Thomas Meyer (political scientist)

Transcription

Political science is the systematic study of government and politics. It is a social science just like sociology or psychology or anthropology in that we are fascinated by human behavior, but in the case of political science we look at political behavior in particular. Political science has often been defined as who gets what, when, where, and how. Political science is about power relationships. Why should one study political science? Political science is fascinating! It's about people. Politics impacts our lives directly and indirectly whether we're aware of it or not. If there's a crime that takes place one calls the police. That's government. If there's a fire that takes place one calls the fire department. That's also government. The military is government as well. Our civil liberties, our rights, that impacts us on a daily basis, so if one happens to get pulled over by a police officer, for example, what are their legal rights in that kind of situation? The question of textbook costs and so on and so forth, these are actually fundamentally political decisions that are made by politicians, by elected officials. Political science is a very broad discipline, but some of the subdisciplines include national, state, and local government, so if one is taking political science courses in the United States then they might take courses in American government, on the American presidency, the court system. There's international relations. That is a discipline where we look at how all of the various actors within the global system or the international system interact with one another. In an international relations course one might learn about topics such as human rights, such as globalization, such as international relations theories that help us understand the world around us or at least attempt to explain various international phenomena. Power, military power, hard power, soft power. Another area that one might study within international relations would be foreign policy decision-making. And, in fact, one can take courses at most American colleges and universities and colleges and universities, indeed, throughout the world in studying the foreign policy of particular countries. Another subdiscipline within political science is political theory and/or political philosophy. And, in those courses one would study some of the great thinkers throughout human history who have grappled with tough political, philosophical questions about the nature of power, about the nature of human beings, and also really get into discussing various ideas and many of the "isms": socialism, communism, Islamism, feminism and so on. Another subdiscipline of political science is comparative government and politics. In comparative politics courses, we discuss and analyze the various political systems around the world. And, there are two major approaches to the study of comparative politics. The first is the thematic approach where one would study the various broad themes that would help us understand the various political systems around the world, such as revolutions or nationalism, things of that nature. Another approach is a country-by-country approach where one studies the various countries around the world and their political systems, and domestic politics, and domestic political issues within a particular country. So, within comparative politics one can focus on the various regions of the world. So, for example, Middle East North African politics, or Latin American politics, or Asian and/or African politics, or European politics. Another subdiscipline in the area of political science would be research methodology or quantitative analyses courses, and that's actually sort of the science part of political science where one would utilize numbers to understand, explain, and predict political behavior. There are many things that one can do with a political science major in terms of career options. One could work for government at the federal, state, or local levels. One could work for the United Nations or other international governmental organizations. One could work in the nonprofit sector for non-governmental or nonprofit organizations, or one might actually become a Senator or president or an elected official. In addition, one could teach with a political science background. One could be a diplomat and work as a foreign service officer or work for the State Department. One can also work in business and/or even in journalism, in the news media. A political science background really prepares one for a wide range of possible career options. I would say that one would want to study political science because it's fascinating. It's about people, it's about the story of people. Political science will help you better analyze current events. Anyone whose literate can read newspapers or articles online, but political science will give you that ability to analyze the current events that are going on. It'll help you better formulate arguments, and strengthen your arguments, and develop your critical thinking skills. It's perhaps human nature to sort of look for easy answers and easy solutions and kind of get into black-and-white thinking, but what political science will do for someone is actually get you to understand that there are shades of grey, and that there's nuance, and that the world around us is not just black and white. And, again, political science is a social science, so it's about people, and any social scientist finds the study of people fascinating. If you'd like to learn more about your legal rights, if you would like to learn more about the constitution, United States Constitution that impacts you every day, then political science might be for you.