What exactly is Political Science?

who fought against France, England, the United States, and other allies. The war left Germany devastated and it was this treaty that finally settled the war. Almost thirty years after the first World War began, the treaty would ultimately lead to:

Hitler Invades Poland
Years earlier, the head of Germany had assured the world his intentions were peaceful and in Germany’s best interests.

As a means of approaching the analysis of political phenomena, power has been dramatically successful in breaching the walls of an institutional approach and in blazing a new pathway, one that has led toward a functional conceptualization of political science.

An enormous amount of time and energy has gone into describing and defining power relationships, between individuals, groups, and nations and within national political systems, local communities, and organizations.

He would even strike a peace deal with neighboring Soviets. On September 1, 1939, Hitler would invade Poland igniting what would be the worst war in human history and would ultimately lead to mass genocide and racial cleansing.

It has commanded the attention of all disciplines. Yet as a central theme, power has one overwhelming drawback.

The Treaty of Versailles
Up until this point, World War I was referred to as The Great War. Over eight million were killed in the war between Germany and its allies, who fought against France, England, the United States

Despite all efforts, the idea of power remains buried under a heavy cloud of ambiguity. It has been suggested that the time may be long overdue for giving serious consideration to the question of whether the social sciences ought not to abandon the idea entirely as a useful concept for the direct purposes of analysis and research (March 1966).

, and other allies. The war left Germany devastated and it was this treaty that finally settled the war. Almost thirty years after the first World War began, the treaty would ultimately lead to:

But we may wish to adopt a more hopeful attitude. We may assume that the inability to achieve a clear understanding of the referents of power stems from insufficient research or from inadequate but improvable tools of analysis, rather than from the excessively global character of the term itself.

Hitler Invades Poland
Years earlier, the head of Germany had assured the world his intentions were peaceful and in Germany’s best interests. He would even strike a peace deal with neighboring Soviets. On September 1, 1939,

In that event we would be left with other equally insurmountable conceptual barriers to the use of power as an orienting concept.

Even with a stable, unambiguous meaning, power would still be at one and the same time too narrow and too broad to describe even grossly the boundaries of political research.

Hitler would invade Poland igniting what would be the worst war in human history and would ultimately lead to mass genocide and racial cleansing.

It is too narrow because political interaction, within any normal use of the term, involves more than the control of one person or group by another or efforts at reciprocal influence.

Fall of the Berlin Wall
After World War II, the unsteady peace the Allies had managed in the face of a common enemy was threatened when it came time to divide Germany.

Power, it is true, appears in all political interactions. However, each political relationship may include other aspects as well, and we can neglect these only at the peril of failing to achieve an adequate understanding of the situation.

One side decided to rule in freedom and the other in communism, and a great wall was erected in Berlin, dividing the city in two in 1961.

The description of politics as the study of power also casts the definitional net far too broadly.

Conflicts over control take place in all areas of life, not just the political. A parent has power over a child, a priest over his parishioner, a friend over a friend, a corporation over its employees.

If we wished, we might choose to designate all of these kinds of power relationships as political. In this event, by fiat we could convert the study of politics into the search for a general theory of power applicable to all social relationships.

It wasn’t until 28 years later that the wall finally came down and a peace between the United States and Soviet Union was reached, but the avoidance of yet another World War was an interesting moment in history.

But if we were to undertake to do this, it would still leave an unresolved question on our hands.

Plato Writes The Republic
One of Greece’s greatest philosophers was also one of the first to take on political science. Published in 380 BC, the collection of books outlines the definition of city-states and how man should govern.

Normally many of these kinds of power relationships seem to fall far outside even the broadest conception of the frame of reference of political science.