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.
Queer theory is a form of postmodern analysis that embraces four basic political claims: sexuality is central to politics; identity is per formative; politics are ironic; and popular culture may be politically transformative. Queer theory emerged in the mid-1980s and early 1990s, when scholars from the humanities such …
A questionnaire, or survey instrument, is a structured set of questions administered to individuals to obtain information. Frequently used in survey, political behavior, and public opinion research, a questionnaire involves either the direct or indirect solicitation of information from individuals. Questionnaires are used to gauge a respondent’s attitudes …
Question time is a section of parliamentary proceedings in which government ministers respond in the parliamentary chamber to questions posed by members of their own party and opposition parties. Members of parliament (MPs) are permitted to submit questions in advance of question time and may ask supplementary questions …
The term quota implies allocation, allotment, apportionment, share, or distribution in cases of school admission, jobs, or seats in legislative bodies. Quotas are attained through legal or constitutional devices on the basis of criteria other than merit and qualifications. Highly controversial, yet necessary in representative democracies, quotas give …
Princeton scholar Cornel West and an American public that in 2008 elected its first African American president know that race matters. Although the debate remains regarding the use of the terms race and ethnicity as constructs to describe differences between and among individuals, it cannot be denied that …
Race and racism are terms with considerable political importance, yet they are more difficult to define than may appear at first blush. Over the past few centuries, the meaning— and manifestation—of both terms has undergone a gradual transformation. Race, initially seen as group-based differences rooted in biology, is …
Racism is a set of beliefs or behavior regarding the inferiority a particular group of people based on their race, color, ethnicity, or ancestry. Prejudice refers to unfavorable feelings and attitudes toward a particular group based on race, color, or ethnicity. Racial discrimination may or may not stem …
Radicalism refers to extreme political, social, and cultural ideologies that emphasize fundamental changes in the existing order. Historically, political radical movements have attempted to dramatically remake their contemporary societies seeking widespread reforms impacting the powers and functions of the state. Early American radicalism culminated in the American Revolutionary …
Raison d’état is a French phrase, loosely translated as “reason for being,” often used to describe a state’s national interests or goals. Historically, the main raison d’état of any state was protecting one’s survival, which theorists and political leaders asserted was best ensured by expanding the power of …
Ayn Rand (1905–1982) was a Russian-born American novelist and philosopher who founded the philosophic system of objectivism. She defended metaphysical realism (that reality is what it is independent of what human beings think or feel) as the only valid means of human knowledge, ethical egoism (or rational self-interest) …
Politics is a particularly difficult science. The classic definitions of politics—the study of who gets what, when and where (Harold Lasswell), the authoritative allocation of values (David Easton), and the legitimate monopoly of violence (Max Weber)—raise more questions than they answer. What is being allocated? Possible answers include …
John Rawls (1921–20 02) was a major American political philosopher of the twentieth century. His widely read book, A Theory of Justice, released in 1971, revived an age-old question: what makes a democratic society just? At a time when empirical research and language analysis dominated Anglo-American political philosophy, …
A partisan realignment is a shift in the ideological, or partisan, preferences of voters that leads to a transfer of power in government from the majority party to the minority party for a sustained period. These realignments can occur within a single election or take several elections to …
Broadly defined, realism is one of the major and most longstanding theoretical traditions in the study of international and foreign affairs. Realists view the world as a naturally conflictual arena in which rational and selfish states compete for the pursuit of their mutually incompatible interests. Power, especially in …
To remove an elected official from office, an electorate gathers signatures to petition for a referendum. The recall is traceable to Rome in 133 BCE, when Tribune Octabius was removed from office by a vote of the people because he vetoed a Senate bill, and to the Pennsylvania …
Reciprocity is a principle in international relations whereby one actor, or group of actors, grants equal benefits or concessions to another in exchange for the same considerations. Reciprocity is often associated with trade treaties and agreements and the earliest reciprocity accords dealt with the exchange of goods. Most …
Redistricting is the process by which election district boundaries are redrawn periodically in conformity with constitutional or statutory mandates. Primarily, redistricting is undertaken to equalize district populations and thereby equalize individual voting power. However, in many cases, the redistricting process is constrained as well by constitutional or statutory …
The political thinking of the Protestant Reformation originated with the circulation of German priest and theologian Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 and concluded in 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia treaty. The Reformation touched on every aspect of political and social life in Europe. The central issues, …
A refugee, as delineated by the text of the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention and 1967 Protocol, is an individual or group of individuals, who, due to reasonable fear of being persecuted on the basis of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion …
When characterizing a country, we inescapably ask whether it is a democracy or a dictatorship. That is the question of the political regime. As gross domestic product (GDP) is for macroeconomics, the political regime has become the master variable for macro political analysis. Most big events in the …
