Introduction to political science Asist Univ Silvia Marton 2nd Week 10th of October 2007 Harold Lasswell (d.

1979). 1936: Politics: who gets what, when, how?, his focus is on the elites. Elites stand to maximize their values. Lasswell focused, in his researches, on elites and leadership, values such as power, well-being and reputation. Politics was identified with allocation of values, limited only to elites, according to Lasswell. Hanna Arendt (d. 1975) rediscovered politics in the context of totalitarianism: Nazism, Stalinism. According to her, these totalitarian regimes destroyed politics. She goes back to the Greek roots of politics, she defines politics as a relationship between individuals. Politics is the space in-between the individuals and their activities, this is the place where politics is born. This means that politics implies judgment. Freedom exists only in the space between individuals, in their interactions. She reinterpreted the meaning of zoon politikon: according to the Greeks, real life is only in the polis, being free is identical to living in the city; politics is about discourse; individuals coexist in a public space, active life is what defines the nature of the individuals, which automatically implies communication, language makes the human being a political being. The definition of Political Science Science = empirical observation, specialized vocabulary, methodology. The purpose of any science is to come up with normative knowledge. The focus of political science is normative knowledge. The key question of Greek philosophers was what is the best regime?. Political knowledge must be transmissible, the method the science uses must be explicit, open (to other researchers, especially). Scientific knowledge must be general able to cover as many situations as possible. Every science must be explanatory, accurate about the object under study. Political science is not: - Journalism. Political Science contradicts stereotypes, journalism encourages them - An ideology a rigid discourse about something, an ideology is built around values, beliefs, it may ensure ethical comfort, appeals to passion. Ideologies are clear, coherent, rigid - Political participation the object of study for political science. Neutrality in political science should be an imperative. A political scientist is more than a political commentator gives his/her opinion, may predict, a political scientist should be empirical. A commentator describes something according to ones perception, a political science describes the function of something, objectively. Political science current affairs Historically, the questioning of politics is very old, but the discipline is recent. What makes a science? 1. Agreement on a name 2. A specialized language 3. Institutions 4. Instruments for making public the research, the object of study (publications, etc.) 1

Introduction to political science Asist Univ Silvia Marton 2nd Week 10th of October 2007

Political philosophy is as old as writing exists; the study of politics existed before political science. Traditional political science, grew out of law, history and ethics, sometime during the 19th century. The history of political thought was already studied (for example Machiavelli). The main focus was the form of government, legal institutions, historical documents, correspondence between diplomats, etc. By the end of the 19th century, one would find in Universities departments of Government. This form of political science was rather descriptive than explanatory. Around the 1900s, politics became an object of study. In order to have this gradual achievement, a number of developments took place: the Industrial Revolution, individualism, scientism (a theory that science can explain all), the modern University, the democratisation of politics (more and more people have access to politics), development of modern administrations, separation between economy and politics. The first department of political science: the University of Columbia, 1880. 1886, Univ. of Columbia, the first Political Science Journal: Political quarterly London School of Economy, 1895 School of Economies and Political Science 1903, The American Political Science association After the second world war, the invention of computers lead to the development of empirical political study. Behaviourism, the study of political behaviour. In the 60s-70s normative knowledge was reintroduced as a counter-reaction to behaviourism