Political Science

Political science is the systematic study of how power is organized, distributed, and used to make decisions within and between societies.

Module 1 introduces political science as the study of power, especially how power is organized, distributed, and used within societies and between nations. It explains key foundational ideas such as political power, the difference between normative theory (what should be) and empirical theory (what is), and three major approaches within the field: traditionalism, behavioralism, and postbehavioralism.