Scope of Political Science

Scope of Political Science

Political Science is a very comprehensive field. Its curriculum is almost certain to include courses in political theory, public law, and public administration as well as in various more specialized subjects.

1.       Political Theory – The entire body of doctrines relating to the origin, form, behavior, and purposes of the state are dealt with in the study of political theory.

2.       Public Law  

a.       The organization of governments

b.      The limitations upon government authority

c.       The powers and duties of governmental offices and officers

d.      The obligation of one state to another

Are handled in the study of public law.

In contradistinction to the rules of private law, which govern the relations among individuals, public law is so specialized that separate courses are offered in each of its subdivisions – constitutional, administrative, and international law.

3.      Public Administration – In the Study of public administration, attention is focused upon the methods and techniques used in the actual management of state affairs by executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. As the complexity of government activities grows, the traditional distinctions among the powers of these become even less clear-cut. Today, legislative bodies have been forced to delegate greater discretion to executive officers responsible for the conduct of government policies and powers. Thus, we find many administrative agencies exercising sub-legislative and quasi-judicial powers. Administrative law, already referred to, also falls within the scope of any broad stuy of public administration.

Meaning of Political Science.

Meaning of Political Science.
Political Science is the systematic study of the State and Government.
The word “Political” is derived from the Greek polis, meaning a city, or what today would be the equivalent of sovereign state; the word “science” comes from the Latin scire, “to Know.”


1. The Science of politics, therefore, has, as its formal object, a basic knowledge and understanding of the state and of the principles and ideals which underlie its organization and activities.


2. It is primarily concerned with the association of human beings into a “body politic,” or a political community (one organized under government and law).


3. As such, it deaks with those relations among men and groups which are subject to control by the state, with the relations of men and groups to the state itself, and with the relations of state to other states.