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.
Many political scientists draw a major distinction between preemption and preventive war. Some define preemption as action taken when an enemy attack is imminent, such that the term should not be applied when an adversary poses a longer-term threat. Others point to the nature of the logic driving …
Preferential voting occurs within the framework of a particular type of ballot structure, used in both single-winner and multiple-winner elections around the world. Examples include the alternative vote and single transferable vote systems. Unlike nonpreferential ballots where voters mark an X or checkmark next to their preferred candidate(s), …
Prerogative, according to the political philosopher John Locke, is “this power to act according to discretion for the public good, without the prescription of law and sometimes even against it.” Locke’s notion of prerogative has influenced the development and understanding of executive powers and responsibilities in modern constitutional …
The Spanish term presidencialismo is common throughout Latin America and refers to the concentration of political power in the office of the presidency. This fact of political life has several explanations. First, Spanish colonies were ruled for The Spanish term presidencialismo is common throughout Latin America and refers …
Scholarship on the presidency and women was in its infancy until the 1980s. This is perhaps because the areas perceived as most visible in producing action on the part of women and tangible outcomes of research measurable through quantification (e.g., appointments) did not fully embrace the office of …
The term the press refers to the idea that the major news media outlets in a country, taken together, perform important functions necessary for governance, acting collectively as an important institution alongside the official governmental institutions. The phrase fourth estate first appeared in print from Thomas Carlyle in …
A pressure group is widely defined as a group of people who come together to influence policy on a matter of mutual interest. Other terms commonly used to refer to pressure groups are special interest groups and lobbies. Interest groups are found in every society, autocracies and democracies, …
Wage and price controls are government policies designed to restrict the movement of wages and prices to their natural equilibrium market values. In a free market, prices tend toward an equilibrium value that equates the supply of a good or service with its demand. In conditions of excess …
Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) was an English intellectual who wrote more than 150 books as well as numerous letters and sermons in the various disciplines of history, literature, theology, moral philosophy, politics, rhetoric, and physics. His discovery of oxygen and writings on electricity and chemistry gave him entrance to …
Primaries are preliminary elections to select a political party’s candidate or candidates for public office. Primaries are a form of candidate selection with an inclusive selectorate, the body that selects candidates for an election. This contrasts with more exclusive selectorates, common in many longstanding European democracies, where the …
In a parliamentary system of government, a prime minister is the head of the cabinet that constitutes the executive branch of government. Instead of being popularly elected to the post, a prime minister holds office as long as the cabinet maintains the confidence of a majority of popularly …
Priming refers to the effects a stimulus has on a person’s processing of future information. According to Lars Wilnat, “In essence, priming is built on the assumption that the frequency prominence or feature of stimulus activates previously learned cognitive structures and influences interpretations of an ambiguous stimulus.” That …
The idea that humanity experienced a long period of primitive social equality prior to the formation of political communities and states has been a recurring theme in political philosophy since at least antiquity. Expressed most prominently in the idea of a state of nature, the notion of primitive …
Principal-agent theory is based on a hierarchical notion of political relationships that traces back to the politics-administration dichotomy first enunciated by Woodrow Wilson in 1887. Politics involves deciding who gets what, while administration deals with how—and arguably, when—it is delivered. For Wilson, at least rhetorically, the solution was …
In political science, one of the most popular game theory tools, the prisoner’s dilemma, is a nonzero-sum game in which two suspects of a crime are arrested and each given the option of either accusing the other prisoner—defect, in game theory jargon—or stay silent—cooperate. Jail terms attach to …
Since ancient times, the status of prisoners of war has been an indispensable aspect of warfare and their treatment has oscillated between extermination, enslavement, ransom, and practices of exchange and parole. The ethics of war have been a hotly debated feature of international relations since the seventeenth century. …
Privacy can be an elusive concept. Privacy sometimes refers to solitude or physical isolation, though residents of densely populated cities can lead private or anonymous lives. Privacy also refers to not having information about oneself revealed to others. In Olmstead v. U.S. (1928) Justice Brandeis captured these senses …
In mainstream America, there is a cherished belief that everyone has a right to privacy. Most Americans believe that their home is their castle, and that it cannot be invaded. Unfortunately, many commonly held beliefs concerning a right to privacy are usually not based in reality. Indeed, the …
The debate initiated around the neoliberal themes of privatization, deregulation, denationalization, and destatization is based upon new political economy—economic politics applied to political markets. It signifies political action in economic markets with the definite aim of maximizing profit and utility—the underlying themes of neoclassical economics. Whether considered Thatcherism, …
In political science methodology, process tracing indicates the detailed and systematic empirical analysis of the causal mechanisms—or processes—linking political outcomes to their putative or possible explanatory factors. Based on a variety of sources such as interviews, memoirs, surveys, and historical documents, this procedure complements and reinforces more traditional …
