Category: Political Science Essay Examples
See our collection of political science essay examples. These example essays are to help you understanding how to write a political science essay. Political science is not merely an academic discipline, and political scientists do not just study the anatomy of politics. Political science is renewed with every political administration and with every major political event and with every political leader. Influential political leaders construct their own -isms (Fidelism/Castroism, Maoism, Gandhism, Reaganism, and so on) so that the political philosophies and ideologies that undergird the discipline have to be reinvented constantly. Also, see our list of political science essay topics to find the one that interests you.
Media bias is a tendency, subtle or overt, to advantage or overexpose one perspective (or selected person or point of view) when reporting any event, issue or debate, and/or to neglect the other side. Media biases exist as well whenever journalists provide misguiding or incomplete coverage that can …
A media effect is a way in which the content presented by the mass media influences the interest, knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors of an individual regarding politics. Early theories suggested that media had what was called a “hypodermic needle” effect on individuals; that is, they immediately and …
A megacity is a large urban agglomeration with ten million or more inhabitants, according to the United Nations (UN) definition. The term was first coined by the UN in the 1970s to designate agglomerations with eight million or more inhabitants, a threshold raised to ten million in the …
Menshevism refers to the beliefs of the Mensheviks, a Marxist faction that emerged in the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP) in 1903. Menesheviks are often portrayed as more moderate than the rival Bolshevik faction, but they were unable to play an important role in the politics of …
Mercantilism is an economic theory of strict government control of trade that dominated the thought of the major trading nations from approximately 1500 CE to the end of the seventeenth century. European countries, in particular, enforced a strict mercantilist system of foreign trade. The basic tenet of mercantilism …
A meritocracy is a political, economic, or social system that rewards individuals because of talent and personal ability as opposed to factors such as class, nepotism, or race or ethnicity. Meritocracies typically require entrance exams or other measures to ensure that individuals meet minimum qualifications before they are …
Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908–1961) was a French philosopher mostly known for his work in phenomenology and existential philosophy. He attempted to maintain a political position that was neither communist nor anticommunist, and he spoke for the necessity of a philosophy of history for political thought. Born on March 14, …
Charles E. Merriam (1874–1953) was an American political scientist, presidential advisor, and author. A long-time professor at the University of Chicago, Merriam began his academic career as a graduate student at Columbia University in New York under the tutelage of the creators of the graduate school of political …
Mexican immigration into the United States is increasing. In the 1960s Mexico lost some 27,500 people annually to its northern neighbor. With the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, migration increased in the second half of the 1990s to 360,000, and between 2001 and 2005, to …
Robert Michels (1876–1936) was a European political sociologist who started out as a Marxist member of the late-nineteenth-century German Social Democratic Party and ended up a professor in Italy and a proponent of fascism. He is best known for propounding the “iron law of oligarchy,” which held that …
Microeconomics is a subdivision of the field of economics. The field has two distinct subdivisions: microeconomics and macroeconomics. Unlike macroeconomics, in which the entire economy is studied as a whole, microeconomics studies how the individual components of the overall economy (households, firms, or individuals) interact and make decisions …
In the modern history of the Arab Middle East, there are four waves that can be identified with regard to constitutionalism: reform, liberalization, pluralism, and democratization (or the lack thereof). These are the pre–World War I (1914–1918) liberal tradition, the interwar period, the post–World War II (1939–1945) period, …
The term Middle East refers to the region at the crossroads of North Africa, southwest Asia, and southeastern Europe, but social scientists and practitioners do not always agree on the definition. Nineteenth-century British strategists coined the term during the heyday of the British Empire to refer to the …
The general understanding of migration as a description of the relocation of people from one country to another, especially the move from a developing country to a more affluent country, has extended in meaning to the process of these migrants settling down in the receiving countries. Migrant families’ …
Ralph Miliband (1924–1994) was a Marxist political theorist. Born in Belgium of Polish-Jewish parentage, he fled the Nazis to England in 1940. There, at the graveside of philosopher, social scientist, historian, and revolutionary Karl Marx, he pledged what became a lifelong allegiance to the “workers’ cause.” A year …
Military units use special criminal courts to further discipline and order. The Uniform Code of Military Justice (1950, later amended), based on the U.S. Congress’s Article I power to “make rules for the governance . . . of the land and naval forces,” authorizes the military to create …
The term military-industrial complex refers to the intricate relationship between the governments, militaries, and defense firms of the United States, Europe, Japan, and other developed states. The phrase was popularized by U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953–1961) in his 1961 farewell address, in which he warned of the …
Military rule has been quite frequent, widespread, and endemic throughout history. Sixty countries (twenty-two in Africa, nineteen in Latin America, thirteen in Asia, and six in Europe) have experienced military rule, including Egypt, Fiji, Myanmar, Libya, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Thailand. Military intervention in politics may take different forms, …
Although its meaning has varied over time, customary definitions of the term militia typically describe an armed force composed of nonprofessional soldiers tasked with protecting a community during times of crisis. Traditional militias either (1) support a professional army in the midst of war, or (2) act alone …
Scottish philosopher James Mill (1773–1836) occupies a major place in nineteenth-century British political thought. His writings covered not only the fundamentals of government, but also education, political economy, law, history, and prison reform. However, two of his contemporaries eclipsed Mill’s standing as a political theorist: his friend and …
