6 Editorial

Section–A : Political Theory☞ Political Science

7 Nature and Development of Political Science

10 Scope of Political Science

11 Relationship with Allied Disciplines : Politi-cal Science and History

11 Political Science and Economics

11 Political Science and Philosophy

12 Political Science and Sociology

12 Political Science and Psychology

12 Political Science and Public Administration

☞ Meaning of Politics

20 Approaches to the Study of Politics

23 Contemporary Approaches to Politics

☞ Key Concepts

35 State

46 State and Society

48 Sovereignty

52 Power

56 Citizenship

60 Nation

63 Global Order

64 Imperialism

☞ Political Ideas

66 Rights

69 Liberty

73 Equality

75 Justice

78 Rule of Law

79 Civil Society

81 Swaraj

81 Revolution

83 Democratic Participation

☞ Democracy84 Major Definitions of Democracy

85 Theories of Democracy

92 Electoral System

96 Forms of Representation

98 Types of Participation

101 Political Accountability

☞ Political Ideologies

102 Liberalism

106 Neo-liberalism

107 Marxism

112 Socialism

114 Fascism

116 Gandhism

☞ Party System and Political Process

120 Definitions of Political Parties

120 Types of Political Party System

121 Political Parties in Third World Countries

123 Patterns of Coalition Politics

123 Interest and Pressure Groups

☞ Bureaucracy

125 Definitions of Bureaucracy

129 Karl Marx’s Theory of Bureaucracy

129 Critiques of Weber

☞ Forms of Government131 Parliamentary System

133 Presidential Form of Government

134 Federal and Unitary Modes of Decentrali-sation

☞ Social Movements136 Meaning

137 Theories of Social Movements

139 Forms of Social Movements

140 Peasant Movements

141 Feminist Movements

142 Workers Movements

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142 Environmental Movements

142 Role of Non-Governmental Organisation

☞ Nationalism and Internationalism143 Nationalism

144 Five Approaches of Nationalism

145 Cultural Nationalism

145 Patriotism

145 Internationalism

☞ Major Theories of International Relations

147 Realistic Theory

148 Marxist Theory

151 System Theory

152 Decision-Making Theory

153 Game Theory

☞ State and the Global Order

155 Neo-Liberalism

156 Globalisation

157 Structural Adjustment Programme

158 Regional Economic Integration : ASEAN

☞ Theories of Development

159 Meaning of Development

160 Approaches of Development

Section–B : Indian Governmentand Politics

☞ Approaches to the Study of Governments

167 Comparative Approaches to Government

168 Historical Approach

168 Legal Approach

168 Institutional Approach

168 Political Economy Approach

169 Political Sociology Approaches

☞ Classification of Political Systems

170 Democratic and Authoritarian

171 Characteristics of Political Systems in theThird World

☞ Typologies of Constitutions

173 British Constitution

173 Major Features of the U.K. Constitution

176 Constitution of U.S.A.

176 Major Features of U.S.A. Constitution

179 Constitution of France

179 Features of the French Constitution

180 Constitution of Germany

181 Features of German Constitution

181 Constitution of China

182 Constitution of South Africa

☞ Constitutional Development in India

185 Act for Better Government of India 1858

186 Indian Councils Act, 1861

186 Indian Councils Act, 1892

186 Indian Council Act, 1909

187 Government of India Act, 1919

187 The Government of India Act, 1935

187 Indian Independence Act, 1947

☞ Constituent Assembly

188 Evolution of the Idea of Constituent As-sembly

189 Dynamic Features of Indian Constitution

190 Salient Features and Principles of the In-dian Constitution

☞ Nature of Indian Federalism

193 Centre-State Relations

193 Legislative Relations

193 Administrative Relations

194 Financial Relations

194 Cooperative Federalism

☞ Fundamental Rights

195 Classification

196 Major Highlights of Fundamental Rights

196 Enlargement of Fundamental Rights asProposed by National Commission to Re-view the Constitution

200 Fundamental Duties

☞ The Union Executive

202 The President of India

203 Powers of the President

207 The Prime Minister

207 Powers and Functions of the Prime Minis-ter

208 The Council of Ministers

☞ Parliament

210 Composition of Parliament

213 Lok Sabha : Composition

215 Special Powers of Lok Sabha

216 Rajya Sabha : Composition

217 Powers and Utilities of Rajya Sabha

☞ The Judiciary

219 The Supreme Court

220 Supreme Court and Judicial Review

220 Judicial Activism

220 Public Interest Litigation (PIL)

221 Judicial Activism and PIL

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☞ State Executive222 Governor

222 Powers of Governor

223 Chief Minister

☞ Indian Party System

224 Features of the Indian Party System

224 Frequent Alliance Mergers andDisintegrations

226 Pressure Groups in Indian Politics

☞ Interaction of the Government and Scientificand Technology Business

227 Growth of Science and Technology

228 Elites

☞ Local Government and Politics

229 Panchayati Raj

233 Composition of Gram Panchayats

233 Functional Domain

235 Significance of 73rd Amendment Act, 1992

235 Municipal Government : Structure and Com-pulsory Functions

236 Significance of 74th Constitutional Amend-ment, 1992

236 Role of Women in Panchayats

☞ Bureaucracy and Development237 Bureaucracy in Post Colonial India238 Changing Role of Bureaucracy in the Con-

text of Liberalization☞ Challenges to Indian Democracy

240 Communalism241 Regionalism241 Violence242 Criminalization of Politics243 Corruption243 Indicators of Regional Disparities243 Environmental Degradation245 Illiteracy246 Mass Poverty246 Population246 Caste in Indian Politics248 Socio-Economic Inequalities among Back-

ward Classes249 Political Scientists and their Contribu-

tions254 Definitions and Concepts of Political

Science258 Parliamentary Terminology and Sources

of the Constitution261 Objective Type Questions

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The concurrence of the views of the Editor is not necessary for any matter or figure published inPratiyogita Darpan.

—Editor

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Thoughts have immense power. They create vibrations according totheir nature the ideas and thoughts of a book affect the reader evenwhen the author is not physically present. The transforming effect ofRuskin’s book ‘Unto This Last’ on Gandhiji is a glaring example.

Thoughts are our chief motivating force. Fill your mind withhealthy and higher thoughts.

“Great thoughts reduced to prac-tice become great acts.”

—William Hazlitt“If a person lived in a cave for the

life, and died there, having greatthoughts, his thoughts would not dieor fade away. After some time, theywould pierce the walls of cave, comeout and envelop the whole space, andthen have their effect on the wholesociety. Thoughts have that power.”

—VivekanandAn old woman, with her young

daughter, was going to her village. Itwas getting dark and the way wasalmost lonely. Naturally, the lady wasfeeling concerned about her daughter.Just then a young man, riding on ahorse passed by. The woman stoppedhim and requested him to give a lift toher daughter and drop her at the turnof the road about a mile (about 1·5 km)ahead. The young man declined tooblige her, and gallopped away. Aftera couple of minutes he thought howfoolish he had been. He could haveeasily and safely taken away thedamsel with him. He turned back andstood before the old woman in anapologetic manner saying “Let yourdaughter, my sister, sit with me onthe horse’s back. I shall drop her atthe desired place.” The old womanreplied calmly, “Dear young man,thank you very much. I wouldn’t sendher with you now. The angel whoadvised you to return advised me also,not to entrust the daughter to you.”

You can well make out the point.The thoughts of the young man didreverberate in the mind of the oldwoman, and made her aware of theyoungman’s intentions. In turn, weshould take the hint that our thoughtsoften travel ahead of us and create

atmosphere accordingly. This factexplains why we feel comfortable inthe presence of some people and areuneasy in the presence of others. Ourthoughts emanate vibrations accor-ding to their nature and affect thoseall around. It is only the change withinthat can bring about change in theouter world, change within can bringabout change in the very outlooktowards life.

As we all know the power ofthought is immense. The systematicthought is the most significant moti-vating factor behind all the majorchanges and the revolutions whichhave taken place in the world till now.And it is astonishing to note that insome cases such thinkers were physi-cally not present during the changeswhich occurred because of theirpowerful ideas. This further shows theextent to which thoughts can play avital role in the life of human beings.The fact of the matter is that this think-ing capacity of man has made himsupreme among all living beings. Anindividual’s thought—power indicateshis will power and determines his realself.

Karl Marx was not alive, when theRussian Revolution took place MartinLuther king Jr. did not meet Gandhijiand yet the latter’s autobiography,‘My Experiments with Truth’ createdgreat impact on Martin Luther king Jr.What made these tremendouschanges possible ? It is not thephysical presence or participation ofthe author. It was the unfathomableand immeasurable power of thoughtsand their totality of vision. It is said,and perhaps rightly so, it is thoughtfuland thought provoking visionaries thatbring about revolutions.

There is also an interesting andastonishing instance of the dramaticway in which a book left its impact onits reviewer when the author of thebook was alive. Madame Blavatsky’sbook ‘The Secret Doctrine’ helped Dr.(Mrs.) Annie Besant during a criticalperiod of her life. It changed the entirecourse of her life Mrs. Annie Besantwrites—“As I turned over page afterpage of the book, the interest becameabsorbing. “I was dazzled, blinded bythe light in which disjointed facts wereseen as parts of the mighty wholeand all my puzzles, riddles, problemsseemed to disappear. But the lighthad been seen, and in that flash ofillumination, I knew that the wearysearch was over and the very Truthwas found.”

Similarly, the thoughts containedin the holy scriptures had their greatimpact on the lives of many people,all over the world. The profound truthsrevealed by seers and scholarsencourage and help us not only torealise the sense of urgency toenquire, but also impart to us tremen-dous energy and inspiration in ques-tioning, examining and in the processof understanding the depth and pur-pose of our own self.

It is rightly said—‘As you think,so you become’. Rishi Matreya said“the world is the creation of yourthoughts.” The English poet said‘‘Thought is the soul of the act.’’ so, letus beware of our thoughts, as bad andunhealthy thoughts must turn us intounsocial beings or even criminals.Psychosymatrics confirm that un-healthy thoughts are the cause of alldiseases. Vibrations created bythoughts never die. They make theirimpact on the all pervading electro-magnetic energy negative thoughtserode our energy and positive thoughtsprovide us enlightenment. Do remem-ber these words of Swami Vivekanand,“Thoughts are our chief motivatingforce. Fill your mind with healthy andhigher thoughts, as thoughts arefounders of our character, whichultimately form our destiny.

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Section ‘A’

Political Theory

IntroductionPolitical Science is concerned

with the theoretical explanation ofPolitical reality, namely the pheno-menon of the State. It attempts todiscuss the forms of political organi-sation and logical justification of thestate. It studies the relationship bet-ween the state and the individual.

Political Science found its firstsystematic exposition in the writingsof Greek Philosophers. Plato (427-347 B.C) and Aristotle (384-322B.C) were the two early GreekPolitical philosophers who made farreaching and lasting contributions inthe field of Political Science. In hisfamous book the Republic, Platojustified moral significance of thestate, its organic unity, its educationalfunctions and above all its supremacyover the individuals. Aristotle is saidto be the intellectual child of Platoand in his famous book the Politics,he first developed a systematic studyof Political Science as an indepen-dent academic discipline. In fact,Plato’s academy and Aristotle’sLyceum were the schools whichaimed at preparing the future admin-istrators, constitutional experts andrulers of the Hellenic City States.Aristotle is regarded as the Fatherof Political Science, because of hisfar reaching and permanent contri-butions in the field of Poltical Sci-ence. The Greeks were the first Peo-ple who developed Political Sciencein its pure and systematic form. Sub-sequently it spread over all othercountries and its study has assumedgreater importance in modern times.

Etymologically the term PoliticalScience or Politics has been derivedfrom the Greek word Polis, whichmeans the city state or the state.Hence, Political Science deals withthe problems of city or the state inwhich men live. It is, therefore,defined as the study of the activitiesof the state.

Definitions of PoliticalScience

� Gettell—Political Science dealswith the associations of humanbeing that form Political unitswith the organization of theirgovernments and with the activi-ties of these governments in mak-ing and administering law in car-rying on inter-state relations.

� Bluntschli—Political Science isthe science which is concernedwith the State, which endeavoursto understand and comprehend thestate in its fundamental condi-tions, in its essential nature, itsvarious forms of manifestationsand development.

� Seeley—Political Science investi-gates the phenomena of Govern-ment in the same manner as Politi-cal Economy deals with wealth,biology with life, Algebra withnumbers and Geometry with spaceand magnitude.

� Paul Janet—Political Science isthat part of social science whichtreats the foundations of the stateand priniciples of government.

� Laski—The study of Politicsconcerns itself with the life of manin relation to organized states.

� Lasswell and Kaplan—PoliticalScience is the study of shapingand sharing of power. Lasswellregards Political Science as policyscience. He also writes ‘the studyof politics is the study of influenceand the influential. The science ofpolitics states conditions, thephilosophy of politics justifiespreferences.

� David Easton—Political Scienceis concerned with the authoritativeallocation of values in a society.

� Bryce—Politics is the conduct ofpublic affairs for private advant-age.

� Harold Lasswell—Politics is thescience of who gets what, whenand why.

Nature andDevelopment of Political

Science

Political Science is the fieldconcerning the theory and practice ofpolitics and the description and ana-lysis of political systems and politicalbehaviour. Political Science is a studyabout the state and the government. Itmakes an enquiry into the origin ofthe state and political authority. Inthis sense it also makes a historicalinvestigations about the origin of thestate. Political Science also studies thestructure and functioning of the stategovernment interstate organisationsetc. In this sense it is an analyticalstudy of what the state is. It alsoattempts to formulate principles ofgood government or in other words itsuggests what the state ought to be. Itis sometimes alleged that PoliticalScience deals with the real whilepolitical philosophy deals with theideal. The nature of Political Scienceinquires into what men and womenactually do in a political situationwhile political philosophy tries todetermine what they ought to do inkeeping with the ultimate good orpurpose of human life. Political phi-losophy may properly be recognizedby its critical function. According toRaphael the fundamental purpose oftraditional philosophy has been thecritical evaluation of beliefs. “Phi-losophy differs from science in thatscience seeks explanation while phi-losophy seeks justification.”

● The study of Political Science inthe Western tradition is firstvisible in ancient Greece.

● The discipline had aspects suchas moral philosophy, politicalphilosophy, political economy,history and other fields con-cerned with normative deter-minations of what ought to be

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and with deducing the character-istics and functions of the idealstate.

Nature of Political ScienceMethodology

The extent and nature of politicalscience can be studied from differentangle and from different perspectives.These are mainly on—� Observation—Observation refle-

cts on sense experience alone andrules out supernatural or meta-physical causation

� Generalisation— Generalisationis particularly based on observa-tion of regularities leading toestablishing the relation andcorrelation between different fac-tors or variables. This may eitherbe obtained by the inductivemethod (proceeding from parti-cular to general, arriving at ageneral rule after observing simi-larities in particular cases) or bydeductive method (proceedingfrom general to particular, postu-lating a general rule and thenconfirming it by observation ofparticular cases.)

� Explanation—Explanation con-sists of giving reasons for thegeneral rule, for without suchreasoning any observation of co-relation might be a mere coin-cidence. Explanation alone willmake particular events, situationsor tendencies effective.

� Prediction and Prescriptions—It means the known facts can bejudged and general rules can beeffected and higher efficiency,stability, satisfaction could besuggested.

� Clarification of Concepts—Theclarification of concepts in politi-cal science involves three relatedpurposes. These are—❍ analysis❍ synthesis and❍ improvements of con-

cepts etc.

● In ancient India the antecedentsof Political Science can be tracedback to the Rig-Veda, Samhitas,Brahmans and Buddhist PaliCanon.

● Plato analyzed political systems,abstracted their analysis frommore literary and philosophicalstudies and applied an approachfor the study of Political Science.Aristotle built upon Plato's ana-lysis to include historical and

empirical evidence in his ana-lysis.

● The study of politics during thisage was oriented towards under-standing history, understandingmethods of governing and des-cribing the operation of govern-ments.

● With the fall of the Roman Em-pire, there arose a more diffusearena for political studies.

● The rise of monotheism and par-ticularly for the Western tradi-tion, the Christianity brought tolight a new space for politics andpolitical action.

● During the Middle Ages, thestudy of politics was widespreadin the churches and courts.

● Works such as Augustine’s TheCity of God synthesized prevail-ing philosophies and politicaltraditions with the principles ofChristianity, redefining theborders between what wasreligious and what was political.

● Most of the political questionssurrounding the relationshipbetween church and state wereclarified and contested in thisperiod.

● During the Italian Renaissance,Niccolo Machiavelli establishedthe foundation of modern politi-cal science on direct empiricalobservation of political institu-tions and actors.

● The expansion of the scientificparadigm during the Enlighten-ment pushed the study of politicsbeyond normative determina-tions.

Normative and Positive Poli-tical Science● Political Science is normative

because it deals with the theoryof the state. It is philosophical inorientation.

● The advent of Political Scienceas a university discipline is evi-dent in 1860s by the naming ofuniversity departments and chairswith the title of Political Science.

● Integrating political studies ofthe past into a unified disciplineis ongoing and the history ofPolitical Science has provided a

rich field for the growth of bothnormative and positive PoliticalScience with each part of thediscipline sharing some histori-cal predecessors.

● The American Political ScienceAssociation was founded in 1903as an effort to distinguish thestudy of politics from economicsand other social sciences.

● In the 1950s and the 1960s, abehavioural revolution stressingthe systematic and rigorouslyscientific study of individual andgroup behaviour swept the dis-cipline.

● At the same time the PoliticalScience moved toward greaterdepth of analysis and more sop-histication, it also moved towarda closer working relationshipwith other disciplines, especiallysociology, economics, history,anthropology, psychology andstatistics.

● Increasingly, behaviouralismhave used the scientific methodto create an intellectual discip-line based on the postulating ofhypotheses followed by empiri-cal verification and the inferenceof political trends and of gene-ralizations that explain indivi-dual and group political actions.

● Since early 1970s, with theadvent of post behaviouralism, thediscipline has placed an increas-ing emphasis on relevance, orthe use of new approaches andmethodologies to solve politicaland social problems.

KEY ASPECTS OF PLATO� Notable ideas : Platonic idealism� Main interests : Rhetoric, Art,

Literature, Epistemology, Justice,Virtue, Politics, Education,Family, Militarism

� Works : The Republic (386 B.C),The Statesman (360 B.C.), TheLaws (347 B.C.)

� Influences : Socrates, Protagoras,Parmenides, Pythagoras, Heracli-tus, Orphism

� Influenced : Aristotle, Neopla-tonism, Cicero, Plutarch, Stoic-ism, Anselm, Descartes, Hobbes,Leibniz, Mill, Schopenhauer,Nietzsche, Arendt and countlessother western philosophers andtheologians.

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Plato's DialoguesPlato was an ancient Greek phi-

losopher, the second of the great trioof ancient Greeks-Socrates, Plato,and Aristotle-who laid the philosophi-cal foundations of Western culture.Plato was also a mathematician,writer of philosophical dialogues andfounder of the Academy in Athens,the first institution of higher learningin the Western world.

Plato sets a great variety of char-acters, young and old, obscure andwell-known, foreign and Athenian,up against Socrates. The dialoguesoften employ actual historical fig-ures as characters from the latefifth and early fourth centuries BC.

Plato’s StatePlato's philosophical views had

many societal implications, especiallythe idea of an ideal state or govern-ment. There is some discrepancy bet-ween his early and later views. Someof the most famous doctrines arecontained in the Republic during hismiddle period, as well as in the Lawsand the Statesman.

Plato, through the words ofSocrates, asserts that societies have atripartite class structure correspondingto the elements appetite/spirit/reasonof the individual soul.● Productive Class (Workers)—The

labourers, carpenters, plumbers,masons, merchants, farmers,ranchers, etc. These correspond tothe "appetite" part of the soul.

● Protective Class (Warriors orAuxiliaries)—Those who are ad-venturous, strong and brave; in thearmed forces. These correspond tothe "spirit" part of the soul.

● Governing Class (Rulers orGuardians)—Those who are inte-lligent, rational, self-controlled, inlove with wisdom, well suited tomake decisions for the community.These correspond to the "reason"part of the soul and are very few.

Political Aspects of Aristotle Aristole was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexanderthe Great. He wrote on diverse subjects, including physics, poetry (includingtheater), biology and zoology, logic, rhetoric, politics, government and ethics.Along with Socrates and Plato, Aristotle was one of the most influential of ancientGreek philosophers. They transformed Pre Socratic Greek philosophy into thefoundations of Western philosophy. Some consider Plato and Aristotle to havefounded two of the most important schools of Ancient philosophy others considerAristotelians as a development and concretization of Plato's insights.School/tradition : Inspired the Peripatetic school and tradition of AristoteliansMain interests : Politics, Metaphysics, Science, Logic, EthicsNotable ideas : The Golden mean, Reason, PassionInfluences : PlatoInfluenced : Almost all of Western Philosophy and Science afterwards

Deductive MethodIn deductive method, one pro-

ceeds from more general propositionto equally general or less generalproposition. Deductive method isconcerned with implication and hereone may proceeds from the general tothe particular. All valid reasoningsand universal truths are deductive. Indeductive method the formal truth isaccepted and it is applied to differentpolitical situations. Political action isconsidered as right or wrong on thebasis of the general conclusion.

Inductive MethodWhen one may proceed from a

particular to a general conclusion orfrom a less general position to a moregeneral proposition, the method iscalled inductive. Here a scholar arrivesat a conclusion by a process known asgeneralisation from the particular factobserved within the range of experi-ence.

Aristotle's Concept ofLogic

Aristotle's conception of logicwas the dominant form of logic upuntil the advances in mathematicallogic in the 19th century. Kant statesin the Critique of Pure Reason thatAristotle's theory of logic had arrivedat a complete account of the core ofdeductive inference.

Artistole’s Methodology(Knowledge of Essence)

Aristotle defines his philosophyin terms of essence, saying thatphilosophy is "the science of theuniversal essence of that which isactual". Plato had defined it as the"science of the idea", meaning byidea what we should call the uncon-ditional basis of phenomena. Bothpupil and master regard philosophyas concerned with the universal.Aristotle finds the universal in parti-

cular things and called it the essenceof things. Plato finds that the univer-sal exists apart from particular thingsand is related to them as their proto-type or exemplar. Plato’s philoso-phic method means the descent froma knowledge of universal ideas to acontemplation of particular imitationsof those ideas. In a certain sense,Aristotle's method is both inductiveand deductive, while Plato is essen-tially deductive method derivedfrom a priori principles.

Division of Aristotle’sPhilosophy

Metaphysics, philosophy in thestrictest sense, he defines as "theknowledge of immaterial being", andcalls it "first philosophy", "the theolo-gical science" or of "being in thehighest degree of abstraction".● Logic,

● Theoretical Philosophy, includingMetaphysics, Physics, Mathe-matics,

● Practical Philosophy, and● Poetical Philosophy.

Aristotle’s Matter and Form(Substance, Potentiality and

Actuality)Aristotle examines the concept of

substance in his Metaphysics, BookVII and he concludes that a particularsubstance is a combination of bothmatter and form. He concludes thatthe matter of the substance is thesubstratum or the stuff of which iscomposed e.g. the matter of the houseare the bricks, stones, timbers etc., orwhatever constitutes the potentialhouse, while the form of the substance,is the actual house, namely ‘coveringfor bodies and chattels’ or any otherdifferentia. The formula that gives thecomponents is the account of thematter and the formula that gives thedifferent is the account of the form(Metaphysics VIII ).

Political Science and Politi-cal Theory

As a discipline Political Scienceis much more comprehensive andincludes different forms of specu-lation in politics such as politicalthought, political theory, politicalphilosophy, political ideology, insti-tutional or structural frame workcomparative politics, public adminis-tration, international law and organi-sation. With the rise of Political

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Science as a separate discipline, poli-tical theory was made one of its sub-fields. However, when used speci-fically with emphasis on science asdistinct from theory, Political Sciencerefers to the study of politics by theuse of scientific methods in contrastto political philosophy which is freeto follow intution. Political theory onthe other hand is not only concernedabout the behavioural study of thepolitical phenomena from empiricalpoint of view but also prescribing thegoals which states governments,societies, and citizens ought topursue. Political theory also aims togeneralize about the right conduct inthe political life and about the legi-timate use of power. Political theoryis neither pure thought nor philoso-phy nor science. While it drawsheavily from all of them, yet it isdistinct from them. Contemporarypolitical theory is trying to attempt asynthesis between political philoso-phy and political science.

Scope of Political ScienceThe scope of Political Science

implies its jurisdiction or subjectmatter. Political Science is a verywide and comprehensive subject. Aconference of political scientists heldunder the auspices of the Inter-national Political Science Associationin Paris in the year 1948 demarcatedthe Scope of Political Science intofour zones, namely Political theory,Political institutions, Politicaldynamics and international relations.Political Science has been referred toas a “master science” – by Aristotle.Since then, this subject has a historyof noble growth. Over these years,such concepts like sovereignty, revo-lution, liberty, equality, democracyetc. have been vividly dealt withPolitical Science. So to speak,Political Science primarily deals within the state and government. Thecredit goes to Greeks for developingPolitical Science in its pure andsystematic form. Plato also in his‘Republic’ justified the moral signi-ficance of the state.

The study of the state and itsgovernment and civil society hasalways impacted upon human lives.At some point of time, PoliticalScience was considered a subsidiarypart of sociology. From such a yoke,

Political Science has successfullyevolved as an independent discipline.In the last century, there were certaintrends in Political Science–beginningfrom behaviouralism to post-behavio-uralism to the present state ofPolitical Science.

In the field of Political Science,values were considered by the tradi-tionalists. The traditionalists usedsuch approaches as legal, institutio-nal, historical to study political sci-ence which were all formalistic innature. Their emphasis on values wasrefuted by the behaviouralists led byDavid Easton, Catlin, Bentley etc. InEaston’s three famous books “ThePolitical System (1953)”, “A Frame-work of Political Analysis” (1965 a),and “Systems analysis of a PoliticalLife” (1965), a debate was initiatedwhich emphasized on the “facts” inplace of value to be studied in Poli-tical science. Thus debate has startedas value-fact dichotomy with an atte-mpt to convert Political Science intoa natural science.

The behaviouralist movementwas followed by post-behaviouralismwhich emphasized that instead ofindulging in value-fact dichotomy,attempts should be made to take abalanced study of facts and values inPolitical Science. It was also pointedout that values form an integral partof Political Science and hence theycan be discarded totally. In the Post-behavioural era, we have manyapproaches in Political Sciencewhich include the systems approach,the political economy approach.Political Scientists like David Easton,Charles Lindbolm and Thomas Dyehold the view that Political Science isa policy science. This concept ofpublic policy is of recent origin andis a product of post behaviouralism.

The scope of Political Scienceare enumerated below :● A study of state and government● A study of political theory● A study of political institutions● A study of political dynamics● A study of relations of the indi-

viduals with the state.● A study of International relations

and international law● A study of Public Policy

Political Science primarily stu-dies the problem of the State and

government. The State is defined as agroup of People organised for lawwithin a definite territory. The statehas four elements, such as Population,Territory, Government and Sove-reignty.

Political theory is a major branchof Political Science. On the basis ofthe Political ideas or thoughts ofPolitical thinkers, Political theoryformulates definitions or concepts likedemocracy, liberty, equality, groundsof Political obligation. Political theoryexplains the basic concepts of Politi-cal Science. It also includes the studyof Political philosophy.

The study of Political institutionsincludes the study of constitutionalmachinery. This covers a study ofconstitutions and comparative govern-ment. It deals with the nature of diffe-rent political institutions includinggovernment, explains their merits anddemerits, their structure and workingand arrives at different conclusionson comparative basis.

The study of Political dynamicshas become significant in the 21stcentury. It means the current forces atwork in government and politics. Itcovers a wide range and includes thestudy of political parties, publicopinion, pressure groups. A scientificstudy of the working of the politicaldynamics helps to explain thepolitical behaviour of individuals anddifferent groups.

The scope of Political Sciencealso includes a study of the nature ofrelationships between individuals andthe state. It examines how manshould adjust himself with thesociety. Man is the root of Politics.The state guarantees certain rightsand liberties to its citizens and at thesame time imposes certain reasonablerestrictions on them.

The scope of Political Scienceincludes a study of international rela-tions which has become significantsince the first quarter of the 20thcentury. It covers a wide range ofsubjects and includes diplomacy,international law, internationalorganisations, like the U.N. etc.Because of scientific inventions anddiscoveries, the cooperation andcontact among different nations ofthe world have become easier and thewhole world turns to be a family.

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Political scientists like DavidEaston, Charles Lindblom andThomas R. Dye hold the view thatPolitical Science is a Policy Science.This concept of Public Policy is ofrecent origin. It is also a product ofPost-Behaviouralism. It deals withthe implementation, execution andformation of policy. In this processthe formal political groups play avital role. Thus the scope of PoliticalScience has been widened.

New Horizons of PoliticalScience

The horizons of Political Scienceis increasing day-by-day and is touch-ing upon various fields. The Horizonsrests upon four basic principles.

� The search for a more compre-hensive scope

� The search for realism

� The search for precision

� The search for more intellectualorder

Broadly speaking the study ofPolitical Science is closely associatedwith three types of concrete state-ments.

Empirical Statement—Theempirical statement signifies the senseof observation through sense expe-rience alone.

Logical Statement—The logicalstatement refers to the sence of reason-ing.

Evaluative Statement—Theevaluative statement reflects thesenesce of value judgement (man isborn free and everywhere he is inchain) Political Science relies only onempirical and logical statements. It isargued that correct observation andcorrect reasoning by different personswould lead to the similar conclusion,hence it is alleged that evaluativestatements are based on individual orgroup preferences which differ fromindividual to individual or group togroup. There is no reliable method ofdetermining what is right or wrong,good or bad, one cannot scientificallydiscover the purpose of the universe orhuman life. Exponents of LogicalPositivism argue that evaluative state-ments have no empirical content orlogical structure. They are expressionsof subjective reflection or emotionalpreferences. Likewise, champions ofscientific method for the study ofpolitics insist on a value-free or valueneutral approach.

Relationship with AlliedDisciplines

Political Science and History(Leopold Von Ranke, Hegel, Lord

Acton, Seelay)

● The affinity between History andPolitical Science is so close thatFreeman goes to the extent ofsaying that “History is PastPolitics and Politics is presenthistory.”

● Political Science uses historicalfacts to discover general laws andprinciples.

● Political Science stands midwaybetween History and Politics.

● Political History is the narrativeand analysis of political events,ideas, movements and leaders.

● It is usually structured around thenation state.

Relevant Definitions Relatingto History and Political

Science� Leopold Von Ranke—The first

"scientific" political history waswritten by Leopold Von Ranke inGermany in the 19th century.

� Hegel—‘‘Political history is aconcept of the state with a moraland spiritual force beyond thematerial interests of its subjects:It followed that the state was themain agent of historical change."

� Willoughby —History gives thethird dimension of PoliticalScience.

� Lord Acton—The science ofpolitics is the one science that isdeposited by the stream of historylike the grains of gold in thesands of a river.

� Seelay—History without PoliticalScience has no fruit, PoliticalScience without History has noroot.

Political Science andEconomics

(John Locke, Adam Smith, KarlMarx, Alfred Marshall, AndreGunder Frank and Immanuel

Wallerstein)

Political Science and Economicsare both social sciences and hencethey are closely connected. In thepast, economics which was regardedas a branch of Political Science wascalled political economy. Today the

two subjects have been separated andstudy different areas, but the areasare closely related to each other. Inthe promotion of welfare both thesubjects go hand in hand.

Political Economy is most com-monly used to refer to interdiscipli-nary studies that draw on economics,law and Political Science in order tounderstand how political institutions,the political environment and eco-nomy influence each other.

● Within Political Science, the termrefers to modern liberal, realist,Marxian and constructivisttheories concerning the relation-ship between economic andpolitical power among and withinstates.

● Historians have employed theterm to explore the various waysin the past that individuals orgroups with common economicinterests have utilized the politi-cal process to effect change overtime that is beneficial to theirinterests.

● Economists and Political Scien-tists often associate the term withapproaches using rational choiceassumptions, particularly gametheory, to explain phenomenabeyond the standard limit ofeconomics. In this context, theterm "positive political eco-nomy" is common.

● Others especially anthropolo-gists, sociologists and geogra-phers use the term "politicaleconomy" to refer to neo-Marxian approaches to develop-ment and underdevelopment setforth by Andre Gunder Frankand Immanuel Wallerstein.

Political Science andPhilosophy

● Political philosophy is the studyof fundamental questions aboutthe state, government, politics,liberty, justice, property, rights,law and the enforcement of alegal code by authority.

● Philosophy has much to do withethics. Ethics deals with mora-lity and formulates rules whichshould influence the behaviourof man while living in society.Thus, it is a science of moralorder while Political Science isthe science of political order.

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● The term "political philosophy"often refers to a general view, orspecific ethics, belief or attitude,about politics that do not neces-sarily belong to the technicaldiscipline of philosophy.

● Political Science and philosophyare interlinked.

Important DefinitionsRelating to Philosophy of

Ethics� Plato—The Republic visualised

the concept of ideal state. Platoconsidered politics to be a sub-division of ethics.

� Ivor Brown—Brown holds thatpolitics is but ethics writ large.Politics divorced from ethics restson a foundation of shifting sand.Ethics divorced from politics isnarrow and abstract, it leads tothe commercialisation and vul-garisation of values.

� Mahatma Gandhi—Gandhi sup-ports the spiritualisation ofpolitics.

Political Science andSociology

Political Science and sociologyare very intimately connected and aremutually contributory. Sociology pro-vides basic information to PoliticalScience regarding the evolution ofstate and social organisation. Policiesare formulated and laws are enactedonly after a careful consideration ofthe social needs and the consequen-ces the laws on the people concerned.Various methods and concepts ofsociology were applied to the studyof political behaviour and institutionswhich gave rise to a new branchcalled political sociology. PoliticalScience provides information to soci-ology about the organization andfunctions of the state and knowledgeof the origin of political authority andlaws which control society.

Political Science andPsychology

Psychology is the science whichdeals with the cognitive behaviour ofman. As Political Science deals withthe political side of human life, it hasto be taken for granted that it isclosely related to Psychology whichdeals with all the aspects of humanbehaviour. Psychology provides us

an insight into the practical bevaviourof man, political interest and politicalparties. Psychology helps PoliticalScience in understanding individualand group psychology, which is thebase of their political behaviour.

Exponents of Close Relation-ship between Political

Science and PsychologyThomas Hobbes—Hobbes atte-

mpted to build a theory of state basedupon human nature. The Leviathan isbased upon the premise that man isbasically selfish.

Graham Wallas—He studiedthe ‘Human Nature in Politics(1908)

Merriam—He studied ‘Politicsand Psychology’ to develop PoliticalScience.

Sigmund Freud—He attemptedin his book ‘Civilization and its Dis-content’ the study of political sciencefrom different perspectives.

Bryce—He upheld that Politicshas its roots in Psychology in theactuality of the mental habits andvolitional proclivities of mankind.

Political Science andPublic Administration

● Political Science is closely asso-ciated with the discipline ofPublic Administration.

● Public administration can bebroadly described as the studyand implementation of policy.Here Political Science can studythe process of policy formulationand policy implementation. Thehorizon is expanding day by daywith Public administration.

● As a moral endeavour, publicadministration is linked topursuing the public good throughthe creation of civil society andsocial justice.

● The adjective 'public' oftendenotes 'government', though itincreasingly encompasses non-governmental organizations suchas civil society or any entity andits management not specificallyacting in self-interest.

How Political Science isMethodologically Diverse ?

Political Science is methodolo-gically diverse because of its signifi-cant growth. There has been profes-sional compartmentalisation withinPolitical Science leading to the birth

of several new disciplines and sub-disciplines dealing with differentaspects of the social life. Advance inbehavioural research has made evi-dent the need and importance of Poli-tical Science which encourages thebirth of new disciplines or sub-disci-pline making use of the knowledgeand methods of more than one disci-pline. The behavioural research hasalso made Political Science method-ologically diverse. It is true that justafter The World War-II, in 1950s thetraditional Political Science shiftedtowards modern Political Science.Though the face and structure ofPolitical Science are the same, but itsfunctions, methods and activities havebeen changed.

The Political Science is methodo-logically diverse because of follo-wing factors—● Covers the non-western countries

also.● Tries to be trans-cultural● Deals with similarities and uni-

formities common to manysystems.

● Concerned with the formulationof concepts and models.

● Characterised by methodologicalsensitivity.

● It highlights the relationshipamong social sciences and naturalsciences.

● It is behavioural, structural andobjective.

● Political Science helps to verifythe facts and examine the resultsof generalisation, made on thebasis of facts.

Utility of Political ScienceThe utility of Political Science is

seen in the following areas.

Control of Social Life-Scientific analysis of political

life enables to understand and solvethe problems of our social life. Justas the knowledge of medical scienceenables us to control and cure variousdiseases of human body so PoliticalScience guides us to find remedies ofPolitical instability and various typesof social crisis.

Social Criticism and Reconstruc-tion

A galaxy of political philoso-phers like Plato, Aristotle, St.

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Augustine, Machiavelli, Hobbes,Locke, Rousseau, Hegel, Marx, Mill,and Macpherson have given theirown schemes of social reconstruc-tion. Plato brilliantly exposed themodus operandi of selfish andcunning politicians in a democracy.Machiavelli vividly described thecharacter of selfish and greedypeople. Marx analyzed the sources ofconflict between the owners and nonowners of property and Macphersonpointed to the intricacies of powerstructure in contemporary societywhich obstructs the way to creativefreedom of individuals.

Concept ClarificationPolitical philosophy helps a lot

in the concept clarification inPolitical Science. The clarification ofconcepts in each area of study–whether science or philosophy –isessential for the development ofknowledge. This task is particularlydifficult in the field of politicaltheory.

Major Schools of PoliticalTheoryClassical Political Theory(Plato, Aristotle)

● Starts from 6th century B.C.

● Covers all political ideas of alarge number of Greeks, Romanand Christian thinkers andphilosophers.

● Plato and Aristotle are the twogreat giants of the classicalperiod.

● Classical Political theory inclu-ded politics, the idea of theoryand the practice of philosophy.

● The classical political theory wasdominated by philosophy.

● The nature of classical politicaltheory included description,explanation, prescription andevaluation.

● The classical political theorybelieved in ultimate good andpolitical order to realise that good.

● The classical political theorybelieved that state is as a naturalinstitution and prior to theindividual.

● The classical political theory alsobelieved in common good.

Liberal Political TheoryHobbes, Locke, Jefferson, ThomasPaine, Jermy Bentham, J.S. Mill,Herbert Spencer)● The central theme of this politi-

cal theory was individualism.

● It puts more emphasis on auto-nomy of individual will.

● The theory states that the state isnot a natural institution butcomes into existence by mutualconsent for the sole purpose ofpreserving and protecting indi-vidual rights.

● The theory dismissed the idea ofcommon good and an organiccommunity

● The theory gave the idea that thestate which governs the least isthe best and the only genuineentity is individual.

● A branch of liberal political the-ory is known as idealistic politi-cal theory. It has two branches—Hegal is the chief exponent ofGerman idealism, while Greenwas the founder of British/ Libe-ral idealism. Hegal believed inthe organic unity and moralauthority of state and consideredit as the March of god on earth.Idealists do not consider state asan artificial entity.

Marxist Political Theory(Karl Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin,Rosa Luxemburg, Gramsci, Luc-kas, Austro-Marxist, Frank FurtSchool, Herbert Marcuse, etc.)

● The theory puts more emphasison liberation of mankind.

● The central theme of the theory ison class division, revolutions etc.

● The basic idea of Marxist theoryis that the economic structure andrelations determine all otheraspects of human life in society.Thus it gives primary to eco-nomic factors in the analysis ofpolity and society.

● For Marxists, state is a class ins-titution and acts as an instrumentof exploitation. State would witheraway as the means of productionand distribution are socialisedafter the revolution.

Empirical–Scientific PoliticalTheory(Charles Merriam, HarlodLasswell, Gosnell, David Easton,Stuart Rice, V.O.Key, David Apter,Max Weber, Graham Wallas,Bentley, etc.)● This theory puts more emphasis

on facts.

● The theory shifted emphasisfrom the study of political idealsvalues and institutions to theexamination of politics in thecontext of individual and groupbehaviour.

● The theory also puts moreemphasis on behaviour of man asmembers of political community.

● The theory also reflects on status-quo, stability and equilibrium andharmony.

● The theory also developed manynew concepts like power, elite,decision-making, policy makingstructures, functions, political sys-tem, political culture etc.

Contemporary PoliticalTheory

Since 1970s, there has been arevival of interest in Political Sciencein USA, Europe and other parts ofthe world. During the era of domina-tion of behaviouralism, political the-ory was overpowered by over zealfor science of politics. Theory wasdenied the status of a legitimate formof knowledge and enquiry. Theencouragement for the regenerationof political theory came from manysources. Thomas Kuhn challengedthe whole model of what is science.There were others who felt that thereare distinctive problems of under-standing of the social sciences andsocial issues which could not begrasped by the model of a unifiedscience. Thomas Samuel Kuhn (July18, 1922 – June 17, 1996) was anAmerican intellectual who wroteextensively on the history of scienceand developed several important no-tions in the philosophy of science.Contemporary political theory mustnot be dissociated from history. Poli-tical theory, at present, is concernedwith, multifarious activities comingunder the domain of PoliticalScience.

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● Political Scientists study the allo-cation and transfer of power indecision-making, the roles andsystems of governance includinggovernments and internationalorganizations, political behaviourand public policies.

● They measure the success of gov-ernance and specific policies byexamining many factors, inclu-ding stability, justice, materialwealth and peace.

● Some Political Scientists seek toadvance positive science by ana-lyzing politics. Others advancenormative science by makingspecific policy recommenda-tions.

● The study of politics is compli-cated by the frequent involve-ment of Political Scientists in thepolitical process, since theirteachings often provide theframeworks within which othercommentators, such as journa-lists, special interest groups,politicians and the electorateanalyze the issues and selectoptions.

● Political Scientists may serve asadvisors to specific politicians,or even run for office aspoliticians themselves.

● Political Scientists can be foundworking in governments, inpolitical parties or as civilservants.

● They may be involved with non-governmental organizations(NGOs) or political movements.

● In a variety of capacities, peopleeducated and trained in PoliticalScience can add value andexpertise to corporations.

● Private enterprises such as thinktanks, research institutes, pollingand public relations firms oftenemploy Political Scientists.

● In the United States, PoliticalScientists known as "America-nists" look at a variety of datarelated to elections, publicopinion and public policy such asSocial Security reform, foreignpolicy, U.S. Congressional powerand the Supreme Court—to nameonly a few issues.

Thomas Kuhn’s ParadigmThe Structure of Scientific Revolu-tions and Political Science (1962)

� Thomas Kuhn developed andapplied the idea of developingbehavioural Political Sciencethrough his book The Structure ofScientific Revolutions.

� Thomas Kuhn is most famous forhis book The Structure of Scienti-fic Revolutions (SSR) (1962) inwhich he presented the idea thatscience does not progress via alinear accumulation of new know-ledge, but instead undergoesperiodic revolutions which he calls"paradigm shifts", in which thenature of scientific inquiry withina particular field is abruptlytransformed.

� In general, science is broken upinto three distinct stages. Pre-science, which lacks a centralparadigm, comes first. This isfollowed by "normal science", inwhich scientists attempt to enlargethe central paradigm by "puzzle-solving".

� When many anomalous resultsbuild up, then science reaches acrisis , at which point a newparadigm that subsumes the oldresults along with the anomalousresults into one framework whichis largely accepted.

� This is termed as revolutionaryscience. The book was originallyprinted as an article in the Inter-national Encyclopaedia of UnifiedScience, published by the logicalpositivists of the Vienna Circle.

� Kuhn's work has been exten-sively used in social science; forinstance, in the post-positi-vist/positivist debate within Inter-national Relations. Kuhn iscredited as a foundational forcebehind the post-Mertonian Socio-logy of Scientific Knowledge.

Debate on the Decline ofPolitical Theory

David Easton, Alfred Coban,Seymour Martin Lipset, Leo Strauss,Dante Germino, Michael Oakshott,Hannah Arendt, Bertrand De Juvenile,Eric Voeglin, John Rawls, C.B.Machpherson, Robert Nozick,Herbert Marcuse, Jurgen Habermas,Macintyer and Michael Walzer arethe main exponents of the debate onthe decline of Political theory.

Political theory implies anintellectual effort to attain a syste-matic knowledge about the goals and

methods of politics. David Easton, anAmerican Political Scientist in hisbook ‘Political System : An inquiryinto the State of Political Science’(1953) asserted that the traditionalpolitical theory was based on merespeculation. It was devoid of acuteobservation of the political activity.Easton argued that the traditionalpolitical theory was the product ofthe turmoil that characterized thepast ages. It particularly flourished inGreece in Pre-Plato days, Italy, in the15th century, England in the 16thcentury, and 17th century or Francein the 18th century which were thedays of widespread social and politi-cal upheaval. It had no relevance incontemporary society. Easton alsopointed out that there has been nooutstanding political philosophersafter Marx and J.S. Mill. Easton alsoargued that while economists andsociologists had produced a syste-matic study of human behaviour intheir respective spheres of investi-gation, Political Scientists had laggedbehind. They failed to acquire suitableresearch tools to account for the riseof fascism or communism and theircontinuance. Again, during the secondworld war economists sociologistsand psychologists had played anactive role in the decision makingprocess, but Political Scientists wereignored. Easton, therefore, appealedfor building up a behavioural Politi-cal Science, closer to other socialsciences, to take its due place in thedecision–making process. He sug-gested that while traditional politicaltheory was primarily concerned withevolving suitable values for society,modern Political Science need notmake effort in this direction. Hebelieved that values represent indivi-dual or group preferences relative tothe social conditions in which theseare developed. Contemporary societywould evolve its own value systemfrom its own experience and insight.Political Scientists should only focuson building causal theory to explainpolitical behaviour.

Easton changed his view afterone-and half decades. In his Presi-dential address to the AmericanPolitical Science Association in 1969he launched his Post- Behaviouralrevolution. In fact, Easton was tryingto convert Political Science from apure science to applied science. He

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insisted that scientific investigationshould enable the contemporarysociety to tide over the prevailingcrisis. This also involved a renewedconcern with values which weresought to be excluded in the earlierbehavioural approach. The debate onthe decline of political theory whichappeared in 1950s was also joined bysome other prominent writers. ThusAlfred Cobban in his paper on TheDecline of Political Theory publishedin Political Science Quarterly (1953)argued that political theory had lostits significance in capitalist as well ascommunist systems. Capitalistsystems were inspired by the idea oflibertarian democracy. It was alsocharacterized by an overwhelmingrole of bureaucracy and the creationof a huge military machine. Politicaltheory had practically no role to playin sustaining this system. On theother hand, Communist system werecharacterized by a new form of partyorganization and the rule of a smalloligarchy. Political theory had takena back seat under these systems.

Cobban pointed out that Hegeland Marx were interested in a smallpart of the universe. Hegel wasprimarily concerned with territorialstate and Marx with Proletariat class.They wanted to discover what waspredestined within their respectiveframes of reference.

Contemporary politics wasoperating on such a large scale that itcould not be analyzed in the light ofany partial or narrow theory. Besideslogical positivists who sought toconcentrate on facts to the exclusionof values were also responsible forthe decline of political theory. How-ever Cobban came to the conclusionthat all was not yet lost. PoliticalScience has to answer questionswhich the methodology of socialsciences may not be able to answer.The Seymour Martin Lipset in his‘Political Man : The Social Bases ofPolitics’ (1960) argued that the valuesof the contemporary society hadalready been decided. In the UnitedStates the age old-research for goodsociety had come to an end becausethey had already achieved it. Theprevailing form of democracy in thatcountry was the closest approxi-mation to the good society itself in

operation. Thus Lipset questioned thecontinued relevance of politicaltheory in those days. Indeed theexponents of behavioural approachsought to strengthen scientific basisof the study of politics and to delinkit from political philosophy. But thechampions of political philosophynever approved their stand. LeoStrauss in his famous paper ‘What isPolitical Philosophy published inJournal of Politics (1957) and in AnEpilogue to Essays on the ScientificStudy of Politics argued that the newscience of politics was in fact asymptom of the alleged decline ofpolitical theory. By adopting posi-tivist approach it had ignored thechallenge of normative issues. Empi-rical theory of Politics asserts equalimportance of all social values. Itdenies that certain things are intrin-sically high while others are intrin-sically low. Thus it obliterates thedistinction between the gentlemanand brutes as it destroys the identityof clean water by mixing it with dirtywater. Commenting on the debateDante Germino in his BeyondIdeology : The Revival of PoliticalTheory (1967) argued that in most ofthe 19th century and early 20thcentury there were two major causesof the decline of Political theory :

Two Major Causes for the Decline of Political Theory� Rise of positivism which led to craze for science� The prevalence of political ideologies culminating in Marxism.

But now it was again in ascendancy, particularly in the political thought ofMichael Oakeshott, Hannah Arendt, Bertrand de Jouvenel, Leo Strauss andEric Vogelin, John Rawls, C.B. Machpherson, Robert Nozick HerbertMarcuse, Jurgen Habermas, MacIntyre and Michael Walzer). The works ofthese writers had revived the grand tradition of political philosophy.

OTHER CAUSES

� Reductionism � Philosophical naturalism� Correspondence theory of truth � Empiricism� Verification principle � Confusion between science and theory� Probability � Verifiability criterion of meaning� Logicism � Unified science� Materialism

Efforts for Revival of PoliticalTheory

Germino suggested that in orderto understand the new role ofpolitical theory it was imperative toidentify it with political philosophy.Political philosophy is a critical studyof the principles of right order inhuman social existence, involvinginquiry into right and wrong. It is

neither reductionist behavioural sci-ence where everything is reduced tosense experience nor opinionatedideology which accepts some prin-ciples to be true without inquiring intotheir validity. It comprehends boththe knowledge of facts and theinsight with which that knowledge iscomprehended.

According to Germino, PoliticalPhilosophy deals with perennial pro-blems confronting man in his socialexistence. Detachment is not ethicalneutrality. A political philosopher cannot remain indifferent to the politicalstruggle of his times as a behavioura-list would claim. Behavioural poli-tical science concentrates on factsand remains neutral to values. Poli-tical philosophy cannot grow alongwith positivism which abstains froma critical examination of any socialsituation. The gulf between tradi-tionalist and behaviouralist compo-nents of Political Science is so widethat they cannot be reunited. Germinolaments that the behavioral politicaltheory has often implicitly or uncri-tically endorsed the policies andpractices of the established orderinstead of performing the Socraticfunction of speaking truth to power.He warns that full recovery of criticalpolitical theory cannot be achievedwithin the positivist universe ofdiscourse.

Herbert Marcuse (1898-1979)has significantly pointed to the riskinvolved in the demand for scientificstudy of society and politics. He hasargued that when the language ofsocial science attempts to conform tothe language of natural science, ittends to lend support to the status-quo. Since 1970s the dispute betweenPolitical Science and political philo-

Series-22 Political Science

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