1.0 INTRODUCTION
In the previous unit, you learnt about what politics is all about and the development of political science as a field of study. This unit introduces us to the subject matter of political science as well as analyses the various approaches to the study of politics.2.0 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:- identify the subject matter of Political Science
- differentiate between the various approaches to the study of politics.
3.0 MAIN CONTENT
3.1 The Subject Matter of Political Science
Political science like many subjects such as Economics and History were once part of Philosophy. But today, political science has gained its own independence and has developed many fields and sub-disciplines some of which we discus briefly below. More emphasis will be placed on the Behavioural and Legalist approaches in subsequent units.3.1.1 Political Philosophy
We all know that every political act implies underlying political value. Thus, from Plato to early 20th century, political philosophy was concerned with the values that were regarded as essential for the good citizen and a just state. The questions then were as they are today:(a) What is justice?
(b) What makes political power and its exercise legitimate?
(c) What is the sanction for rebellion against the authority of the state?
(d) How should property and the other forms of material possession be distributed among citizens?
(e) To what extent should citizens be entitled to participate in the decision-making processes of government?
Answers to these and similar questions have been and will continue to be endlessly debated because the “answers” are based on value-judgement and not facts. Thus, political philosophy is the least scientific sub-discipline of political science. It is concerned with the normative implications the way the state and society ought to behave, given certain fundamental human values.
3.1.2 Judicial and Legal Process
This sub-discipline of political science is very important. The questions which arise within this sub-discipline are:- How do constitutions affect the operation of government, and how do the operations of government affect the development of constitutions? How are the laws administered, interpreted and enforced? (c) What are the rights of citizens under the law?
- If the constitution of a state is the supreme law of the land, which agency of government has the final word in determining the meaning of the law-in fact as well as in theory?
- How are conflicts between the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches of government resolved?
- How are the jurisdictions of Federal and State governments defined?
3.1.3 Executive Process
The most visible symbol of a state is its Chief Executive. How is he or she selected or elected? What are the formal and informal responsibilities? How does he or she exercise the powers inherent in his office? What are these roles, and how do they complement or conflict with one another according to his or her personality, ambition and goals?Kings, Prime Ministers, premiers and presidents all require staffs of executive assistants, for the performance of their duties in office. The study of the executive process then is in large part the study of bureaucracy – the way it is organized and the way it functions.
3.1.4 Administrative Organization and Behaviour
Political science is also concerned with the behaviour of administrators themselves at all levels of the bureaucratic administrators themselves at all levels of the bureaucratic hierarchy. The political scientists working in this field are concerned about – how decisions are made? How is it that the best made plans of administrators often produced unintended results or no result? Not responsible to the voters, perhaps enjoying the professional security of a civil service appointment, how can an administrator be motivated to perform his tasks with a sense of responsibility to the public interest?To answer these questions, researchers often rely on detailed case studies, that trace the interaction of a specific governmental programme. Researchers conduct interviews and go through original documents in order to reach a conclusion as to how certain things get done within an organization such as business corporations, the trade unions, the University, etc.
3.1.5 Legislative Politics
How are laws made in terms of the clash of interests inside and outside the legislative arena? How do the rules and procedures of the legislature, its system of committees and sub-committees, affect the substance of legislative policy? How is power distributed among the legislators themselves?The legislature functions primarily as the watchdog of the Executive. How successful are they in monitoring the operations of executive agencies and in maintaining the political responsibility of administrator to rank-and-file citizens through their elected representatives? How well do legislators attend to the diverse needs of their many constituents?
SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1
What do you consider to be the subject matter of political science?3.2 Approaches to the Study of Politics
Political scientists have adopted several approaches to the study of politics. Approaches provide the political scientist with the conceptual framework in understanding political life. We shall consider these approaches in the following sub-units.3.2.1 Traditional Approaches
There are two major approaches under the traditional approaches(a) the historical;
(b) the institutional approaches to the study of political process.
The historical approach relies mainly on the facts of the past to explain the present and probable future political development within political institutions and process.
By contrast, the traditional/institutional approach emphasizes philosophy, law, logic, norms, values and institutions as much as the historical approach.
The traditional approaches have been criticised as static and over-simplified assumptions about today’s reality in the political process. However, the approaches still have their use in political study.
3.2.2 Behavioural Approach
Behaviouralism was developed by American political scientists as an alternative to the traditional approaches in the 1940s and 1950s. This approach concentrates on careful observation of individual behaviour in the political process and less on state political institutions. Behaviourists borrow from sociology and psychology as well as other disciplines. This have allowed for the development and application of psychoanalysis, decision-making models and system theory to the study of politics.Behaviorists use more statistical methods, on testing hypothesis than other political scientists. They insist that it is only through practical approach, measurements and facts that political science can move towards being a science than mere descriptive formalism and political philosophy. Behaviorism as an approach is an improvement in methodology upon the traditional approaches and it is a reflection of the rapid growth of the discipline.
The advent of World War II brought new approaches to political science. The major approaches are: System Analysis, Structural Functionalism, Group Approach, Elite Analysis, Class Analysis and Political Economy.
3.2.3 Systems Analysis Approach
System analysis is an attempt by David Easton, its originator to apply general systems theories to political science. In this pioneering effort, Easton insisted that political system “is that system of interactions in any society through which binding or authoritative allocations are made”.Easton explained that from the environment demands are made on the political system in the form of INPUT. (Demands and Support). These demands are then processed into OUTPUTS, which are AUTHORITATIVE DECISIONS (Legislations or Acts). Through a feedback loop changes brought about by those outcomes after conversion, a channel led back into the system in form of increased, intensified or modified demands and supports. Although the model is largely abstract, it is useful as a general framework for political analysis.
3.2.4 Structural Functionalism Approach
This approach is an offshoot of systems analysis. It focuses largely on explaining the functions a political system must perform to survive and defines structures or organizations which can most efficiently performthe functions. The structures may be political parties, pressure groups or formal government institutions performing system-maintenance functions such as informing the electorate on important issues and allowing for wider participation in the political system.
Although the approach cannot provide a general theory for all aspects of political science, nevertheless, it provides standard categories for different political system and therefore useful in comparative government/politics.
3.2.5 Class Analysis Approach
This is the most radical approach in political science. The approach focuses on division of society into classes and how this social stratification determines social conflict and social change. However, there is a great deal of disagreement as to the basis of stratification in a given society and the conflict it generates within the political system.Most Marxist political scientists insist that class exist in all societies because of the nature of mode of production. They insist that those who own the means of production take decisions that affect the lives of workers who work for pay. It further explains that those who own the means of production continue to expropriate the surplus wealth created by workers; and that it is this class relationship that has brought about class antagonism and class wars/revolutions.
3.2.6 Political Parties and Interest Groups Approach
Many political scientists believe that the legislative process in Parliament or Assembly is primarily an institution that structures the conflict of interests and demands expressed by political parties. The job of political scientists with this kind of concern is the analyses of the organization and behaviour of these groups in and out of Parliament, Assembly or Congress.From the standpoint of “group theory”, and in fact passed by the legislature it expresses mainly the prevailing distribution of influence among competing groups, each of them seeking to advance its own particular interest, thus, we may ask what interest do these groups truly represent? In the case of political parties, their membership, political access, and policies structured by the electoral system very much determine their rules in the legislative or executive branches of government.
The concerns of the political scientists using this approach are: where does the political party, draw their support from? Do their policies and programmes differ from each other? How do they make decisions? How do they select their leaders? How do they raise money and to what
extent power is concentrated or diffused throughout the organization hierarchy? These are the vital questions that most political scientists working within this approach must adopt in the research aims and objectives.
3.2.7 Voting and Public Opinion Approach
Some political scientists are mainly concern with voting patterns and public opinions on political issues. The important questions which political scientists working with this approach are as follows:What is the “mind” of the public? How do the opinions, attitudes, and beliefs of citizens affect the policy making political elites? What motivate citizens to vote or not to vote? Are voters more concerned about issues or about personality of particular candidates? Is the voter voting for a particular party because of long standing loyalty to that party, regardless of its candidates or position to the major issues of the day? And how do the various orientations of voters relate to their level of education, their age, sex, race, religion, income and place of residence? These questions are vital to our understanding of the political process in any given country.
3.2.8 Comparative Politics Approach
Any or all the above sub-disciplines in political science may be integrated into a comparative framework. When political scientists look at the political parties or socialization processes of two or more countries, they are able to clarify their generalizations about a particular political system because its characteristics are highlighted by comparison with those of other political systems.Comparative political analysis is also an aid in understanding and identifying those characteristics which may be universal to the political process, regardless of time or place. By adopting the comparative approach, new fields of research have been developed. These include: comparative studies of political elites in two countries or more, political violence, and political corruption; political socialization, political culture, political parties and interest groups. These sub-disciplines have benefited in no small ways from the comparative approach.
3.2.9 Political Development Approach
It became clear after World War II that students of comparative politics had overlooked a vast reservoir of potential knowledge about the political process. The earlier focus had been on the industrialized and modernized states of the West. The emergence of newly independentcountries all over the world forced Western researchers to examine non-Western cultures and the political processes emerging in these countries. Researchers developed new methods and tools of analysis and were able to examine the socio-economic and the political processes of these developing states.
Students of political development are today concerned with the effects of urbanization and economic development on political organization and behaviour, with education, with the way which political change and socio-economic development affect the more fundamental differences, between various ethnic and religious groups within the same society.
The study of developing states has helped us to understand the institutions and the supporting attitudes and behaviour that define “democracy” do not emerge suddenly from the informed intellect and good will of those who choose to write democratic constitutions. And, in fact, all societies may be understood to be in the process of political development. They consequently according to their varying degree of modernization or development: the extent to which all citizens have been mobilized by socio-economic development and cultural change for participation in politics, the capabilities of existing political organizations for accommodating the interests and demands of citizens, thus providing them with a sense of participation and efficacy in the functioning of government.
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