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Approaches to the Study of

Political Science

Dr. Avinash Samal


Assistant Professor
Hidayatullah National Law University
Raipur, Chhattisgarh
What is an Approach?
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 The way we look at a particular phenomenon,


issue or problem.
 How we study a particular issue and how we
acquire knowledge & understanding about it.
 A particular orientation or point of view in looking
and interpreting the world of events
 The approaches and methods are not mutually
exclusive or exhaustive. Indeed, several of them
can be used in conjunction with each other.
Why take an Approach to
Studying Political Science?
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 They are useful to the extent that they direct our


attention to important political phenomena.
 Help clarify and organize our thinking.
 Suggest explanations for political behaviour/public
policies.
 Help us interpret politics/political behaviour/public
policies from a wider perspective and broaden our
understanding about an issue under study.
Major Approaches to Studying
2
Political Science
 Traditional Approach
 Philosophical
 Historical
 Legal-Institutional
 Modern Approach
 Behavioural Approach
 Post Behavioural Approach
 Systems Approach
 Structural-Functional Approach
 Marxist Approach
Traditional Approaches in
Political Science
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 An amalgamation of views on the orientation to politics in


philosophical, ethical and institutional terms
 Great issues of politics revolved round the organization &
functioning of the state
 Aims, objectives and legitimate domain of the state
 Grounds of political obligation
 Issues of citizenship, and
 Relationship between freedom and authority
 Characterized by normative overtone and ethical evaluation
 Stress on structural, institutional & legalistic aspects of
politics
 Government, organized institutions that make up the
government, constitution, laws etc.
Cont.
2

 The legal institutional approaches produced valuable


studies on the formal aspects of government
 Cited as inadequate and unrealistic as it ignored the
realities of political process and political behaviour by
concentrating on legalistic and constitutional factors
 Political behaviour takes place within the institutional
framework
 Neither the behaviour nor the institutions can be
adequately explained without and understanding of the
both
Behavioural Approach
2

 Emerged partly as a reaction to the deficiencies of


traditional approaches, and
 Partly in search of a more ‘scientific knowledge’ about
politics
 Post-second world war witnessed the advent of
behavioural revolution in political science
 Harbingers of behavioural revolution – American
Political Scientists who were dissatisfied with the
achievements of traditional political science
Cont.
2

 Emphasizes application of scientific methods and techniques to


the study of political science
 Focused on structures, processes and functions
 Behaviour of individuals and groups rather than formally
prescribed rules and regulations
 Behaviour of individuals/groups was chosen as the object/unit of
both theoretical and empirical analysis not the events, structures,
institutions and ideologies
 Concerned with the acts, attitudes, preferences and expectations
of people in political contexts
 Attempted to study political phenomena in terms of the observed
and observable behaviour of men
Cont.
2

 Emphasize the functional aspects of study of politics


 ‘Systems Theory’ and the ‘Structural-functional approach’ adopted by
political scientists
 Inter-disciplinary approach – an important characteristic of
behaviouralism
 Scientific outlook and objectivity – rigour, systematic study and the
regularities in research
 Generate and test verifiable scientific explanations about political
phenomena
 Guided by the need for separating facts from values
 Develop rigorous research designs and to apply precise methods of
analysis to political behaviour problems
 Supreme importance to the tools and techniques to the extent of
neglecting the substance of political inquiry
Main features of behavioural
Approach - E M Kirkpatrick
2

 Rejects political institutions as the unit of study and identifies


the behaviour of individuals in political contexts as the basic
unit of analysis
 Identifies social sciences as ‘behavioural sciences’ and
emphasizes the unity of political science with other social
sciences
 Advocates utilization of more precise techniques of observing,
classifying and measuring data and urges the case of statistical
or quantitative formulations wherever possible
 Defines construction of systematic empirical theory as the goal
of political science
Main Features of Behavioural
Approach – David Easton
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 Regularities
 Verification
 Techniques
 Quantification
 Values – value free or value neutral
 Systematization
 Integration of political science - with other social sciences for
cross fertilization of ideas and for more valid genralizations in
political studies
Achievements
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 Techniques - not so much in the field of theory


building
 Splendid landmarks in the development and
refinement of the tools and techniques of political
behaviour research such as:
 Content analysis
 Statistical and mathematical methods
 Case study, interview and observation
 "Because behaviouralist subordinates imagination
to observation and metaphysical abstraction to
observed realities he has carried political science
another step in the direction of becoming what
August Comte hoped it might some day be a
positive science" - Peter H. Odegard
Criticism
2

 Vagueness about the meaning of the term


'political behaviour'
 The behaviouralists themselves are not agreed
on what is political behaviour
 "Defining political behaviour is a delicate
problem partly because people in politics
define and interpret what they do differently
and partly because political scientists are by
no means agreed on what they mean when
they say that they are studying political
behaviour" - Heinz Eulau
Criticism
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 Study of political behaviour of human beings


presents difficulties
 Political phenomena by their very nature
cannot be subjected to any rigorous study
 Behavioural researchers themselves find it
difficult to attain the standards of objectivity
and value-neutrality, which they set for
themselves, as they have to deal with human
beings and not substances in a laboratory
 Useful to study simple situations, but it has
failed in dealing with complex and dynamic
situations
Criticism
2

 Behaviouralism limits the world of knowledge


to the observed and observable behaviour and
phenomena.
 Admits only those data which are empirically
derived.
 For a comprehensive understanding of political
phenomena the researcher has to go beyond
observable behaviour.
 The historical and philosophical methods of
enquiry which give broad perspectives to the
researcher are neglected by the
behaviouralists.
Criticism
2

 In their zeal for scientism, the behaviouralists


have failed to distinguish between the important
and the trivial.
 Their passion to deal with concrete facts alone
often results in an exercise in trivialities.
 Great issues linked with values are overlooked.
Such studies, in the ultimate analysis, become
barren and fruitless.
 Denouncement of the language of new political
science, its value-neutrality and its claims to
scientific knowledge
 Apply the tools and techniques to the solution of
basic public policy problems - Lasswell
Criticism
2

 Value neutrality in research is untenable


 It’s dangerous to rely on facts alone without making any
reference to moral values
 "The amassing of details concerning how men behave is
deadweight of intellectual slumber unless it suggests how men
ought to behave... The factual data of politics must be judged
and appraised by moral criteria". – Lipson
 A value-neutral and objective study of politics is neither
possible nor desirable
 First, any political theorist has a certain methodological approach
and this in itself involves value judgement that his approach is the
best.
 Second, any theory must select certain facts or issues about
political life as important. This selection also in itself is a value
judgement.
 Third; under the garb of a value-free or objective political science,
the behaviouralists smuggle their own values in their theories
which are in favour of a commitment to a particular version of
liberal democracy.
Post Behaviouralism
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 In 1960s, dissatisfaction, even disillusionment, with the


behavioural approach culminated in an intellectual movement,
called post-behavioural movement.
 David Easton, spearheaded the attack on technical excesses in
behavioural research and exhorted political scientists to become
more 'relevant' in their researches and convert political science
into an 'action' science.
 As opposed to the traditionalists, post-behaviouralists accept
the behavioural approach as valid but wanted to take political
science towards new directions.
 Post-behaviouralism is 'future-oriented', seeking to provide new
directions.
 As Easton writes:” This new development is a genuine
revolution, not a reaction: a becoming, not a preservation, a
reform, not a counter-reformation".
 Post-behaviouralists share certain common characteristics
which constitute, in the words of Easton, the 'Credo of
Relevance'.
Tenets Post Behaviouralism
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 In political studies, substance must precede technique.


 If one is to be sacrificed for the other, it is more
important to be relevant and meaningful for
contemporary urgent social problems than to be
sophisticated in the tools and techniques of
investigation.
 As against the behaviouralists' slogan that "it was better
to be wrong than value", the post-behaviouralists raised
the counter-slogan that it was "better to be value than
non-relevantly precise."
 Focus attention on social change as opposed to an
ideology of empirical conservatism championed by the
behaviouralists.
 Behaviouralists had confined themselves exclusively to
the description and analysis of facts without
understanding these in the broader social context.
Cont.
2

 Post-behaviouralism exhorts political scientists to keep


touch with the "brute realities of politics". They should
reach out to the real needs of mankind in times of crisis.
 They emphasize the importance of values in politics. All
knowledge stood on value premises. They are critical of
the value-free approach of the behaviouralists. If
knowledge was to be used in the right direction, values
had to be restored to their central place.
 Post-behaviouralists remind political scientists, as
members of a learned discipline, their responsibility to
protect the human values of civilization.
 Value-neutral researchers become mere technicians and
mechanics for tinkering with society. Freedom of enquiry
must be harnessed to the solving of urgent social
problems.
Cont.
2

 To know is to bear the responsibility for acting and to


act is to engage in reshaping society.
 The intellectual as scientist bears the special obligation
to put his knowledge to work.
 There is a need for action science so as to improve
political life according to human criteria in place of
contemplative science.
 If the intellectual has the bounding obligation to put
his knowledge to work, those organisations composed
of intellectuals - the professional associations - and the
universities themselves, cannot stand apart from the
struggles of the day.
 Politicisation of the professions is both inescapable as
well as desirable.
Cont.
2

 Thus post-behaviouralism is a timely warning against the


overplay of scientism based on 'technical excesses in research'.
 It aimed at underplaying the priorities and preferences of the
behaviouralists.
 It stresses primacy of substance over technique, social
relevance over 'pure science' and political action over academic
aloofness.
 It draws attention of the discipline of political science and the
profession of political scientist to more urgent problem-solving
-without which the discipline itself might in the long run
languish.
 Acceptance of the basic tenets of post -behaviouralism has
resulted in a new synthesis in political science.
 By its stress on the centrality of values and relevant political
research and its acceptance of scientific methods of enquiry
free from excesses, post -behaviouralism seems to have
brought closer the two warring camps of 'traditionalists' and
'behaviouralists'.

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