Oct 11, 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 …

If people believe that existing political orders or laws are appropriate and worthy of obedience, then those orders and laws are legitimate. By using polls and other empirical methods, …

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

The origins of socialism as a political movement lie in the Industrial Revolution. Its intellectual roots, however, reach back almost as far as recorded thought—even as far as Moses, …

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.

Oct 26, 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 …

Power, in political science and sociology, the capacity to influence, lead, dominate, or otherwise have an impact on the life and actions of others in society. The concept of power …

Oct 26, 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 …

Oct 11, 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.

Oct 23, 2025 · In the 18th century the French political philosopher Montesquieu elaborated a doctrine of the rule of law that contrasted the legitimate authority of monarchs with the caprice …