POLİTİKA BİLİMİ

From the practical point of view, politics is sometimes defined as the technique of compromise. That is why Bismarck defined politics as the ‘art of the possible’.

Frederick Pollock divides politics into theoretical politics and practical or applied politics (Pruthi, 2005: 65-66). According to him theoretical politics includes:

The Theory of the State

The Theory of Government

The Theory of Legislation and

The Theory of State as an Artificial Person

But writers such as Frederic W. Maitland and Auguste Comte maintain that there can be no such thing as a scientific study of state and government. They agree with Edmund Burke that there is no science in Politics. It is evident that there are no uniform principles or laws in Political Science which are universally valid.

Generally, the liberal approach to political analysis can be divided into traditional approaches (Historical, Philosophical, Institutional, Legal) and modern approaches (Behavioral and Post -Behavioral). The Marxian approach to political analysis, however, is entirely different from the liberal approach; and it is comprehensive in nature.

The philosophical approach is generally identified with value preferences. The emphasis is on moral and rational premises. This approach is based on the view that values are inevitable and essential for evaluating political phenomena.

An institution is a set of offices and agencies arranged in a hierarchy, each of which has certain functions and powers. Accordingly, the institutional approach proceeds to study the organizations and functioning of government, its various organs, political parties, and other institutions affecting politics. The chief concerns of this approach include classification of governments (monarchy, tyranny, aristocracy, oligarchy, polity and democracy, dictatorship, parliamentary and presidential, unitary and federal), identification of levels of government (federal, state, local) as well as branches of government (executive, legislative, judicial). The Institutional approach relies heavily on description rather than explanation.

At the beginning of the 20th century, there was a drastic change in the study of Political Science. Social sciences began to adopt the methods of natural sciences like observation, survey, and measurement. This phase in Political Science is attended by a decisive reorientation of the discipline in terms of the methods it used. The notable exponents of this “scientific politics” were Charles Merriam, Harold D. Lasswell, George Catlin and Arthur Bentley. They looked especially to statistics and psychology as relevant tools for politics. Giving an anti-Marxian orientation to political analysis in the Post-War political context was their underlying motive. Various intellectual movements such as pragmatism, logical positivism and Behavioral psychology contributed much to the development of the new approach.

The goal of Behavioral Political Science is not the achievement of good life but to understand political phenomenon realistically and to predict things. That means the creation of a systematic casual theory but not value theory. According to Robert A. Dahl, the Behavioral approach in Political Science is “an attempt to make the empirical content of Political Science more scientific.” The ‘intellectual foundations’ for this attempt, according to David Easton, is based on regularities, verifications, techniques, quantification, values, systematization, pure science and integration.

David Easton, who had laid the intellectual foundation stones of Behavioralism, now set forth seven major traits or features of post-Behavioralism, which he called Credo of Relevance (Jayapalan, 2002: 86; Chaurasia, 2003: 137-138). They are:

Substance over technique

Relevant research

Value-laden research

Political scientist as critical intellectual

Action-oriented research

Politicization of the profession

Marx says that society does not only consist of individuals but also represents the sum total of interrelations within which these individuals exist. According to him, all societies in history have been class societies.

From the practical point of view, politics is sometimes defined as the technique of compromise. That is why Bismarck, the first Chancellor of the German Empire, defined politics as the ‘art of the possible’.

The correct answer is A.

Scholars such as Westel W.Willoughby, Georg Jellinek, and Frederick Pollock make a distinction between the theoretical and applied dimensions of Political Science. To them, topics such as origin, nature, and ends of the state constitute a part of theoretical politics while others related to the actual administration of affairs of government fall under the scope of applied politics. It is generally agreed that this is a useful and convenient distinction.

The correct answer is B.

Aristotle, the father of Political Science, regarded it as the master science. Scholars such as Jean Bodin, Thomas Hobbes and Henry Sidgwick agreed with him. However, some writers including Edmund Burke held that there is no science in Politics. It is evident that there are no universally valid principles or laws in Political Science. Political Science is primarily concerned with man and his behavior in political context. It deals with human beings, and all human beings do not behave in the same manner at all times. Consequently, it is impossible to obtain correct results in Political Science as in natural sciences.

The correct answer is E.

Political philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, John Locke, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Jeremy Bentham, J. S. Mill, Hegel and Marx raised the following questions: What ideals are sought to be realised through the state, what is the meaning of freedom and equality, what are the grounds and limits of political obligation?

Karl Popper described this approach as ‘historicism’, and criticized historicism – especially Marxism – on the grounds that it insists on discovering what is inevitable, and then advocates ‘totalitarian’ methods for its realization.

The correct answer is A.

The legal approach refers to an attempt to understand politics in terms of law. It focuses on the legal and constitutional framework in which different organs of government have to function, and the powers and procedure which makes their actions legally valid. For example, the legal approach to Indian politics will proceed to analyze the implications of various provisions of the Indian constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court of India, the procedure of the formation and legal position of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies, the election procedures, the powers and position of the President, Prime Minister, and Governors.

The correct answer is D.

At the beginning of the 20th century, there was a drastic change in the study of Political Science. Social sciences began to adopt the methods of natural sciences like observation, survey, and measurement. This caused radical changes in Political Science in terms of methods. Statistics and psychology have become tools used in Political Science. 

Various intellectual movements such as pragmatism, logical positivism and behavioural psychology contributed much to the development of the new approach. The Behavioural approach is based on the assumption that political institutions and nature of political events are largely determined by the nature and behavior of people – both elites and masses.

The correct answer is E.

David Easton set forth seven major features of post-Behavioralism, which he called Credo of Relevance: substance over technique, change orientation, relevant research, value-laden research, political scientist as a critical intellectual, action-oriented research, and politicisation of the profession. 

The first one emphasises the superiority of substance and purposive research over mere techniques.

The correct answer is E.

As a result of the Behavioural revolution, the emphasis in Political Science shifted to the behaviour of individuals in political situations. Consequently, ‘power relations’ constituted the core concern of politics. The Behaviouralists viewed the state as the repository of power. Thus, the concept of power became fundamental in Political Science. The change of emphasis from state to power has broadened the area of political inquiry. It shifted the focus of attention from mere structures and institutions to actions and processes. Thus, in the words of H. D. Lasswell, politics became “the study of shaping and sharing power” and a political act is “one performed in power perspectives”.

The correct answer is A.

According to Marx, politics, economics, culture and ideology are all inseparably intertwined. It is hard to disentangle one from the other. The ‘forces of production’ at the particular stage of historical development are matched by definite ‘relations of production’ that characterize the society. The relations of production taken together constitute the economic foundation (base) of the society. The legal and political institutions (super structure) stand on this economic structure. In the Marxian approach to political analysis, politics is thus conceived in terms of the specific articulation of class struggles. Though other types of struggles are not ignored, class conflict is the core of the Marxist view of politics.

The theory of dialectical materialism and its application in history, i.e., historical materialism, are the two important tools in Marxian methodology.