Lesson 1

• Political Science


  A social science that deals with the systematic study of the state and government
• Bluntschi, a German scholar and political analyst: 'Political science is the science, which is concerned with the state, which endeavors to comprehend the state in its fundamental conditions, in its essential nature, its various forms of manifestations, and its development'
• Dr. Paul Janet, a French scholar: 'Political science is that branch of social science which treats of the foundations of the state and the principles underlying government administration'
• Seeley, an English writer: 'Political science is a discipline that investigates the phenomena of government, as political economy that deals with wealth, biology with life, statistics with numbers, and geometry with space and magnitude'
• Most writers defined political science as the study of state and government
• Polis


  Greek term meaning a city
• Polites


  Meaning citizen
• Politikos


  Meaning civic
• Scientia


  Latin term meaning knowledge
• The study of political science has for its primary objective, the fundamental knowledge and understanding of the state and of the concepts, themes, principles, and ideals which underline its organizations and activities
• The main concern of political science is the association and interaction of human beings into a political community that is organized under government and law
• State


  A community of persons, more or less numerous, permanently occupying a fixed territory, and possessed of an independent government organized for political ends to which the great body of inhabitants render habitual obedience
• Nation


  A relation of birth or origin and implies a common race, usually characterized by community of language and customs
• The term nation is used interchangeably with state, e.g, the United Nations, or the family of nations, which actually consists of states and not nations
• Government


  The agency or instrumentality through which the will of the state is formulated, expressed, and realized
• The state is the principal, the government its agent
• The state itself is an abstraction; it is the government that externalizes the state and articulates its will
• Essential elements of a state

  • People
  • Territory
  • Government
  • Sovereignty
• People


  The inhabitants of the state, who must be numerous enough to be self-sufficing and to defend themselves and small enough to be easily administered and sustained
• The people are more comprehensive and less cohesive than the nation
• Territory


  The fixed portion of the surface of the earth inhabited by the people of the state, which must be neither too big as to be difficult to administer and defend nor too small as to enable to provide for the needs of the population
• Components of territory


  • Land mass (terrestrial domain)
  • Inland and external waters (maritime and fluvial domain)
  • Air space above the land and waters (aerial domain)
• No particular form of government is prescribed, provided only that the government is able to represent the state in the dealings with other states
• The mandate of the government from the state is to promote the welfare of the people
• Sovereignty


  The supreme and uncontrollable power inherent in a state by which that state is governed
• Types of sovereignty


  • Legal sovereignty
  • Political sovereignty
• Legal sovereignty


  The authority which has the power to issue final commands
• Political sovereignty


  The power behind the legal sovereign, or the sum of the influences that operate upon it
• Types of sovereignty


  • Internal sovereignty
  • External sovereignty
• Internal sovereignty


  The power of the state to control its domestic affairs
• External sovereignty


  The power of the state to direct its relations with other states, also known as independence
• Sovereignty is permanent, exclusive, comprehensive, absolute, indivisible, inalienable, and imprescriptible
• Most writers defined political science as?

  the study of state and government