In these circumstances, it was natural to understand politics as the study of the state. Whether politics can be considered a science has been a long standing controversy. The concept of power relates to the capacity of social agents and institutions. His complaint against liberal capitalism was that it was a civilization of property, inequality and family fortune for a few and most degrading conditions for the vast number of people. Scott: He is comparative researcher of agrarian and non-state societies, subaltern politics, and anarchism. As a social science, it deals with relationship of man with man. Meaning and Definition of Comparative Politics : The study of comparative politics involves conscious comparisons in studying political experience, institutions, behaviour and processes of the systems of government in a comprehensive manner.
When a political scientist starts to analyse any aspect of political science his thoughts and views are circumscribed by the prevailing situation and happenings of the society in which he lives. It was loaded with values of what is desirable and what is to be detested. Political theory should be problem-oriented and should probe issues like democracy, market, equal opportunities in such contexts. Manusmriti, dated to about two centuries after the time of Chanakya is another important political treatise of ancient India. Another important element in the study of politics is controversy and conflict.
Comparative Politics, no doubt, has to be concerned with the government structure, but at the same time, it has to take note of: i Society, historical heritage and geographic and resources endowed, its social and economic organisations, its ideologies and value systems, and its political style; and ii Its parties, interests and leadership structure. But concept does not deal with these aspect. A theoretical discussion on the function of the State through phases and in the contemporary environment, form an important part of political theory. This Greek tradition passed through ages and in this way politics has come to be known as art of government. We have so far noted only one meaning of the term politics but there is another meaning which is also to be found in wide circulation.
Business Environment is divided into two categories viz. But knowledge of the past and the present of the State does not exhaust the scope of Political Science. Firstly, political science is not a natural science, so it bears a weaker relationship than other natural sciences. New Aspects of Politics 1925 by Charles Merriam Intellectual God-father of Behavioural Approach , the Science and Methods of Politics 1927 by George E Catlin, Quantitative Methods in Politics 1928 by Stuart Rice and Psychology and Politics 1930 by Harold Laswell were the most notable publications of this era that gave rise to the empirical dimension in political studies. So we can say that there are number of components of a theory. The state guarantees certain rights and liberties to its citizens and also imposes certain reasonable restrictions on them. It insists on 'value free' approach.
But this approach was emerged during 20th century. However, political science as a study of relevant, political affairs and research is gaining importance. Political science brings under its purview only political decisions. Plato wrote The Republic and Aristotle wrote the Politics. Traditionally, the study of political values-of what, for example, ought to be the political structure and what political goals ought to be sought has been the field of political philosophers A main concern of the modem political philosophers is the study of great thinkers of the past Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau among others. In the decade of sixties, the systems theory became an important tool to evaluate and investigate key factors in Political Science.
Second is analysis of the data. Political science is not a standalone field and it intersects many other branches like sociology, economics, history, anthropology, public policy among others. It is generally believed that political thought is the general thought comprising of theories and values of all those persons or a section of the community who think and write on the day-do-day activities, policies and decisions of the state, and which has a bearing on our present living. The subject matters of earlier political theory were description, explanation and evaluation and the latter opened the way of normative character of political theory. Bernard Crick says that whenever a society is plagued by crises, the impact falls upon the society and it is reflected on political science. There are number of exponents of this concept and most renowned of them are Harold Lasswell and Kaplan.
We thus see that political theory can never flourish and spread its manifold aspects in vacuum; it has not fallen from heaven. From history, researchers come to know how man was in the past and what he is now. Experiments can only hardly be conducted in political science. For many people political activity is a good deal gratifying than other outlets family, friends, recreation and the like. Politics is seen as an act of conflict and cooperation among individuals and various groups in the society to secure values like liberty, equality, justice, welfare etc, and to organize and use a public power for this purpose Bernard Crick.
Interdisciplinary Study: The study of Political Science needs a knowledge and understanding of other social sciences, particularly, Sociology, Psychology, Cultural Anthropology, Economics and others. There are others who hold that Political Science deals only, with government. It is a difficult problem to adjust and reconcile the authority of the state with the individual liberty. But a proper scrutiny and hair split analysis will reveal that there is a difference between the terms though this difference can easily be ignored. The state has several specialized structures, institutions, officer and roles. Possibly, Marx is the only philosopher who has vehemently argued the relationship between the two important subjects of social science. It is imperative that they should know the structure and functions of the different components of their government.
Study of such regularities makes Political Science more scientific with some predictive value. In the prospectus of universities of India and many other countries a few decades ago, economics and political science established a single subject which suggests the close relationship between the two. When one calls political science a science one need not use the word science in a conservative and literal sense, but in a broad and unorthodox sense. Political Science also studies the structure and functioning of the State, governments, inter-State organisations, etc. If this is the position there is no reason to refuse to call it a science subject. It classified the same into four zones, namely, Political Theory, Political Institution, Political Dynamics and International Relations. This happens because politics studies human behaviour and social constructs which are vulnerable to change.