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What
is the study of Political Science?
“People become interested in the study of politics in response to an unacknowledged fantasy: they see themselves as occupying seats of power. There have always been rulers and ruled, and the former radiate glamour as they inspire fear, resentment, hope, and admiration…It is therefore not at all surprising that so many of us are fascinated by the ways in which power is exercised, lost, and gained.”
This was an introduction to the study of Government written by the late Judith Shklar. Her words are important because they remind us that however scholarly, critical, and methodologically sophisticated our study of politics becomes, it is inspired by a fascination with politics -- with awe for the creative possibilities of political power and sympathy for its many victims.
Politics encompasses many things, from the institutional workings of governments to war and revolution, from the organization of parties and elections to the public policy of welfare or education. Politics is not everything, but everything personal and social may ultimately be political.
The Department of Government is an umbrella for a remarkable range of political subjects and approaches to studying them. The Department is an umbrella, in part, because political science is not a unified discipline. It stands at the cross-roads of history, law, economics, sociology, philosophy, and ethics. It borrows from these disciplines and constructs theories and methods of its own. Government Department faculty teach about China and statistical methods, civic virtue (and corruption) and the logic of congressional committee structures. Like our students, our research is inspired by many things: by the personal experience of participation, by moral outrage, by commitment to exploring a political problem or by fascination with a model for explaining, measuring, or predicting political outcomes.
Against this background, a concentration or a secondary field in Government is not one single thing. We encourage all students with either specific or eclectic political interests to explore our courses and faculty. Please see our “Secondary Concentrations” page for requirements and illustrations of several ways to navigate Government as a secondary field.
The Government Department does not require that its
concentrators become experts in any particular field of political science
and students are never asked to declare a particular area of interest.
Rather, students are given a basic introduction into all parts of the
discipline and are allowed to explore and define their particular interests
through the courses they choose to meet their requirements. Students
should seek a coherent program of study that shows both a general familiarity
with political science and an understanding of that field or combination
of fields that captures their interests. The department is divided into
four fields (Political Theory, Comparative Politics, American Politics,
and International Relations); brief descriptions follow.
The four subfields of Government
POLITICAL THEORY: The inquiries of political
theory are fundamental: What is human nature? What are the standards
of right and wrong, just and unjust, legitimate and illegitimate? How
can we know the answers to such questions? Political theory is also
comprehensive: rather than taking as its focus any one particular historical
context or political setting, it includes every historical period in
its purview. Political theory studies political thought with an eye
to what is relevant for our time, and for every time. Political theory
is comprehensive in another sense�?it is self-critical. Studying political
philosophy is more like participating in an ongoing debate than mastering
a set doctrine. Thus courses in the field are likely to be investigations
of several different political philosophers and their various answers
to important questions of the discipline. Government 10 is the Department's
introductory course in Political Theory,
COMPARATIVE POLITICS: The field of comparative
politics is based upon the premise that only through the careful understanding
and comparison of many political systems can one generate a set of propositions
valid for all political systems, or for any one. Thus comparative politics
encompasses not only the various sub-fields of the area studies, but
also the cross national study of political institutions, processes,
and behavior. The comparative method easily lends itself to the study
of issues central to the concerns of all the disciplines of political
science, such as the sources of political stability and instability,
political prerequisites of economic backwardness and development, and
the origins of democracy and dictatorship. Government 20 is the introductory
course in this field.
AMERICAN POLITICS: Americanists conduct
theoretical, institutional, and behavioral analyses of topics in both
domestic politics and foreign relations, using a variety of methodologies
ranging from literary analyses to mathematical modeling. Typically,
Americanists draw on several of these approaches when conducting their
political studies. Political theorists, for instance, examine the American
"noble experiment" in order to assess its "nobility" and its contribution
to the development of democratic government. But that assessment requires
institutional and behavioral studies of actual political processes.
These, in turn, require strong theoretical
grounding if they are to proceed beyond mere description. Institutional
studies encompass far more than analyses of the Presidency, Courts,
and Congress, including urban politics, interest groups, intergovernmental
relations, and electoral processes. Behavioral analyses focus on the
sources, types, and levels of political activity for both "elites" (leaders
and activists) and "non-elites" (the public). This research draws heavily
upon the other social sciences and humanities, as well as comparative
studies. Government 30 is the introductory course in American Politics.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: International
relations is the study of political, economic, and military interactions
across national boundaries. It is generally concerned with the relations
between sovereign states, although non-state actors have come to play
an increasing international role. International relations includes the
analysis of the foreign policy of individual countries, international
law, international organization, nuclear weapons and arms control, and
international economic relations. International relations is distinct
from comparative politics, although the two are connected. Whereas comparative
politics looks at patterns of domestic politics and political development
in various countries, international relations examines relations between
nations and their foreign policies. This distinction often becomes blurred,
however, as domestic politics may influence foreign policy. Historical
Studies A-12 is the introductory course in International Relations.
Most Frequently Asked Questions
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