 Political science is the oldest, most dynamic and relevant discipline.

 Political theory is most appropriate term to employ in designating the intellectual

tradition which makes conscious attempts to understand and solve the problems of group
life and aims to transcend the sphere of immediate practical concerns towards a better
life. To quote Germino,
 “Political theory is looking at man’s social existence from critical perspective”.

Conclusion
Socrates and Plato
Plamanatz Marx
 Laid the foundation of critical
 Pol theory is not an escape mechanism  Philosophers have interpreted
thinking by introducing the
but it is an arduous calling history, what matters is to change
method of dialectics
it.

Polis -> city-State

Thus political science deals with the
study of state (Garner quote)

EVOLUTION OF POL SC as a discipline 

Aristotle
Ernst Barker
Machiavelli
 Father of Political science
 Pol sc is a master science from
 Master science  Separated Politics from
where all applied sciences take
o Required by masters Religion and ethics
their cue
o Interdisciplinary

Why Master Science

  State provides the foundation of society, hence architectonic
 Deals with issues required for making a rational public policy
 Thus, it provides guidance to all other disciplines. Ex. Political economy approach.
 Because of its integral and pervasive nature -> foundation and master science.
 Even in present age of globalization, political science remains relevant
 David Easton called for need of active promotion of discipline.

Traditional Approaches:

1. Philosophical approach or Normative approach 

Leo Strauss
Rawls
 Traditionalist
 Pol sc is philosophical in nature  Credit for revival of normative approach
 No difference in Pol and Phil

Normative issues

 Equality 
 Liberty
 Justice
 Rights

2. Historical Approach 

 History is the past politics and Politics is the present history 

o Politics - root, history - fruit
o History - root, politics - shoot 
 Used especially in IR 
 Limitations
o Too vast 
o Politicised - unbiased 
o Historicism 
 Marx 
 Machiavelli 
o Many concepts like PK never existed in history 
  Re-emerged as Contextualist approach 

Machiavelli Laski Sabine


 Best way to understand
politics is through history
rather than Philosophy or
religion
Derrida
 Theory of Deconstruction
 Post-modernist
 Texts dont have transcendental
truths - can change with the context
3, Contextual Approach 
Skinner and Pollock
 Right linguistic context
 Eg : trust — what locke meant when he said Govt is
trust
 Critic of Machiavelli - narrowly dated and located
 Every thinker is a child of
 Historical approach is the most common sense bas
his times — esp
to understanding politics.
Machiavelli
 Serves
 No political idea is
o Factual
intelligible save in the
o Causal - causes
context of time
o Predictive
Tully (Name is tully but not true- context)
Laski
 Imp to know the right context
 No pol idea is ever intelligible  Right context of Locke - R2P was
save in the context of time to protect rights of religious
dissenters
Hans Gadamer
 We live in effective history and there should be fusion of
horizons
 Criticism:

 Plamanetz -> Importance of political ideas go beyond the context and have to be
understood on the basis of logic
 Andrew Hacker -> context gives some insights, but not sufficient to know the text.
 Leo Strauss-> Only preliminary and auxiliary role, not the central role.

Theories of politics are themselves the part of politics and thus, history is the key to
understanding politics- Chase Dunn

Normative approach gave way to empirical approach

4. Empirical approach 

 Aristotle - T of Constitutions and T of Forms (We cannot reject reality)

 Machiavelli —>  Empirical approach with Historical approach 
 Locke — Mind is tabula rasa - clean slate - source of all knowledge is external 

Behavioural Approach: Post-behavioral approach:

Decline of political science  “Credo of relevance” (Limitations- scholars sitting in

Robert Dahl, Peter Laslett criticized traditional approach
Remove the stigma of armchair theories.
David Easton- Intellectual Foundation stones of
Behaviouralism at American Political Science
Association (APSA)
 Regularity, Systematization, verification,
Measurement, Technique, Integration, Value
Neutrality, pure science
 Lord Bryce: “We want facts, facts and facts”
ivory towers)
o Compromised with relevance and scope
o Research is too costly
o Similar conclusions by traditionalists.
o Biggest flaw that regularities can be observed in
human behaviour.
o Very premise was wrong of converting into pure
science. Limits the scope of the subject.
o Brought unnecessary complications.
 Creative Theory
o Action
 o Relevance

 Very limited set of measurable and quantifiable criteria are available- electoral behaviour,
voting preference, public opinion, exit polls, referendum, and plebiscite.
 Very limited set of techniques like surveys, interviews, sampling etc.

In contemporary times, many other perspectives have enriched the field of political theory like
critical school, feminists, social constructivism, post-modernism challenging the meta-narratives
and suggesting all theories as discourses.