Political Science Background Notes 
 
1. What Are The Basic Concepts of Political Science?
There are four concepts that people often use interchangeably, but have special meanings
for political scientists interested in international relations. These concepts are: nation,
country, government, and state.
A nation is a group of people who have common characteristics (both objective, like
language, race, and religion, and subjective like feeling, wishing, and wanting to be a part
of a group) and want to be independent. This definition separates a nation from an ethnic
group, since the latter does not want to be independent.
By the term country, we often refer to the geographic dimensions of a state. In this
regard, one could take a pure scientific perspective by specifying the geographic limits of
a state as indicated by longitudes and latitudes. One may also focus on the geographic
boundaries by specifying the neighboring states or they might want to focus on the
geographic characteristics of a particular land, if it is mountainous, hilly, or simply flat.
Obviously, different geographic characteristics are associated with different types of
historical and political experiences.
A government is an administration, which attempts to bring order to a society by
performing three major functions: making laws, enforcing laws, and judging based on
laws.
A state is a legal and political entity that has five major characteristics: people, territory,
government, sovereignty (independence), and diplomatic recognition. Thus, one may
argue that state is a more comprehensive concept in comparison to the other three terms.
2. How Do The States And Nations Relate To One Another?
There are three concepts used in international politics based on how states and nations
relate to one another. These concepts are: nation-state, multinational state, and
multistate nation.
A nation-state is a state which predominately contains one nation within its territory. For
example, Japan is a very homogeneous state. In Japan, about 98% of the population is of
Japanese descent, about 1.5% are Korean, and .5% are other nationalities.
A multinational state is a state that contains more than one nation within its geographic
boundaries. In Canada, there are two major nationalities-- the English and the French
speaking. The latter is concentrated in Quebec region.
A multistate nation is a nation that forms the majority of the inhabitants of more than
one state. For example, the Anglo-Saxon nation constitutes the majority of the people
living in the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The Arabs are also a multistate
nation since they constitute the majority of citizens of Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia,
and other Arab states.
3. What Are The Major Schools of Thought In This Field?
There are two major schools of thought in politics: realism and idealism. The realists
present a pessimistic world view similar to that of Thomas Hobbes in Leviathan, where
the nature of mankind is evil and unchangeable, the international community is
anarchical, and only the strong will survive. The realists emphasize the importance of
power and national interest, instead of human rights and humanitarian efforts. One of
their most well-known scholars was Hans Morgenthau (who wrote Politics Among the
Nations), while policy-makers include Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger. The major
assumptions of the realists are:
1. Different states have different interests, which are often at odds with each other.
2. Contradictory interests could lead to a conflict, the largest of which is a war.
3. A state's power level is a crucial factor in determining the outcome of the conflict.
4. Politics is all about maintaining power, increasing power, or projecting power.
On the contrary, the idealists represent a world view that can be traced back to the ideas
of Jean Jacque Rousseau, in the Social Contract. The idealists tend to be more optimistic
about human nature. They think change is possible and cooperation among individuals is
doable. Cyrus Vance and Jimmy Carter are recognized as idealists. Their main
assumptions can be summarized as follows:
1. Preserving, acquiring, and applying power is not the essence of international
politics.
2. Pursuing ethical policy is not against national interest.
3. The world must seek a new system of order.
4. Humans are capable of more cooperation and less conflict.
4. What To Study?
Like other social scientists, all political scientists study behavior. What separates political
scientists from others, however, is their emphasis on the concept of power and
consequently political behavior. In the field of international politics, scholars focus on the
political behavior that influences the international scene. The subject of the study can
come from one of the three levels-of-analysis: individual, state, or system. Thus, a levelof-analysis
is what we study. We will discuss each of these levels in more detail in the
future.
5. What Are Some of The Themes of Politics?
One of the major themes of international politics is conflict-cooperation studies. Simply
said, we can study the relationship among states in terms of the nature of their
association, which can be either cooperative or conflictual. Another theme is the NorthSouth
connection, which focuses on the global economic division between the South, the
Poor, or the less developed countries (LDCs), and the North, the Rich, or the developed
countries (DCs). During the Cold War era, it was also customary to focus on the EastWest
axis, which illustrated a political and ideological division of the world into two
camps each led by a superpower.
6. What Are The Major Types of Relations In The World?
There are three different types of relationships that can exist among states. They are
dependent, interdependent, and independent relationships. A dependent relationship is a
type of association in which the event in one state influences another state, which is often
a less powerful state. The examples can mostly be found in the North-South relationships,
or the relationship between most developing countries whose economy is dependent on
the trade with their more powerfully developed counterparts.
An interdependent relationship is a type of association when the events in one state
influence events in another and this process is mutual. The relationship among the
industrial societies of the West is the best example. For instance, the American economy
influences the Japanese economy and politics and vice versa.
An independent relationship between two states exists when the events in either one have
no major impact on the other. This type of relationship traditionally existed between the
economies of the Western and the Socialist countries, especially during the Cold War era.
Although Americans traded their wheat for Russian fur and vodka for many years even in
the height of the Cold War, the US trade embargo of the Soviet Union (after the invasion
of Afghanistan) did not seriously impact the USSR, which began to import wheat from
Canada and Argentina.