Dec 19, 2025 · political science, the systematic study of governance by the application of empirical and generally scientific methods of analysis. As traditionally defined and studied, political science …

political science, Academic discipline concerned with the empirical study of government and politics.

Dec 7, 2025 · Plato and Aristotle wrote of the polis, or city-state, as an ideal form of association, in which the whole community’s religious, cultural, political, and economic needs could be satisfied.

Dec 19, 2025 · Political science - Rational Choice, Decision Making, Institutions: The dominant school of thought in political science in the late 20th century was rational choice theory.

Institutions are the rules of politics and the instruments of their enforcement. However, Friedrich was careful to note that institutions must reflect social and political reality, and without belief in their …

Britannica Dictionary definition of POLITICAL SCIENCE [noncount] : the study of governments and how they work a degree in political science

Legitimacy, popular acceptance of a government, political regime, or system of governance. The word legitimacy can be interpreted in either a normative way or a “positive” (see positivism) way.

Political science is concerned with the actual workings of government, not with the ideal state. The founder of the subject was Aristotle in the 4th century bc.

Dec 7, 2025 · A more-detailed definition documents the means through which an institution forms. The emphasis is on the principles, norms, rules, and decision-making procedures around which the …

Institution, in political science, a set of formal rules (including constitutions), informal norms, or shared understandings that constrain and prescribe political actors’ interactions with one another.