Definition of Political Science.

Political speculation in the orient, though profound, could not separate politics from religion or mythology. Ancient Greeks were the first to divorce politics from religion. Greek thinkers were the first to develop the science of politics. Aristotle calls ‘Politics’ the study of ‘Polis’ or the city state. Since then Political Science has been regarded as the science of the state.

But ancient Greek Polis or city states and modern states are scarcely comparable entities. Modern states are bigger, more populous and far more complex entities than the ancient Greek city states. Hence modern political science is not a science of the state in the sense in which Aristotle’s ‘Politics’ had been a science of the state.

Again, any close identification of political science with the study of the state makes the study too rigid, formalistic and institutional. But the two terms ‘political’ and ‘science’ in the phrase ‘political science’ point to two distinct aspects of the study. As a science, it is essentially a disinterested pursuit of knowledge. But it is a disinterested pursuit of knowledge of what? The adjective ‘political’ clarifies that it is a study of man and his society in their political aspects as economics is a study of man and society in their economic aspects.

But what are the political aspects of man and society? The answer is to be found in Aristotle’s immortal observation that ‘man is a political animal’- “Anthropos Zoon Politikon.” This Greek phrase is wrongly translated by many eminent scholars as ‘man is a social animal.’

As a ‘political animal’, man has both animal and political propensities. Animality impels man to dominate over others. Politicality impels him to associate with others. This duality leads to the unique phenomenon that man lives in society and in society he is constantly engaged in the struggle for domination over others. This struggle for domination or power is politics. But this struggle takes place within the social structure. Politics thus involves two things- (a) a struggle for power and (b) a social structure in which it takes place. The struggle for power is the political process and the social structure in which this process occurs is the ‘state’.

Political Science as a study, a pursuit of knowledge, is concerned with both the process and the structure i.e., the state within which the process occurs. Any exclusive identification of political science with either of the two is bound to make the study one-sided. Classical political scientists made this mistake by over-emphasizing the structure i.e., the state. Modern behaviorists repeat this mistake by over-emphasizing the process i.e., the struggle for power within the state.

If political science is defined as a study of state only, societies which have not yet developed into state, like the primitive societies, are left out of the study. Similarly struggles for power occurring within the society but outside the state structure e.g. in the university or in trade unions- also remain outside the scope of the study though these struggles influence and are influenced by the state.

These limitations induced modern political scientist to find out a comprehensive definition of political science. Laswell and Kaplan define political science as “the study of shaping and sharing of power.” In this new definition emphasis is exclusively on power. In this sense politics is concerned with “who gets what, when and how.” “The study of politics is the study of influence and the influential. The science of politics states conditions and the philosophy of politics justify preferences.”

This approach is also subject to several limitations. It makes the scope of politics too broad. Politics in this sense is to be found in all inter-personal and inter-group relations. Politics in this sense occurs in clubs, business organizations, and students’ unions or even in intimate family relations. But all inter-personal or inter-group struggles for power cannot be a subject matter for political science. Only such struggles which arise within the state structure and which influence governmental decisions can properly become the subject-matter for political analysis.

Again, Politics, as David Easton points out, is concerned with “authoritative allocation of values.” This means that decisions of the state or government are binding because power exercised by the state is legitimate. Legitimacy of state power means that it is backed by willing acceptance by the majority of the society.

At any particular point in history, resources of any society are limited compared to demand. There is endless claim, competition and even conflict for greater allocation of resources among different sections of the society. State acts as the final arbiter and its decisions are accepted because its authority is accepted as legitimate. To define political science in terms of power and influence only is to overlook this crucial aspect of state power.

Thus, we may arrive at the conclusion that political science is the study of the political process within the political structure i.e. the state of a society,- the process and the structure mutually influencing and determining each other.