Chapter 4 : Approaches to the Study of Politics

Approaches to the Study of Politics

Introduction

The study of politics involves distinguishing between the tools of inquiry and the broader frameworks that guide that inquiry. The discipline has evolved from traditional approaches focusing on values and institutions to contemporary approaches emphasizing empirical behaviour and scientific models. As T.N. Huxley stated: "Science is nothing but trained and organized common sense."

Distinction Between Method and Approach

• Method: A general term referring to a particular way of doing something. In systematic study, it is the procedure of inquiry by which reliable knowledge is obtained and conclusions drawn (e.g., scientific, inductive, deductive, comparative methods). It answers "How to inquire?"
• Approach: A wider term that comprehends both the method and the focus of study. It answers "What to inquire?" as well as how to inquire.
• Vernon Van Dyke (Political Science: A Philosophical Analysis; 1960) defines an approach as consisting of "criteria of selection—criteria employed in selecting the problems or questions to consider and in selecting the data to bring to bear".
• An approach is usually wedded to a particular method, but a method is not always wedded to a particular approach.
• Example: Behavioural approach → scientific method.
• Example: Normative approach → philosophical method.

Source visual reconstructed as text:

• Approach: What to inquire? (Criteria for selecting problems and relevant data) → Bigger circle
• Method: How to inquire? (Procedure for obtaining and utilizing data) → Smaller circle inside Approach

Traditional versus Contemporary Approaches

• Traditional Approaches: Largely in vogue till the end of the Second World War (1939–45). Dominated by the study of philosophy, history, law, and institutions (Philosophical, Historical, Legal, Institutional approaches).
• Alan Ball (Modern Politics and Government; 1988) notes that the label 'traditional' is neither a criticism nor a refutation; they still play an important role in modern studies.
• Contemporary Approaches: Developed post-WWII, faced with the problem of the identity of the discipline. Focus on politics as a process manifested in the behaviour of actors, studied via scientific method (Behavioural approach, interdisciplinary approach, and models of political analysis).
• The distinction between traditional and…