the political science assignment help

the political science assignment help

The Role of Political Science in Understanding and Shaping Societies

1. Introduction to Political Science

Political science is part of the humanities, the group of sciences that deals with society. It approaches its object of study politically, taking parties as a central element of analysis. The use of different methodologies also demonstrates the diversity of political science, drawing on studies from other sciences, such as history, economics, sociology, anthropology, among others. The variety of methodologies used represents the several behaviors of different political scientists in the exercise of their research, which may propose research from the use of diverse theories, be they classical or continuous, of a specific conception of politics, a part of politics, a set of multiple demands and ways, taking different configurations, according to historical demand and multiple behaviors. The main characteristics of political science are: 1. its object of study is present as much in the public sphere as the private one; 2. it seeks knowledge that supports practice; and 3. since its constitutive matrix is action, it is dependent in its basic theoretical and methodological postulates of developments in other social sciences.

Political science is the academic discipline that deals with how different societies, and those that constitute them, make decisions. The central role that political science has given to societies and their rules makes it a particularly useful field in understanding the formal structures of different countries in the areas of politics, but also for the construction of social and public policies. The importance of political science is demonstrated by the variety of courses present in other fields of knowledge in some of its main fields, such as public administration, international relations, law, and public policies. Its fundamental practices are in diverse areas. Political science has been given a critical role, deliberation, participation, and representation, advising stakeholders and building knowledge of social justice.

2. Key Theories and Concepts in Political Science

We start with the state, as the central institution of any political society or political system. The state represents the complete body of public authority. As the state includes both government and administrative institutions, it can directly make and implement different types of binding decisions. It has control over both the legitimate means of force and violence and a complete set of police, military, and other coercive institutions. In functional terms, the state has to maintain a high degree of monopoly over authority and violence in order to deliver the public good of order and collective security. For a vast majority of citizens, this means that the state can render them safe from violence and uninvited rule from others. Any state therefore has, at least, to carry out this limited core set of functions. It also coordinates the population internally, particularly in order to make efficient rules and policies through different types of political bargaining. In modern democratic states, coordination also appears in the forms of citizens directly participating in the process, engaging themselves in the policy-making, or punishing the politicians who do not follow the preferences of their electoral groups.

In this section, we start by reminding the reader about some key concepts and theories within the discipline of political science. We show how political scientists use these to understand and explain how states and political systems function. For example, how and why they make certain public policies, and with what social and economic consequences. Or how we can explain the long-term development of different kinds of political systems, including the differences among countries that have authoritarian regimes or various types of democracies. The analyst can use the same set of key concepts to also normatively judge and assess governments, their particular policies, or the type of political system. What is particularly important is also that political scientists use this same set of concepts, theories, and methods to generally advise politicians or political and social movements on how to change, shape, or influence the specific direction that they, explicitly or implicitly, wish to follow.

3. The Impact of Political Science on Policy Making

Political scientists may actively attempt to lay groundwork that will in fact be translated by policymakers into policy. The political scientists may assist the policy maker either directly or indirectly in making certain decisions affecting society. Those decisions can proceed from new understandings or simplify the task of the decision makers, take direction or trim the spending categories, adapt legislation or regulations to the new social and political environment, explain to leaders what can or cannot be done, and anticipate their reactions. The specific decisions under development at any one time can be classified into broad sectors.

One way of assessing the practical importance of political science is by examining the extent to which it contributes to greater insight regarding current and prospective social and political patterns. Forming such judgment is not easy since it involves comparing what policy makers do with what they would do if our knowledge of political science was somewhat more developed than it is at present. Moreover, the word “impact” embraces many real and possible consequences and inquires the importance of the variety of ways that political scientists can affect policy and society.

4. Political Science Research Methods and Techniques

Because specialists in political science operate almost exclusively from the safe vantage point of the past and present, they must rely on inductive reasoning to develop unique perspectives on political life. Consequently, the empirical study of political phenomena that political scientists undertake cannot provide the precision of the natural and physical sciences, for practitioners usually cannot test or support their claims by applying experimental or laboratory procedures under carefully controlled conditions. Nonetheless, political science research methods have the potential to provide useful information about important political phenomena. To address and answer certain important issues in the field, political scientists apply various experimental and laboratory tools. They systematically compare political phenomena to each other, observe the results of governmental or administrative action, construct detailed case studies, and develop numerical descriptions of examined political phenomena.

Specialists in political science seek to understand and describe political phenomena and to explore questions that have normative implications. A difference between the discipline’s scientific mission and its normative traditions can create confusion and misunderstanding, but it also means that students receive a broad training and understanding when they study political science. The variety and importance of the questions they study sets political scientists apart from other disciplines that examine government and politics from a normative perspective.

5. The Future of Political Science: Emerging Trends and Challenges

As mentioned in the beginning, the potential involvement of political science and political scientists in substance-oriented areas of life is broad and profound. We simply don’t apply it sufficiently or in a systemic manner. This, of course, raises the logically paradoxical conclusion that political science hasn’t yet found its position in 21st-century society. The determined lack of motivation of the powerful elite to provide the opportunity for political scientists to apply their knowledge in practice, in the areas of their competence as well, and the relative absence of aspirations among the followers of political science might be serious obstacles in the development and in creating a future mission for political science. What could be done in order to redress the existing state of affairs? What is, in this respect, the future of political science, and how could political science help societies to get to grips with their problems? There are a number of encouraging trends, all of which provide opportunities for the further growth and diversification of the involvement of political science.

Religion, gender, and race, which are among the most important phenomena in establishing the identity of individuals, rarely get the attention of political scientists and decision-makers. The avoidance of the treatment of the “logics” of civil society might be for nihilistic reasons. An active and sensitive civil society usually tends to deter and discredit the monopolist institutions of power. Thus, in a certain way, those with political ambition might perceive political science and its policy recommendations as a threat rather than as a solution to their problems. The aim of this paper was to substantiate that all those criticisms could be turned into the real power of political science and of political scientists to shape societies. This might be accomplished not by just engaging in the repeating goal, but by applying methods of scientific exploration into the real areas of societal life.