political science

Table of Contents

Introduction
Fields and subfields
Historical development
- Ancient influences
- Early modern developments
- 19th-century roots of contemporary political science
- The early 20th century
  - Developments in the United States
  - Developments outside the United States
- Post-World War II trends and debates
  - Behavioralism
  - Political culture
  - Systems analysis
  - Theory of rational choice
  - Democratic theory
Enduring debates in political science

References & Edit History Related Topics

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Niccolò Machiavelli

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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Fish. Lionfish. Lion-fish. Turkey fish. Fire-fish. Red lionfish. Pterois volitans. Venomous fin spines. Coral reefs. Underwater. Ocean. Red lionfish swims by seaweed.

10 of the World’s Most Dangerous Fish

Title: Senate Square, St. Petersburg, December 14, 1825: repression of the troop mutiny - watercolor by Carl Ivanovitch Kollman, 1825 depicts Decembrist uprising clashing with cavalry, with spectators watching. (new style December 26, 1825) Europe. Saint

8 of the Largest Empires in History

Secret Service Agent Listens To Earpiece

Secret Service Code Names of 11 U.S. Presidents

The Colosseum, Rome, Italy. Giant amphitheatre built in Rome under the Flavian emperors. (ancient architecture; architectural ruins)

New Seven Wonders of the World

Data analysis of the Super Bowl's "winningest" teams, game locations, MVP winners by position, teams with the most game losses. football, sports, infographic

From Sport to Spectacle: The History of the Super Bowl

Parsons Weems' Fable, oil on canvas by Grant Wood, 1939; in the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. Catalog entry: The historian Mason Locke Weems, commonly known by his clerical title, Parson Weems, pulls back a curtain to point at 6-year-old George Washington. Bearing an adult head and holding an axe, George gazes blankly up at his father, Augustine, who questions his son while holding a partially cut cherry tree. All of this takes place in front of a 20th-century brick building, which Wood modeled after his own home in Iowa. The scene illustrates the fable of Washington and the cherry tree, which Weems invented in 1806 for the first president's biography. Wood playfully suggests the artifice of the tale here, presenting the story in the manner of a costumed stage play rather than a real event. Amid the action, two Black figures pick cherries in the background, a reference to Washington' slaveholding past and a reminder of of what often gets left out in historical mythmaking.

Did George Washington Really Say, “I Can’t Tell a Lie”?

winter ice melting salt on the ground, pattern as background

Why Does Salt Melt Ice?

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Niccolò Machiavelli

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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development theory elite theory geopolitics rule impossibility theorem state monopoly on violence political theory demopolitik oecopolitik power linguistics anthropology geography economics statistics sociology pedagogy archaeology comparative law psychology

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Key People

Niccolò Machiavelli

Niccolò Machiavelli

Italian statesman and writer

Alexis de Tocqueville

Alexis de Tocqueville

French historian and political writer

Benedict Anderson.

Benedict Anderson

Irish political scientist

Arendt, Hannah

Hannah Arendt

American political scientist

Mearsheimer, John J.

John J. Mearsheimer

American scholar

Kenneth Waltz.

Kenneth N. Waltz

American political scientist and educator

Robert A. Dahl

American political scientist and educator

Carole Pateman

political scientist and educator

Robert O. Keohane

Robert O. Keohane

American political scientist and educator

Riker, William

William Riker

American political scientist

Wendt, Alexander

Alexander Wendt

American political scientist and educator

Carl Schmitt

German jurist and political theorist

István Bibó

Hungarian political scientist and sociologist

Samuel P. Huntington

Samuel P. Huntington

American political scientist

Harold Joseph Laski

Harold Joseph Laski

British political scientist

Roderick P. Hart

American scholar

Robert D. Putnam

Robert D. Putnam

American political scientist

Francis Fukuyama

Francis Fukuyama

American writer and political theorist

Harold Lasswell

American political scientist

Balch, Emily Greene

Emily Greene Balch

American political scientist