Graded | 100% Verified
Political Science - includes the study of elections, governmental administration at various levels,
development and action of political parties, and how values such as freedom, power, justice, and
equality are expressed in different political cultures
Political science also encompasses: History - how historical events have shaped political thought and
process
Political science also encompasses: sociology - the effects of various stages of social development on the
growth and development of government and politics
Political science also encompasses: anthropology - the effects of governmental process on the culture of
an individual group and its relationships with other peoples
Political science also encompasses: economics - how government policies regulate the distribution of
products and how they can control and/or influence the economy in general
4 major purposes of any given government are: - -Ensuring national security
-Providing public services
-Ensuring social order
-Making decisions regarding the economy
4 major purposes of any given government are: Ensuring national security - the government protects
against international, domestic, and terrorist attacks and also ensures ongoing security through
negotiating and establishing relationships with other governments
4 major purposes of any given government are: Providing public services - the government should
"promote the general welfare" as stated in the Preamble to the US Constitution, by providing whatever
is needed to its citizens
,4 major purposes of any given government are: Ensuring social order - the government supplies means
of settling conflicts among citizens as well as making laws to govern the nation, state, or city
4 major purposes of any given government are: Making decisions regarding the economy - laws help
form the economic policy of the country, regarding both domestic and international trade and related
issues. The government also has the ability to distribute goods and wealth to some extent among its
citizens
Main theories regarding the origin of the state: Evolutionary - the state evolved from the family, with
the head of state the equivalent of the family's patriarch or matriarch
Main theories regarding the origin of the state: Force - one person or group of people brought everyone
in an area under their control, forming the first government
Main theories regarding the origin of the state: Divine Right - certain people were chosen by the
prevailing deity to be the rulers of the nation, which is itself created by the deity or deities
Main theories regarding the origin of the state: Social Contract - there is no natural order. the people
allow themselves to be governed to maintain social order while the state, in turn, promises to protect
the people they govern. If the government fails to protect its people, the people have the right to seek
new leaders
Aristotle and Plato (ancient Geek philosophers) believed - political science would lead to order in
political matters and that this scientifically organized order would create stable, just societies
Thomas Aquinas - adapted the ideas of Aristotle to a Christian perspective. His ideas stated that
individuals should have certain rights but also certain duties, and that these rights and duties should
determine the type and extent of government rule. In stating that laws should limit the role of
government, he laid the groundwork for ideas that would eventually become modern constitutionalism
Niccolo Machiavelli - author of The Prince, was a proponent of politics based on power. He is often
considered the founder of modern political science
, Thomas Hobbes - Author of Leviathan (1651), believed that individuals' lives were focused solely on a
quest for power and that the state must work to control this urge. Hobbes felt that people were
completely unable to live harmoniously without the intervention of a powerful, undivided government
John Locke - Published Two Treatises of Government in 1689. This work argued the ideas of Thomas
Hobbes. He put forth the theory of tabula rasa - that people are born with minds like blank slates.
Individual minds are molded by experience, not innate knowledge or intuition. He also believed that all
men should be independent and equal. Many of Locke's ideas found their way into the Constitution of
the US
Montesquieu and Rousseau (Two French philosophers) - Heavily influenced the French Revolution
(1789-1799). They believed government policies and ideas should change to alleviate existing problems,
an idea referred to as "liberalism." Rousseau's writings: The Social Contract (1762) and Declaration of
the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789). Other ideas included:
-individual freedom and community welfare are of equal importance
-Man's innate goodness leads to natural harmony
-reason develops with the rise of civilized society
-individual citizens carry certain obligations to the existing government
David Hume and Jeremy Bentham - believed politics should have as its main goal maintaining "the
greatest happiness for the greatest number" Hume also believed in empiricism, or that ideas should not
be believed until the proof has been observed.
John Stuart Mill - British philosopher as well as an economist, believed in progressive policies such as
women's suffrage, emancipation, and the development of labor unions and farming cooperatives
Johann Ficht and Georg Hegel - German philosophers in the late 18th and early 19th centuries,
supported a form of liberalism grounded largely in socialism and a sense of nationalism
Political Orientation: Liberal - liberals believe that government should work to increase equality, even at
the expense of some freedoms. Government should assist those in need, focusing on enforced social
justice and free basic services for everyone