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DAMODARAM SANJIVAYYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

V I S A K H A P A T N A M , A . P . , I N D I A

NAME OF THE PROJECT:

APPROACH TO POLITICAL SCIENCE

SUBJECT:
HISTORY
NAME OF THE FACULTY:
P. NIRMALA DEVI

NAME OF THE STUDENT:

P.RAJKUMAR

ROLL NO:
18LLB068

SEMESTER I
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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that P.RAJKUMAR, a student of Semester I, Damodaram Sanjivayya

National Law University, has successfully completed the research on “APPROACH TO
POLITICAL SCIENCE” under the guidance of P. NIRMALA DEVI during the year 2018-
19.

Signature of the Student. Signature of the Teacher.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

I am grateful to our Administrative POLITICAL SCIENCE TEACHER Mrs. P.

NIRMALA DEVI for her valuable guidance, significant suggestions and help for
accomplishing this project regarding “APPROACH TO POLITICAL SCIENCE”. I have tried
my best to collect information about the project in various possible ways to depict clear picture
about the given project topic.
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CONTENTS

 LEARNING OJECTIVES

 INTRODUCTION

 TRADITIONAL APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

 MODERN APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

 OTHER MODERN APPROACHES

SOURCES:

 THE STUDY OF APPROACHES OF POLITICAL

SCIENCE BY NKWACHUKWU
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ABSTRACT

Political science focuses on the theory and practice of government and politics at the
local, state, national, and international levels. We are dedicated to developing understandings
of institutions, practices, and relations that constitute public life and modes of inquiry that
promote citizenship. The study of political science and in the process of search for political
truth certain procedure must be followed. These procedures are defined as approaches,
methods, techniques and strategies. Approaches to study political science are grouped as
traditional and modern approaches.

There are many approaches like traditional approaches, modern approaches and other
approaches to Political Science was widely prevalent till the outbreak of the Second World
War. These approaches were mainly related to the traditional view of politics which
emphasized the study of the state and government. Therefore, traditional approaches are
primarily concerned with the study of the organization and activities of the state and principles
and the ideas which underlie political organizations and activities. These approaches were
normative and idealistic. The political thinkers advocating these approaches, therefore, raised
questions like ‘what should be an ideal state?’ According to them the study of Political Science
should be confined to the formal structures of the government, laws, rules and regulations.
Thus, the advocates of the traditional approaches emphasize various norms - what ‘ought to
be’ or ‘should be’ rather than ‘what is’.

SCOPE: A large number of political scientists even regard it as an autonomous discipline

because of its vast scope and importance for a comprehensive understanding of politics in all
societies. The comparative approach has emerged as a very useful and highly
popular approach for the study of Politics.

SIGNIFICANCE AND BENEFIT OF THE STUDY: The benefit of studying political

approaches is to know various approaches like traditional approaches, modern approaches and
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other approaches and it explains about every approach and its functions and it is very beneficial
if we study political approaches.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

1. Discuss the Philosophical Approach to the study of Political Science.

2. Mention the characteristics of the Modern Approaches to the study of Political Science?
3. What is Behaviouralism? Write the main characteristics of Behaviouralism.
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APPROACH TO POLITCAL SCIENCE

INTRODUCTION

In the previous unit we have read about the growth and evolution of Political Science. This unit
will introduce us to the major approaches to the study of Political Science. However, before
studying different approaches to Political Science, it must be remembered that Political Science
is a branch of the larger area of social sciences and is different from natural sciences. The
methods and approaches to the study of Political Science or other social sciences are, therefore,
different from the methods that are used in natural sciences like physics, chemistry or biology.
The various approaches to the study of Political Science can be broadly classified as -
traditional and modern. The traditional approaches include philosophical, historical and
institutional approaches while the modern approaches include behavioural approach, post-
behavioural approach, systems approach, structural-functional approach, communication
approach, etc.

TRADITIONAL APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

The traditional approaches to to Political Science was widely prevalent till the outbreak of the
Second World War. These approaches were mainly related to the traditional view of politics
which emphasized the study of the state and government. Therefore, traditional approaches are
primarily concerned with the study of the organization and activities of the state and principles
and the ideas which underlie political organizations and activities. These approaches were
normative and idealistic. The political thinkers advocating these approaches, therefore, raised
questions like ‘what should be an ideal state?’ According to them the study of Political Science
should be confined to the formal structures of the government, laws, rules and regulations.
Thus, the advocates of the traditional approaches emphasize various norms - what ‘ought to
be’ or ‘should be’ rather than ‘what is’.

Characteristics of Traditional approaches:

1.Traditional approaches are largely normative and stresses on the values of politics
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2.Emphasis is on the study of different political structures.

3. Traditional approaches made very little attempt to relate theory and research
4.These approaches believe that since facts and values are closely interlinked, studies in
Political Science can never be scientific.

Various forms of Traditional Approaches:

The traditional approaches can be sub-divided into the following-

1.Philosophical
2.Historical
3.Institutional
4. Legal approaches.

PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACH

This approach is regarded as the oldest approach to the study of Political Science. The
emergence of this approach can be traced back to the times of the Greek philosophers like Plato
and Aristotle. Leo Strauss was one of the main advocates of the philosophical approach. He
believes that “the philosophy is the quest for wisdom and political philosophy is the attempt
truly to know about the nature of political things and the right or good political order.” This
approach firmly believes that the values cannot be separated from the study of politics.
Therefore, its main concern is to judge what is good or bad in any political society. It is mainly
an ethical and normative study of politics and, thus, idealistic. It deals with the problems of the
nature and functions of the state, citizenship, rights and duties etc. The advocates of this
approach firmly believe that political philosophy is closely linked with the political ideologies.
Therefore, they are of the opinion that a political scientist must have the knowledge of good
life and good society. Political philosophy helps in setting up of a good political order.1

HISTORICAL APPROACH
2
According to the advocates of this approach, political theory can be only understood when the
historical factors like the age, place and the situation in which it is evolved are taken into

1
An Introduction to Political Theory

2
Political Science from D. K Sarmah
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consideration. As the name of this approach is related to history, it emphasizes on the study of
history of every politial reality to analyze any situation. Political thinkers like Machiavelli,
Sabine and Dunning believe that politics and history are intricately related and the study of

politics always should have a historical perspective. Sabine is of the view that Political Science
should include all those subjects which have been discussed in the writings of different political
thinkers from the time of Plato. This approach strongly upholds the belief that the thinking or
the ideology of every political thinker is shaped by the surrounding environment. Moreover,
history not only speaks about the past but also links it with the present events. History provides
the chronological order of every political event and thereby helps in future estimation of events
also. Hence, without studying the past political events, institutions and political environment it
would be wrong to analyze the present political scenario/ events.

INSTITUTIONAL APPROACH

This is a very old and important approach to the study of Political Science. This approach
mainly deals with the formal aspects of government and politics emphasizes the study of the
political institutions and structures. Thus, the institutional approach is concerned with the study
of the formal structures like legislature, executive, judiciary, political parties, interest groups
etc. The advocates of this approach includes both ancient and modern political thinkers. Among
the ancient thinkers Aristotle is an important contributor to this approach while the modern
thinkers include James Bryce, Bentley, Walter Bagehot, Harold Laski, etc.

LEGAL APPROACH

This approach regards the state as the fundamental organization for the creation and
enforcement of laws. Therefore, this approach is concerned with the legal process, legal bodies
or institutions, justice and independence of judiciary. The advocates of this approach are
Cicero, Jean Bodin, Thomas Hobbes, Jeremy Bentham, John Austin, Dicey and Sir Henry
Maine.

The various traditional approaches to the study of Political Science have been criticized for
being normative. These approaches were idealistic also as their concern went beyond how and
why political events happen to what ought to happen. In the later period, the modern approaches
have tried to make the study of Political Science more scientific and, therefore, emphasize
empiricism.
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THE MODERN APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

After studying politics with the help of traditional approaches, the political thinkers of the later
stage felt the necessity to study politics from a new perspective. Thus, to minimize the
deficiencies of the traditional approaches, various new approaches have been advocated by the
new political thinkers. These new approaches are regarded as the “modern aproaches” to the
study of Political Science. Many thinkers regard these approaches as a reaction against the
traditional approaches. These approaches are mainly concerned with scientific study of politics.
The first breakthrough in this regard comes with the emergence of the behavioural revolution
in Political Science.

Characteristics of Modern Approaches

These approaches try to draw conclusion from empirical data.

These approaches go beyond the study of political structures and its historical analysis

Modern Approaches believe in inter-disciplinary study

They emphasize scientific methods of study and attempt to draw scientific conclusions in
Political Science

BEHAVIOURALISM

Salient Features of Behaviouralism:

David Easton has pointed out certain salient features of behaviouralism which are regarded as
its intellectual foundations. These are:

Regularities: This approach believes that there are certain uniformities in political behaviour
which can be expressed in generalizations or theories in order to explain and predict political
phenomena. In a particular situation the

political behaviour of individuals may be more or less similar. Such regularities of behaviour
may help the researcher to analyse a political situation as well as to predict the future political
phenomena. Study of such regularities makes Political Science more scientific with some
predictive value.
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Verification: The behaviouralists do not want to accept everything as granted. Therefore, they
emphasize testing and verifying everything. According to them, what cannot be verified is not
scientific.

Techniques: The behaviouralists put emphasis on the use of those research tools and methods
which generate valid, reliable and comparative data. A researcher must make use of
sophisticated tools like sample surveys, mathematical models, simulation etc.4

Quantification: After collecting data, the researcher should measure and quantify those data.

Values: The behaviouralists have put heavy emphasis on separation of facts from values. They
believe that to do objective research one has to be value free. It means that the researcher should
not have any pre-conceived notion or a biased view.

Systematization: According to the behaviouralists research in Political Science must be

systematic. Theory and research should go together.

Pure Science: Another characteristic of behaviouralism has been its aim to make Political
Science a “pure science”. It believes that the study of Political Science should be verified by
evidence.

Integration: According to the behaviouralists, Political Science should not be separated from
various other social sciences like history, sociology and economics etc. This approach believes
that political events are shaped by various other factors in the society and therefore, it would
be wrong to separate Political Science from other disciplines.

Thus, with the emergence of behaviouralism a new thinking and new method of study were
evolved in the field of Political Science. Therefore, we can list the merits of behavioural
approach as follows:

3
Political Science from D. K Sarmah
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It attempts to make Political Science scientific and brings it closer to the day to day life of the
individuals.

Behaviouralism has first talked about bringing human behaviour into the arena of Political
Science and thereby makes the study more relevant to the society.
· This approach helps in predicting future political events.

The behavioural approach has been appreciated by different political thinkers for its merits as
mentioned above. However, the Behavioural approach has been faced with various criticisms
for its ‘mad craze’ for scienticism also. The main criticisms levelled against this approach are
mentioned below:

 This has been criticized for its dependence on techniques and methods ignoring the
subject matter.

 The advocates of this approach were wrong when they said that human beings behave
in similar ways in similar circumstances.
 Besides, it is a difficult task to study human behaviour and to get a definite result.
 Most of the political phenomena are unquantifiable. Therefore, it is always difficult to
use scientific method in the study of Political Science.
 Moreover, the researcher being a human being is not always value neutral as believed
by the behaviouralists.5

POST BEHAVIOURALISM

Post-behaviouralism believed that the use of scientific tools is beneficial if it can solve
the various problems of the society. Behaviouralists gave too much emphasis on methods and
techniques and believed that it was better to be wrong than vague. Post-behaviouralists on the
other hand, believe that it is better to be vague than non-relevantly precise. The post-
behaviouralists criticized behaviouralism on the ground that the latter had lost touch with the
realities of the society because of over emphasis on techniques. Thus, post-behaviouralists may
be regarded as the reform movement within behaviouralism. This new approach emphasizes
identifying and solving the major issues of political and social life. According to post-
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behavioralism, the political scientists should find out different alternatives and means to solve
the social problems. Thus, the main thrust of post-behaviouralism has been to make Political
Science relevant to the society. However, it must be remembered that it is only a continuation
of behaviouralism. It does not altogether reject the ideas of behaviouralism. It acknowledges
the achievement of behavioralism and appreciates its effort to do objective research in Political
Science. It only tries to bring research in Political Science closer to reality to make the subject
more relevant to the society. Accordingly, the post-behaviouralists opposed the efforts of the
behaviouralists to make Political Science a value-free science. It was argued by the post-
behaviouralisrs that Political Science in order to be relevant to the society must consider basic
issues of society such as justice, liberty, equality, democracy, etc., The post-behaviouralists
have described behaviouralism as a ‘mad craze for scienticism’. Thus, the post-behavioralism
is a reformation of behavioralism as it shifts its focus strictly from empirical research to
resolving problems confronting the society.

OTHER APPROACHES

The political system operates within an environment. The environment generates

demands from different sections of the society such as demand for reservation in the matter of
employment for certain groups, demand for better working conditions or minimum wages,
demand for better transportation facilities, demand for better health facilities, etc.. Different
demands have different levels of support. Both ‘demands’ and ‘supports’ constitute what
Easton calls ‘inputs.’ The political system receives theses inputs from the environment. After
taking various factors into consideration, the government decides to take action on some of
theses demands while others are not acted upon. Through the conversion process, the inputs
are converted into ‘outputs’ by the decision makers in the form of policies, decisions, rules,
regulations and laws. The ‘outputs’ flow back into the environment through a ‘feedback’
mechanism, giving rise to fresh ‘demands.’ Accordingly, it is a cyclical process.

STRUCTURAL FUNCTION APPROACH

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This approach treats the society as a single inter–related system where each part of the
system has a definite and distinct role to play. The structural-functional approach may be
regarded as an offshoot of the system analysis. These approaches emphasize the structures and
functions. Gabriel Almond is a supporter of this approach. He defines political systems as a
special system of interaction that exists in all societies performing certain functions. According
to him, the main characteristics of a political system are comprehensiveness, inter-dependence
and existence of boundaries. Like Easton, Almond also believes that all political systems
perform input and output functions. The Input functions of political systems are political
socialization and recruitment, interest-articulation, interest-aggression and political
communication. Again, Almond makes three-fold classifications of governmental output
functions relating to policy making and implementation. These output functions are- rule
making, rule application and rule adjudication. Thus, Almond believes that a stable and
efficient political system converts inputs into outputs.

COMMUNICATION THEORY APPROACH

This approach tries to investigate how one segment of a system affects another by sending
messages or information. It was Robert Weiner who first spoke about this approach. Later on,
Karl Deutsch developed it and applied it in Political Science. Deutsch believes that the political
system is a network of communication channels and it is self-regulative. He further believes
that the government is responsible for administering different communication channels. This
approach treats the government as the decision-making system. According to Deutsch, the four
factors of analysis in communication theory are – lead, lag, gain and load.

DECISION MAKING APPROACH

This approach tries to find out the characteristics of decision makers as well as the type
of influence the individuals have on the decision makers. Scholars like Richard Synder and
Charles Lindblom have developed this approach. A political decision which is taken by a few
actors influences a larger society and such a decision is generally shaped by a specific situation.
Therefore, it considers psychological and social aspects of decision makers also.

NORMATIVE THEORY
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Normative political theory is related to concepts such as justice, equality, and rights. Historical
political theory involves political philosophers from the past (e.g. Thucydides and Plato) to the
present (e.g. Wendy Brown and Seyla Benahabib), and may focus on how particular
philosophers engaged political problems that continue to be relevant today. While the focus
has traditionally been on Western traditions, that is beginning to change in this field. It is
demonstrated in theoretical literature that the traditional empirical approach to political science
is what makes it a "positive" science. The study of what is, as opposed to what ought to be,
lends a certain respectability to political science that is not attached to opinion-writing or
political theorists. While Plato and Aristotle sought to recognise the characteristics of a good
polity, most modern political scientists seek to identify the characteristics of polities, their
causes and effects, leaving aside moral judgments about their goodness or badness.

To summarize, Political Theory is a separate area within the discipline of political science.
Political theory is an outline of what the political order is about. It is symbolic representation
about the word ‘political’. It is a formal, logical and systematic analysis of the processes and
consequences of political activity. It is analytical, expository and descriptive. It seeks to give
order, coherence, and meaning to what is described as ‘political’. Political theorists concentrate
more on theoretical claims instead of empirical claims about the nature of the politics. There
are different approaches which explains the political system which includes modern and
traditional approaches. In behaviour approach, scientific method is emphasized because
behaviours of several actors in political situation is capable of scientific study. Normative
approach is linked to philosophical method because norms and values can be determined
philosophically. Another classification of political approach is empirical analysis of political
events.
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CONCLUSION

By studying of Approaches to Political Science we can understand the different types of

approaches like traditional approach, modern approaches and other approaches like historical
approaches , and we can understand behaviourlism, post-behaviourlism and decision making
approach it helps to find out the characteristics of decision makers as well as the type of
influence the individual have on the decision makers scholars like “Richard Synder” and
Charles Lindbom have developed this approach. A political decision which is taken by a few
actors influence a larger society and a such a decision is generally shaped by a specific
situation. This will introduce us to the major approaches to the study of Political Science.
However, before studying different approaches to Political Science, it must be remembered
that Political Science is a branch of the larger area of social sciences and is different from
natural sciences.
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REFERENCES

1. POLITICAL SCIENCE BY D.K SARMAH.

2. POLITICAL SCIENCE BY A C KAPUR

3.HeinOnline, www.heinonline.org

4. https://www.jstor.org