The Problem “of the Political” and Research Identity of Political Science

Abstract

Disciplines are differentiated one from another in many ways, principally among them by their substantive concerns and by the methodologies that they have made their own. Political science as a discipline is defined by its substantive concerns, by its fixation on “politics” in all its myriad forms. Politics takes many forms and is exercised on a wide range of social levels, from clans and tribes of traditional societies through modern local government, companies and institutions up to sovereign states, to the international level. The author argues that defining the politics is the most important step in the process of building the political theory. The author argues that we should define politics as a social institution, as a complex of positions, roles, norms and values lodged in particular types of social structures and organize relatively stable patterns of human activity with respect to fundamental problems in producing life-sustaining resources, in reproducing individuals, and in sustaining viable societal structures within a given environment. Politics is a social institution that distributes power, sets a society’s goals and makes decisions. The author argues that the most useful way to understand what politics is, is defining it as a fundamental social institution.