CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION:
THE STUDY OF
POLITICS
 Politics
• If issue engages public interest and
affects community and individuals it
is political
• Power: the ability of governments
and leaders to make and enforce
rules, influence behavior of citizens
• Power can be “hard” in form of brute
coercion or “soft” through personal
attraction or persuasion
 Politics
• Power is not equally distributed and
demands question of “Who rules?”
• Related but different from authority and
legitimacy. Authority stems from societal
norms as well as traditional sources of
political power. Legitimacy—legitimate
authority assumes power is exercised
through established institutions and by
freely accepted rules
• Power can be seized, authority cannot
 Order
• Political order is the structures, rules,
rules, procedures, and practices that
comprise a political system
• Governments are the invention by which
societies are ruled and binding rules are
made
• States possess sovereignty—well-defined
territorial boundaries administered by a
single government with a monopoly on the
legitimate use of state power
 Order
• Other types of human ordering include:
a country (synonymous with state), a
nation (distinct human grouping with a
common background), a nation-state
(a state encompassing a single
nation), multinational states (multiple
nations encompassed in single state)
and stateless nations (nations without
a homeland, such as the Kurds or the
Palestinians).
 Justice
• Justice asks if power exercised fairly, in
the interest of the ruled, or merely for
the sake of the rulers
• Questions of justice challenge the
authority of regime
• These questions can be suppressed
but not extinguished as the stem from
human nature
 The Study of Politics
• Two main approaches in politics: normative and
positive
• Normative: emphasizes questions of should or
ought. Evaluates policy and makes judgments
based on moral philosophy, legal norms and so on.
Seen as “subjective” and not rigorous
• Positivist or behavior-oriented political science. Use
scientific method and avoid making value
judgments that are not born out by facts Many
important questions not “answered” by empirical
studies
 Political Science Sub-disciplines
• Political Theory and Philosophy—asks
normative questions
• American Government—the study of American
political institutions
• Comparative Politics—compares governments
and political systems
• International Relations—studies the interaction
of countries
• Public Administration—trains people for a career
in public service
 Why Study Politics?

• Individual happiness depends in part

on how government works
• Politics plays an important role in
shaping the moral character and
conduct of its citizenry