Political science is the study of how societies make decisions about power,

resources, and rules.

Key topics include:

- Government structures (democracy, authoritarianism, etc.)

- Political behaviour (elections, voting, political parties)

- The role of institutions (parliament, judiciary, executive)

- International relations (e.g., EU, UN)

Core concepts in political science:

● Power: The ability to influence decisions (e.g., government policies, school rules)

● State and Government: The structure that governs (e.g., your national
government)

● Democracy vs. Authoritarianism: Citizen participation in decision-making vs.

control by a single leader or small group

● Political Parties: Groups with shared ideas that try to gain power (e.g.,
examples from the students' home countries)

● Citizenship: Rights and responsibilities (e.g., voting, following laws)

A broad definition: the study of politics, power, and governance

There are three different but related dimensions to the broader topic: polity, politics, and
policies

Polity:

Definition: Polity refers to the formal structure or institutional framework of a certain

group of people, within which politics takes place. This includes the constitution, legal
systems, and government institutions (parliament, courts, etc.).
 Example: In a country like Austria or Czechia, the polity is shaped by the constitution,
which sets out how government power is divided (executive, legislative, judiciary) and the
rules by which decisions are made.

Policy:

Definition: Policy is about the specific actions and decisions made by governments to
address societal issues or achieve certain goals. These are practical measures or laws
implemented within the polity.

Example: The policy on climate change could involve creating laws that limit carbon
emissions or promote renewable energy.

Politics:

Definition: Politics refers to the process by which power is gained, maintained, and
used in the polity. It involves the competition, debate, and negotiation among individuals,
parties, and interest groups to influence policy-making.

Example: Politics in a country may involve election campaigns, debates over economic
reform, or the rivalry between political parties.

Key Differences:

Polity is about the system (framework) in which political activity happens.

Policy is about the specific actions or decisions made within the system.
Politics is the activity of competing for power and influencing decisions within that
system.

Interconnection:

Polity sets the stage for politics.

Politics influences the creation of policies.
Policy is carried out through the institutions and structures of the polity.

A short history of political science

Political science is the study of political systems, governance, public policies, political
behaviour, and the theoretical underpinnings of political life. Its history is deeply rooted in
philosophy and the evolution of human societies.

1. Ancient Foundations (5th Century BCE – 5th Century CE)

 Greece and Rome: Political science traces its origins to ancient Greece and Rome.
In Greece, philosophers like Plato and Aristotle explored governance, justice, and the ideal
political community. Aristotle’s work Politics is often considered one of the first political
science texts, analysing different political systems and the concept of citizenship.
Roman Republic and Empire: Roman thinkers like Cicero contributed to early ideas
about law, the role of the state, and citizenship, which would influence European political
thought for centuries.

2. Medieval and Renaissance Thought (5th – 16th Century)

During the Middle Ages, political thought in Europe was dominated by Christian
theology and the authority of the Church, with philosophers like St. Augustine and Thomas
Aquinas blending political and religious ideas.
The Renaissance revived classical political thought, particularly in Italy, where
Niccolò Machiavelli wrote The Prince (1513), a seminal work on political power, realpolitik,
and leadership. His ideas challenged idealistic views of governance and emphasized the
role of power in politics.

3. Early Modern Political Theories (17th – 18th Century)

Social Contract Theories: Philosophers like Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-
Jacques Rousseau developed theories about the social contract, the nature of human
society, and the legitimacy of governments. Locke's ideas about natural rights and
government by consent greatly influenced liberal democracy and the Enlightenment.
Enlightenment Thinkers: The 18th century saw thinkers like Montesquieu, who
introduced the idea of the separation of powers in The Spirit of the Laws, and Voltaire, who
advocated for civil liberties and the separation of church and state.

4. 19th Century Developments

Political Economy: The rise of industrialization and capitalism brought a new focus on
political economy, with thinkers like Karl Marx critiquing capitalist systems and proposing
socialism. Marx's Communist Manifesto (1848) and Das Kapital (1867) became foundational
for socialist and communist movements, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe.
Liberalism and Nationalism: This era also saw the growth of liberalism, with thinkers
like John Stuart Mill advocating for individual freedom and democratic governance.
Nationalism emerged as a powerful political force, particularly in Central Europe, where the
decline of empires led to the formation of new nation-states.

5. 20th Century Political Science as a Discipline

Institutionalization of Political Science: Political science became more formalized in

the late 19th and early 20th centuries, especially in the United States and Europe. It shifted
from philosophical debates to empirical analysis. Institutions like the London School of
Economics (LSE) and Harvard University established political science departments, making
it a distinct academic discipline.
 Behavioralism and Systems Theory: In the mid-20th century, political science began
incorporating more scientific methods, emphasizing behavior, political systems, and
empirical data. Scholars like David Easton introduced systems theory, which viewed political
systems as dynamic entities interacting with their environments.
Democratization and Totalitarianism: The 20th century was marked by studies on
democracy, authoritarianism, and totalitarianism, particularly after the rise and fall of fascism
and communism. Thinkers like Hannah Arendt explored the nature of totalitarian regimes,
while others like Robert Dahl examined the functioning of modern democracies.

6. Contemporary Political Science (Late 20th – 21st Century)

Post-Cold War Era: After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, political science
focused on transitions to democracy, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, and the
challenges of globalization.
Globalization and Identity Politics: In recent decades, scholars have examined the
effects of globalization, the rise of populism, and the challenges posed by issues such as
climate change, migration, and the resurgence of identity politics.
Current Trends: Political science today is interdisciplinary, integrating insights from
economics, sociology, psychology, and even biology. There is also a growing focus on
international relations, governance in the digital age, and how global power shifts affect
politics.

Major subfields of political science:

Comparative Politics: Comparing political systems across countries.

International Relations: Understanding how countries interact on the global stage.
Political Theory: Philosophical ideas about politics, justice, and governance.
Public Policy and Administration: Examining how governments implement policies.
Political Economy: Exploring the relationship between politics and economics.
There is no academic consensus on the definition of the state. According to Walter Scheidel,
mainstream definitions of the state have the following in common: "centralized institutions
that impose rules, and back them up by force, over a territorially circumscribed
population; a distinction between the rulers and the ruled; and an element of
autonomy, stability, and differentiation. These distinguish the state from less stable forms
of organization, such as the exercise of chiefly power."

The most commonly used definition is by Max Weber who describes the state as a
compulsory political organization with a centralized government that maintains a monopoly
of the legitimate use of force within a certain territory. Weber writes that the state "is a
human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical
force within a given territory."
There are many different ways to distinguish between different types of state. One way is to
distinguish by who is leading the state and how they came into power. Typical categories
are:

● Monarchy: The ruler is considered to have a special status, very often with
religious associations (divine right, Mandate of Heaven, etc). They usually inherit
the position from their predecessors and hold power for the rest of their lives (or
until they abdicate).

● Republic: The ruler is elected into their position by a larger group of people with
voting rights. Their term is often limited. After their term's end or their death, a
new ruled is elected.

● Dictatorship: The leader has managed to assemble a powerful enough following

to seize the power over the state and suppresses any opposition. They stay in
power as long as their following is stronger than those of opposing forces.

Another way of differentiating between states is to describe how the power of the
government is legitimized, which means how it is justified that they rule over the others and
where their power comes from. Typical modern categories are:

● Democracy: Democracy (from Ancient Greek: δημοκρατία, romanized:

dēmokratía, dēmos 'people' and kratos 'rule') is a system of government in which
state power is vested in the people or the general population of a state. Under a
minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitive
elections.

● Authoritarianism: Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the

rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the
political status quo, and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil
liberties, and the rule of law. Political scientists have created many typologies
describing variations of authoritarian forms of government. Authoritarian regimes
may be either autocratic or oligarchic and may be based upon the rule of a party
or the military.States that have a blurred boundary between democracy and
authoritarianism have some times been characterized as "hybrid democracies",
"hybrid regimes" or "competitive authoritarian" states.
 ● Totalitarianism: A political system and a form of government that prohibits
opposition political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of
individual and group opposition to the state, and controls the public sphere and
the private sphere of society. In the field of political science, totalitarianism is the
extreme form of authoritarianism, wherein all socio-political power is held by a
dictator, who also controls the national politics and the peoples of the nation with
continual propaganda campaigns that are broadcast by state-controlled and by
friendly private mass communications media.

There are many different forms of political systems that have existed in history, e.g.:

● Feudalism

● Oligarchy

● Plutocracy

● Aristocracy

● Theocracy
Theories of democracy were long dominated by classical texts from Ancient Greece. The
movement of the Enlightenment, starting in the late 17th century, expanded on these
theories and brought in additional concepts. All of these thoughts are the basis of thinking
about democracy up to this day.

The most well-known example of an actually existing democracy was that of Athenian
Democracy: It refers to the system of democratic government used in Athens, Greece from
the 5th to 4th century BCE. The system was complex and had many components, but it can
be summarised like this: Under this system, all male citizens - the dēmos - had equal
political rights, freedom of speech, and the opportunity to participate directly in the political
arena.

Ancient Greeks that are known for their writings on democracy are Pericles, a politician from
Athens (who was a proud representative of the city state's democratic system), and the
philosopher Aristotle (who was actually critical of it).

In the 17th century, the English philosopher John Locke developed a more positive view on
democracy based on Aristotle's classifications of political systems. He started from the idea
that in their "state of nature", men live “equal one amongst another without subordination or
subjection,” and they are perfectly free to act and to dispose of their possessions as they see
fit, within the bounds of natural law. Democracy is then based on the consent of these
individuals to accept a shared government that is ruled by majorities as a reasonable way to
establish society for the benefit of humanity as a whole ("social contract").

Locke also brought up three questions that are relevant to this day:
● What is the appropriate association within which a democratic government
should be established? - A city-state? A nation?
● Who should constitute the dēmos? - All adult men who have full citizenship
and a certain amount of land or other property? Women? Children?
● What political institutions are necessary for governing? - A full assembly of
all members of the dēmos that meets regularly? Various representative bodies?

Other important contributors to democratic theories include the French 18th-century political
theorist Montesquieu, who stated that a necessary condition for the existence of a
democratic government is that the people in whom supreme power is lodged possess the
quality of “public virtue,” meaning that they are motivated by a desire to achieve the public
good; the Swiss-born philosopher, writer, and political theorist Jean-Jacques Rousseau,
who argued that only direct democracies, in which there is no representation, are fully
legitimate, and therefore democracies cannot be legitimate beyond the size of city-states for
practical reasons; or 19th-century British philosopher and economist John Stuart Mill, who
put the focus on basic freedoms of the individual that are required for the functioning of
democratic societies, saying that individual liberty cannot be legitimately infringed—whether
by government, society, or individuals—except in cases where the individual’s action would
cause harm to others.

Based on these traditions, what would an ideal democracy look like? ("ideal" - something
that exists as an abstract concept (= idea), but which may be difficult or even impossible to
be put into practice)

Features of ideal democracy (= theory)

At a minimum, an ideal democracy would have the following features:
 ● Effective participation. Before a policy is adopted or rejected, members of the
dēmos have the opportunity to make their views about the policy known to other
members.

● Equality in voting. Members of the dēmos have the opportunity to vote for or
against the policy, and all votes are counted as equal.

● Informed electorate. Members of the dēmos have the opportunity, within a

reasonable amount of time, to learn about the policy and about possible
alternative policies and their likely consequences.

● Citizen control of the agenda. The dēmos, and only the dēmos, decides what
matters are placed on the decision-making agenda and how they are placed
there. Thus, the democratic process is “open” in the sense that the dēmos can
change the policies of the association at any time.

● Inclusion. Each and every member of the dēmos is entitled to participate in the
association in the ways just described.

● Fundamental rights. Each of the necessary features of ideal democracy

prescribes a right that is itself a necessary feature of ideal democracy: thus every
member of the dēmos has a right to communicate with others, a right to have his
voted counted equally with the votes of others, a right to gather information, a
right to participate on an equal footing with other members, and a right, with other
members, to exercise control of the agenda. Democracy, therefore, consists of
more than just political processes; it is also necessarily a system of fundamental
rights.

Ideal and representative democracy in modern states (= practice)

In modern representative democracies, the features of ideal democracy, to the extent that
they exist, are realized through a variety of political institutions. These institutions, which are
broadly similar in different countries despite significant differences in constitutional structure,
were entirely new in human history at the time of their first appearance in Europe and the
United States in the 18th century. Among the most important of them is naturally the
institution of representation itself, through which all major government decisions and
policies are made by popularly elected officials, who are accountable to the electorate
for their actions.

Other important institutions include:

● Free, fair, and frequent elections. Citizens may participate in such elections
both as voters and as candidates (though age and residence restrictions may be
imposed).

● Freedom of expression. Citizens may express themselves publicly on a broad

range of politically relevant subjects without fear of punishment.
 ● Independent sources of information. There exist sources of political
information that are not under the control of the government or any single group
and whose right to publish or otherwise disseminate information is protected by
law; moreover, all citizens are entitled to seek out and use such sources of
information.

● Freedom of association. Citizens have the right to form and to participate in

independent political organizations, including parties and interest groups.

The relation between these institutions and the features of ideal democracy that are realized
through them can be summarized as follows. In an association as large as a nation-state,
representation is necessary for effective participation and for citizen control of the agenda;
free, fair, and frequent elections are necessary for effective participation and for equality in
voting; and freedom of expression, independent sources of information, and freedom of
association are each necessary for effective participation, an informed electorate, and citizen
control of the agenda.

All official democracies have the same main characteristic: They are supposed to express
"the will of the people" in all political decisions.

In practice, democracies come in many different forms and can be put into a virtually endless
number of different categories. Here are some examples of such categories:

1. Direct vs. representative

In a direct democracy, every individual member of the electorate (= all people who
are allowed to vote) is invited to personally participate in political decisions, for
example during public assemblies.
Modern elements of direct democracy even in otherwise representative democracies
are public votes on certain decisions, or citizen-initiated referenda.

In representative democracies, the electorate elects representatives and invests

them with the power to make political decisions on their behalf.
Different countries have different rules for electing representatives to different
political bodies. Most commonly, there is some sort of parliament (with one or two
chambers), which acts as the legislative body of government, but which also
influences how positions in the other branches of government (executive, judicial)
are filled.

2. Centralised vs. federal

 In centralised democracies, the political power mainly lies with a central
government that directly governs all parts of the state.

Especially states that have a strong history of their individual parts having a lot of
indepedence and strong regional identity are often organised as federal states. In
federal democracies, there are regional elections for local governments that
wield a lot of political power in their respective regions.
Either these regional governments then send their own representatives to the
federal government that governs the state as a whole, or there are separate
federal government elections.
How exactly political power is shared between these layers of government differs
from country to country.

3. Head of state

In some democratic states, the head of state, the person who is officially at the
top of the political hierarchy, does not get democratically elected. Some
countries are instead led by military or religious leaders, or by monarchs.

In a democratic republic, the head of state is either elected directly through a

public vote, or indirectly by representatives, such as the parliament.

4. Consensus-based vs. majority rule

In an ideal democracy, all decisions take everybody's positions into account,

possibly through a process of wide debate and deliberation, so that everybody
agrees to them in the end (= consensus).

In practice, full consensus is hard to reach. Therefore, most democracies apply

certain majority rules for different decisions.

Again, different countries have different rules. Often, decisions require more than
50% of all votes (= an absolute majority) to pass.
When there are more than two options, in some situations less than 50% are
enough for one option to succeed, as long as it has more votes than any other
option (= relative majority).
Some countries require more than 50% of all votes for certain decisions (e.g. at
least 2/3rds of all votes for changes to the constitution).
5. Political parties

Today, political parties as the driving forces of political decisions are the norm.
Some states have tried to completely do without them, with all candidates for
elections running as independents.

When there are political parties, a distinction is made based on the number of
relevant political parties.
Some countries are de jure (= by law) one-party states. Others have a de facto
(= in practical reality) one-party dominant system, where it is more or less
impossible for any other political parties to gain control of the government.

Some countries have a two-party system where control of the government only
ever shifts between just two parties, while other parties have no realistic chance
of gaining control.

Many countries have a multi-party system in which more than two political
parties have a chance of gaining control of the government.

6. Secular vs. religious

In secular states, there is no state religion, but instead a very clear separation
between the state and any form of organised religion. All citizens are to be
treated equally, regardless of any individual religious beliefs.

In a number of secular countries religious organisations still have some influence,

though, for example through specific political parties that sympathise with them, or
through influencing the public discourse.

Some countries have a state religion. The values of that religion, and possibly also
representatives of that religion's organisations, strongly influence the politics of that
country.

7. Ethnic vs. ethnically inclusive

Some democratic countries are ethnically inclusive and explicitly give the same
rights to all their citizens, regardless of their individual ethnicity.

Other states, especially those that define themselves as nation-states, explicitly

state that they mainly represent one specific dominant ethnicity, while other
ethnicities just have minority status within the state.
8. State vs. other collectives

All previous categories have focused on states with democratic systems. However,
we can also look at democratic systems within other groups and collectives of
human beings, such as companies, clubs, organisations, institutions, or possibly
even families.