory is the basis of the border of each state.
International Court Issues Unanimous Award in
Philippines v. China Case on South China Sea
“The Tribunal concluded that there was no legal basis for
China to claim historic rights to resources within the
sea areas falling within the ‘nine-dash line,” the
statement released to the media said.
“Having found that none of the features claimed by
China was capable of generating an exclusive
economic zone, the Tribunal found that it could —
without delimiting a boundary — declare that certain
sea areas are within the exclusive economic zone of
the Philippines because those areas are not
overlapped by any possible entitlement of China,” it
added.
“Having found that certain areas are within the
exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, the
Tribunal found that China had violated the Philippines’
sovereign rights in its exclusive economic zone by
(a) interfering with Philippine fishing and petroleum
exploration,
(b) constructing artificial islands and
(c) failing to prevent Chinese fishermen from fishing
in the zone,”
SOVEREIGNTY – is the supreme power or authority of
a state to govern itself, to enforce its will to its
members or citizens by coercive sanctions, if
necessary. There are two aspects of sovereignty.
Internal sovereignty and external sovereignty.
• Internal sovereignty is the supreme authority to
govern and to have a monopoly of coercive force
within the
territory. It implies that the government must
possess adequate powers to control and regulate the
conduct and affairs of the people within the state.
Thus, the state has inherent power such as police
power that can enforce the laws and maintain peace
and order within the state. The other aspect of
sovereignty is the external sovereignty.

• External sovereignty means the independence of a

state from external control. Meaning no country
should encroach on the affairs of one country. This
also implies that all nation-states regardless of how
big or small the country, or how powerful and less
powerful in terms of military or economy under
international law are equal (in principle).

However, in the operation of the international

political system, nation-states are not equal. Various
factors could depict inequalities in the international
system such as the territorial size, number of
populations, military strength, technological and
industrial advancement, and economic and cultural
values. Other powerful states imposed their will upon
the weak states just look at what is happening in
Ukraine. Russia started the unprovoked and
unjustified war against Ukraine and destroyed the
northern and eastern parts of Ukraine and the
country.

GOVERNMENT - is the essential instrument or

machinery of the state that carries its will, purposes,
and objectives. The government maintains the
existence of the state and carries out its function by
providing the social services needed by the people,
maintenance of peace and order, and doing the
multifarious activities of the state (law-making, law
adjudication, and law execution).

STATE VS. NATION

Many people thought that state and nation are the

same. And sometimes people interchangeably used
it. However, political scientists distinguish the two terms
as different concepts.

A state is a political concept, a legal fiction. As long

as the four elements are intact, it has perpetual
existence. On the other hand, nation is a cultural or
ethnic concept. People with the same common racial
origin (e.g., Austronesian, Arabs etc.), common
language (e.g., Arabic), common religion (e.g.,
Islam), a common beliefs, traditions, and ideas (e.g.,
Democracy, Rights)