POLI 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Civitas, Political Philosophy, Comparative Politics
14 Jan 2017
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Document Summary
Words such as political, politician, and police stem from this root. Citizens- people under government in a political community. Civil, civilization and civic stem from this root. The origins of words associated with government show the ancient nature of politics. The systematic study of government and politics. Unlike other social sciences, it is an ancient tradition. Plato and aristotle are the fathers of political science. Aristotle asserted that man is inherently a political creature. Political science is a moral practice, it is supposes to make human lives better. By the 1700"s, political science broke off from moral philosophy. Our way of life in western culture is due to the influence of political science. Institutionalism- we understand politics by studying its political organizations. Behaviouralism- we understand politics based on how people at instead of how institutions are structured. We understand politics based on what is rational for people to do. Political economy- class struggle and economic needs explain political life.
