NATIONAL LAW INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY, BHOPAL

In partial fulfilment of the requirement of the project on the subject of Political Science - I of B.A., L.L.B
(Hons.), Third Trimester

Submitted on 17th April 2015

EVOLUTION OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AS A DISCIPLINE

Submitted to:

Submitted by:

Dr. Raka Arya

Udyan Arya Shrivastava

(Assistant Professor of Political Science)

(2014 BALLB 98)

NATIONAL LAW INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY , BHOPAL

PREFACE

I feel great pleasure in presenting this project. I hope that readers will find the project interesting and that the
project in its present from shall be well received by all. The project contains a study of the historical evolution of
Political Science as a discipline.
Every effort is made to keep the project error free. I would gratefully acknowledge any suggestions to improve
the project to make it more useful.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

On completion of this Project it is my present privilege to acknowledge my profound gratitude and indebtedness
towards my teachers for their valuable suggestions and constructive criticism. Their precious guidance and
unrelenting support kept me on the right track throughout the project. I gratefully acknowledge my deepest sense
of gratitude to:
Prof. (Dr.) S.S. Singh, Director, National Law Institute University, Bhopal for providing us with the infrastructure
and the means to make this project;
Our Political Science teacher, Dr. Raka Arya, who provided me this wonderful opportunity and guided me
throughout the project work;
Im also thankful to the library and computer staffs of the University for helping us find and select books from
the University library.
Finally, Im thankful to my family members and friends for the affection and encouragement with which doing
this project became a pleasure.

Udyan Arya Shrivastava

(2014 BALLB 98)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1) INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................................5
2) WESTERN POLITICAL THOUGHT....................................................................................................6

a) Ancient Greece and Rome.............................................................................................6

b) Early modern developments...........................................................................................7
c) Contemporary Political Science.....................................................................................9
3) EASTERN POLITICAL THOUGHT...................................................................................................11

a) India..............................................................................................................................11
b) China............................................................................................................................12
c) Southeast Asia..............................................................................................................12
4) CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................14
5) BIBLIOGRAPHY..............................................................................................................................15

a) Books............................................................................................................................15
b) Articles.........................................................................................................................15
c) Other Sources...............................................................................................................15

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INTRODUCTION

Political Science, as we understand it today, is concerned with the study of politics, i.e., the political activities of
human beings. It is a social science discipline which studies state, nation, government, and politics and policies of
government.
Throughout history politics has connoted different meanings and its scope is continuously widening. Although it
has been discussed by different political thinkers since antiquity, the history of Political Science as an academic
discipline is relatively new.
This project examines the origin of political thought and its evolution into modern Political Science. Since
political thought evolved independently in different parts of the world, a division has been made between western
and eastern political thought and an attempt has been made to study them in isolation, but with reference to
modern political ideas.

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WESTERN POLITICAL THOUGHT

Ancient Greece and Rome
The origins of western political thought can be traced back to ancient Greek political thinkers, Plato and Aristotle.
Plato's Republic, which is considered one of the first, extremely important classical works of political thought,
describes an ideal state and comments on the existing systems of government in Greek city-states.
Platos pupil Aristotle introduced empirical evidence in the study of politics. Aristotles students gathered
descriptions of 158 Greek city-states, which Aristotle used to formulate his famous six fold typology of political
systems. He distinguished political systems by the number of persons ruling (one, few, or many) and by whether
the form was legitimate (rulers governing in the interests of all) or corrupt (rulers governing in their own
interests). Legitimate systems included monarchy (rule by one), aristocracy (rule by the few), and polity (rule by
the many), while corresponding corrupt forms were tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy. Aristotle considered
democracy to be the worst form of government, though in his classification it meant mob rule. The best form of
government, a polity, was, in contemporary terms, akin to an efficient, stable democracy. Aristotle presciently
noted that a polity functions best if the middle class is large, a point confirmed by modern empirical findings. .
Aristotles classification endured for centuries and is still helpful in understanding political systems.1
Plato and Aristotle focused on perfecting the polis (city-state), a tiny political entity, which for the Greeks meant
both society and political system. The conquest of the Mediterranean world and beyond by Aristotles pupil
Alexander the Great (336323 BC) and, after his death, the division of his empire among his generals brought
large new political forms, in which society and political system came to be seen as separate entities. This shift
required a new understanding of politics.
With the advent of the Roman Empire ancient Rome became the centre of political thought. Roman statesman
Cicero, who was greatly influenced by the Greeks, particularly the Stoics, asserted the existence of a natural law
that applied to all human beings equally; this idea became the foundation of Roman legalism. 2 Roman political
thinkers studied Greek schools of thought in conjunction with the Roman tradition of republicanism facilitating a
broader understanding of political science. Romans used political science as a tool to understand history and
describe the methods & operation of governments.

1 "Aristotle". Encyclopdia Britannica Online. Encyclopdia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
URL<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/34560/Aristotle/254725/Political-theory >.
2 Radford, Robert T. Cicero: a study in the origins of republican philosophy. Rodopi. 2002. p. 5. Web.
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During the Middle Ages Greek and Roman political thought was Christianised by St. Augustine and St. Aquinas
to lend it a moral purpose. Later, in the Middle East, Arab political thinkers like al-Farabi (c. 878c. 950) and
Averroes (11261198) reinterpreted Aristotles works in the context of Islamic political philosophy.3
Early modern developments
Italian writer and philosopher, Niccol Machiavelli (14691527) is considered the first modern political scientist.
Machiavelli's best-known book, The Prince, presented amoral advice to actual and would-be princes on the best
means of acquiring and holding on to political power. It also contained a number of maxims concerning politics.
Most importantly, Machiavellis political philosophy, which secularised politics, was based on reason rather than
religion. An early Italian patriot, Machiavelli believed that Italy could be unified and its foreign occupiers
expelled only by ruthless and single-minded princes who rejected any moral constraints on their power.
Machiavelli introduced the modern idea of powerhow to get it and how to use itas the crux of politics, a
viewpoint shared by todays international relations realists, rational choice theorists, and others. Machiavelli
thus ranks alongside Aristotle as a founder of political science.4
English philosophers Thomas Hobbes (15881679) and John Locke (16321704) contributed greatly to the
development of modern political science. In Leviathan; or, The Matter, Form, and Power of a Commonwealth,
Ecclesiastical and Civil (1651), Hobbes outlined, without reference to an all-powerful God, how humans,
endowed with a natural right to self-preservation but living in an anarchic state of nature, would be driven by fear
of violent death to form a civil society and submit to a single sovereign authority (a monarch) to ensure their
peace and security through a social contractan actual or hypothetical agreement between citizens and their
rulers that defines the rights and duties of each.
Locke in Two Treatises on Civil Government (1690) argued that people form governments through a social
contract to preserve their inalienable natural rights to life, liberty, and property. He further upheld the right of
citizens to overthrow any government that fails to secure their natural rights. Lockes views were a powerful
force in the intellectual life of 18th-century colonial America and influenced the founding fathers of the American
Constitution. His writings formed the philosophical basis of the American Declaration of Independence (1776) as
many of the drafters, particularly Thomas Jefferson, were greatly influenced by him.
French philosophers Rousseau (171278) and Montesquieu (16891755) were also instrumental in bringing
about political change through their writings. Rousseaus The Social Contract (1762) constructed a civil society
3 Dryzek, John. "Political Science." Microsoft Student 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008.
4 Mansfield, Harvey C. "Machiavelli's Political Science," The American Political Science Review, Vol. 75, No. 2 (Jun.,
1981), pp. 293305. p. 293-94.
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in which the separate wills of individuals were combined to govern as the general will of the collective that
overrode individual wills, forcing a man to be free. Rousseaus radical vision was embraced by French
revolutionaries and later by totalitarians, who distorted many of his philosophical lessons.5
In Montesquieus The Spirit of Laws (1748), he examined the three main types of government (republic,
monarchy, and despotism) and stated that a relationship exists between an area's climate, geography, and general
circumstances and the form of government that evolves. Montesquieu produced an innovative analysis of
governance that assigned to each form of government an animating principlefor example; republics are based
on virtue, monarchies on honour, and despotisms on fear. Montesquieus analysis concluded that a countrys form
of government is determined not by the locus of political power but by how the government enacts public policy.6
The early development of political science was also influenced by law. The French political philosopher Jean
Bodin (153096) articulated a theory of sovereignty that viewed the state as the ultimate source of law in a given
territory. Bodins work, which was undertaken as the modern state was first developing, provided a justification
of the legitimacy of national governments, one fiercely defended to this day. Many political scientists, especially
in international relations, find Bodins notion of sovereignty useful for expressing the legitimacy and equality of
states.7
Contemporary Political Science
Contemporary political science traces its roots primarily to the 19th century, when the rapid growth of the natural
sciences stimulated enthusiasm for the creation of a new social science. Auguste Comte (17981857), considered
by many to be the founder of sociology, in his work the Plan of the Scientific Operations Necessary for the
Reorganization of Society (1822), claimed that politics would become a social physics and discover scientific
laws of social progress. However contemporary political science shows only traces of Comtes optimism.8
German socialist theorists Karl Marx (181883) and Friedrich Engels (182095) reinvented political science with
the introduction of Marxist theory, a materialistic and economic theory which portrays the state as an instrument
5 Bertram, Christopher. "Jean Jacques Rousseau". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Edward Zalta (ed.) 2012. Web.
Retrieved 12 April 2015. URL <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2012/entries/rousseau/>.
6 "Baron de Montesquieu." Microsoft Student 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008.
7 Sabine, George H., and Thomas L Thorson. A History of Political Theory. 4th ed. New Delhi: Oxford & IBH. 1973. Print.
p. 372
8 "Political Science". Encyclopdia Britannica Online. Encyclopdia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
URL <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/467721/political-science>
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of domination by the classes that own the means of production. According to Marx and Engels, prevailing values
and culture simply reflect the tastes and needs of ruling elites; the state, they charged, is merely the steering
committee of the bourgeoisie. Marxist theory gave rise to Communism in the 1920s which formed one half of
the worlds political systems in the 20th Century.
In 19th-century Germany, academics developed a systematic science called Staatlehre to provide useful
information to governments. Staatlehre was geared to the needs of Germanys centralized government, which
sought to consolidate power and administer society more effectively. American scholars, who had done their
graduate work in Germany, were inspired by this highly formalistic and institutional approach and attempted to
create a distinct academic discipline called Political Science.9 This resulted in the formation of academic
institutions to study political science. The first separate school of political science was established in 1872 in
France as the cole Libre des Sciences Politiques (now the Institut dtudes Politiques). In 1895 the London
School of Economics and Political Science was founded in England, and the first chair of politics was established
at the University of Oxford in 1912.
In the 20th Century Behavioralist approach to study political science became dominant. It assumed that the subject
matter of political science should be limited to phenomena that are independently observable and quantifiable.
The prominence of behavioralists in the post-World War II period helped to lead political science in a much more
scientific direction. By the late 1960s, however, criticism of behavioralism had begun to grow. Consequently
behavioralism did not become the sole methodology in political science, and many behavioralists eventually
acknowledged the need for the unquantified insights of traditionalists. This resulted in post-behavioralism.
Late in the 20th century, some political scientists rediscovered their Aristotelian roots by returning to the question
of how to achieve the good, just, and stable politythat is, by returning to the study of democracy. Although the
approaches taken were highly diverse, most researchers attempted to identify the factors by which democracies
are established and sustained. Democratic theory was revived in earnest in the late 1980s, when communist
regimes were collapsing throughout Eastern Europe.

9 Dryzek, John. "Political Science." Microsoft Student 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008.
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EASTERN POLITICAL THOUGHT

India
In ancient India, the anecdotes of politics can be traced back to the Rig-Veda, Samhitas, Mahabharata and
Buddhist Pali Canon. These were primarily religious scriptures which contained commentaries on politics.
Politics was intermixed with religion and no independent discipline of Political Science existed.
Indian political philosophy evolved in the ancient times, and created well organized and mature institutions of
state. There was a clear distinction between nation and state and religion and state. The Hindu states used
constitutions which evolved over time and were based on (1) political and legal treatises (2) prevalent social
institutions. The institutions of state were broadly divided into governance, administration, defence, law and
order. Mantranga or the principal governing body consists of the King, Prime Minister, Commander in chief of
army, Chief Priest of the King. Prime Minister heads the committee of ministers along with head of executive
(Maha Amatya).
Chanakya in his political treatise, Arthashastra, makes comprehensive accounting of the science of politics for a
wise ruler, policies for foreign affairs and wars, system of spy state and surveillance and economic stability of the
state. However Chanakya himself quotes several authorities like Bruhaspati, Ushanas, Prachetasa Manu,
Parasara, Ambi and mentions himself as a descendant of a long lineage of political philosophers with his father
Chanaka being his immediate predecessor.10
In the colonial era Indian political thought emerged as a subset to the growing Indian Nationalism. Mahatma
Gandhi envisioned a political system where villages had autonomy and self-governance. Other nationalist
thinkers anticipated an Indian state on the lines of Western Nation States. Hindu Nationalist thinkers like VD
Savarkar projected the glories of the ancient Hindu civilisation and hoped for a revivalist state.

China
Ancient China was home to several competing schools of political thought, most of which arose in the Spring and
Autumn Period. These included Mohism (a utilitarian philosophy), Taoism, Legalism (a school of thought based
on the supremacy of the state), and Confucianism. Eventually, a modified form of Confucianism (heavily infused

10 Brown, D. Mackenzie. The White Umbrella: Indian Political Thought from Manu to Gandhi. Greenwood Press. 1982. p.
64.
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with elements of Legalism) became the dominant political philosophy in China during the Imperial Period. This
form of Confucianism also deeply influenced and was expounded upon by scholars in Korea and Japan.
In the 20th Century China developed its own form of Communism, called Maoism, derived from the teachings of
the Chinese political leader Mao Zedong (18931976). Its followers, known as Maoists, consider it as an antiRevisionist form of Marxism-Leninism. Developed during the 1950s and 1960s, it was widely applied as the
political and military guiding ideology of the Communist Party of China.
Modern scholarship has rapidly developed in the 21st century. China has established various institutions for study
and research in political science like the China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL). Since 1995 The
Journal of Chinese Political Science (JCPS) has been a referred academic journal that publishes theoretical,
policy, and empirical research articles on Chinese topics.11
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia itself is a recent construct, a way of imagining and defining part of the world that only came fully
into being after the Second World War. The region includes mainland Indo-China and maritime Southeast Asian
countries. The cultural and political diversity of the region makes it a challenging yet ideal place for research in
political science. Duncan McCargo, professor of South-eastern Politics at the School of Politics and International
Studies, University of Leeds, who is considered an authority in Southeast Asian political studies, talked about the
challenges of conducting research in the region.12
These challenges are compounded by the sheer diversity of the region itself: eleven countries
ranging from Singapore to Indonesia, from Brunei to Vietnam, with an enormous range of
political systems embracing an absolute monarchy (Brunei), one-party communist states
(Laos and Vietnam), a military dictatorship (Burma), and a wide range of partial
democracies, faade democracies, and political orders in semi-permanent transition. All of
this amounts to a bewildering picture, difficult to comprehend for colleagues who work on
Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa or the Middle East. Not for us the single language which
unlocks research access to most countries of the region, nor the standard tool kit of
developmental and post-colonial paradigms that offer a quick ready-reckoner for sizing up
the politics of a less familiar corner of the region. Sukarno once memorably called Southeast
Asia the focal point of world contradictions; whether or not this is still true, the region
remains peculiarly difficult to read and decipher.

11 Allen Carlson, Mary Gallager, Kenneth Lieberthal and Melanie Manion, Chinese Politics: New Sources, Methods, and
Field Strategies (Cambridge, 2010).
12 Duncan McCargo. Rethinking Southeast Asian Politics: An inaugural lecture. University of Leeds, 17 October 2003.
Retrieved from http://www.polis.leeds.ac.uk/assets/files/research/working-papers/wp4mccargo.pdf on 13 April 2015.
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There has been an emergence of modern academic and scholarly work in political science in Southeast Asia in
recent times. Southeast Asian political studies have made important contributions to theory building in
comparative politics through a dialogue involving theory, area studies, and qualitative methodology.13
The academic study of Southeast Asia burgeoned in the 1950s and 1960s, in large measure because the future
political direction of the region appeared crucial to American and western geopolitical interests. Fearing a
communist bloc extending from Vietnam to Indonesia, the United States invested in academic research; the
subtext of much of this work was to suggest ways in which communism could be thwarted, and governments
sympathetic to western interests be installed and supported. Ironically if unsurprisingly, many of the American
scholars working on Southeast Asia during this period were highly partial to the nationalist struggles of countries
in the region, which they saw as analogous to the American struggle for independence from the most perfidious
of all colonial powers, the British.
However, more recent academic research has been focused on indigenous issues and solving regional problems.
Many American and European scholars have focused their research on Southeast Asian politics and this has led to
establishment of faculties of southeastern politics in many Western universities.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we can say that the evolution of political science has been such: Political science has evolved from
political theory which arose out of political thought. Overtime all academic disciplines have become more
accurate and scientific in nature. Political science achieved this with the advent of the behavioural revolution.
With the emergence of newer paradigms in all social sciences there has been a shift in the focus of political
science as well. Post-behavioralism arose to counter the unproductive emphasis on the scientific method and thus
political science continues to change its nature and focus to adapt to the changing patterns of history.

13 Southeast Asia in Political Science: Theory, Region, and Qualitative Analysis (Contemporary Issues in Asia and
Pacific). Erik Kuhonta (ed.), Dan Slater (ed.), Tuong Vu (ed.). Stanford University Press. 2008. p. 4, 6
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Brown, D. Mackenzie. The White Umbrella: Indian Political Thought from Manu to Gandhi. Greenwood Press. 1982.11
Sabine, George H., and Thomas L Thorson. A History of Political Theory. 4th ed. New Delhi: Oxford & IBH. 1973 9

Articles
Mansfield, Harvey C. "Machiavelli's Political Science," The American Political Science Review, Vol. 75, No. 2 (Jun., 1981),
pp. 293305........................................................................................................... 7
Southeast Asia in Political Science: Theory, Region, and Qualitative Analysis (Contemporary Issues in Asia and Pacific).
Erik Kuhonta (ed.), Dan Slater (ed.), Tuong Vu (ed.). Stanford University Press. 2008..............13

Other Sources
"Aristotle". Encyclopdia Britannica Online. Encyclopdia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
URL<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/34560/Aristotle/254725/Political-theory >... . .6
"Baron de Montesquieu." Microsoft Student 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008.8
"Political Science". Encyclopdia Britannica Online. Encyclopdia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
URL <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/467721/political-science>.........................9
Bertram, Christopher. "Jean Jacques Rousseau". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Edward Zalta (ed.) 2012. Web.
Retrieved 12 April 2015. URL <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2012/entries/rousseau/>... . .8
Dryzek, John. "Political Science." Microsoft Student 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008. 9
McCargo, Duncan. Rethinking Southeast Asian Politics: An inaugural lecture. University of Leeds, 17 October 2003.
Retrieved from http://www.polis.leeds.ac.uk/assets/files/research/working-papers/wp4mccargo.pdf12

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