Whether through bullets or votes, violent struggles or elections, politics is about who governs, for what purpose, and under what constraints. Politics affects the duties of rulers and ruled, the rights of citizens, whether people live in fear, the generosity of welfare systems, and many other aspects of how people live their daily lives. Politics involves people acquiring and using power, cooperatively or non-cooperatively, for creative or destructive purposes. It involves the falsification of group symbols and the creation (and re-creation) of persuasive narratives about mutual identities and social goals. Through political action, some demand recognition and justice and (re)define what it means to be political. Some spend energy and resources maintaining existing structures. Through politics, people may focus attention on collective issues or attempt to prevent such focus. Politics also influences the distribution and redistribution of economic resources. This is one reason why politics is so controversial.
Political science is a rigorous intellectual pursuit of identifying and analyzing such phenomena. Political scientists build on the fundamental ideas of social and political theorists from the ancient world to the Enlightenment to the present day. As political scientists, we develop logical and parsimonious theoretical arguments to better understand and explain important social and political phenomena, and sometimes to predict future developments. Political scientists develop and test their claims through a variety of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods, including archival research, interviews, surveys, statistical analysis, and experiments.
Through a deep study of the content and methods of political science, students gain the knowledge and skills to succeed in a variety of career paths, including law, public policy analysis, foreign service, international development, journalism, and academia.
