Political Science S Essay Sample

1. Is comparative politics a science? Why is it so difficult to create a science of comparative politics?
Comparative politics is an empirical study of political science that uses formulations and concepts that applies in many countries. Comparative politics is a method that is applied in political science to address local politics, conflicts, and political institutions. The field of comparative politics uses methodological approaches to compare patterns in various countries. Comparative politics does not use a substantive approach since it fails to define the objective of the study. The focus of comparative politics applies in multiple countries by use of methodology to compare the use of concepts. Different countries apply specific field of study in comparative politics to derive a new meaning. For instance, In the West the country uses the term “politics of foreign countries.” The use of comparative politics to different nations helps in the establishment of empirical connections between a nation and its foreign policy.
Comparative politics is a field in political science that philosophers propose to elevate the political ideology. The philosophers fail to have a consensus on what the field specifically addresses in this political endeavor. Comparatives often pull between area specialist and social scientist. This emanates tension since some people prefer a primary inductive approach while others prefer a deductive approach. There is also tension between people whose primary concern is qualitative while other people primary concern is quantitative. The specialty of knowledge helps one to penetrate politics in a society. When one compares politics to escape ethnocentrism this limits one to navigate the politics of another culture. Countries take a lot of time to comprehend different cultures to enable comparative politics. Some theorist confines themselves to one culture and this limits them in discovering other places and cultures to enable a broad view of comparative work. The research problems in comparative politics entail the assessment on the impact of political institutions to establish the performance. Some of the research works are prone to biases due to the reliance of historical data. In some instances, the researcher does not have the control in making casual inferences process the data.
In conclusion, the approach of traditional or modern in the study of comparative politics results in different orientation in the construction of the theory. This two approaches offer different strengths in comparative analysis and theory approach. Comparative politics fails to identify the nature of one approach in relation to another. This leads to a negative view when building the theory and one cannot understand the theory that contributes most in the process of theory making. This study should make effort to distinguish, evaluate, and clarify the theoretical approach for people to understand comparative politics. Each conceptual approach has to undergo scrutiny before adoption.
2. Why do we have states? Would it be possible for people to live without them? If they disappear in the future, what would replace them?
States in most federations began historically as independent or semi-independent such in America and China. Countries partition different states, institute laws, and legal systems in place. Different states allow different laws to represent any model of change. The creation of states ensures competition between governments and provides a measure to evaluate a country’s progress. A small unit of government can permit the evaluation of accountability by the masses rather than the entire sovereign nation. To make divisions in the country to have states depends on the size of the country and effectiveness of the government in place. A ponderous and unresponsive government calls for state boundaries with a good range of population for effective management.
The disappearance of the states will influence humans. People have permitted the territory to mark their destiny instead of them determining the destiny of the territory. Stateless people are not subject to any national that operates in law. This is because there is no provision of citizenship and no allegiance to any nation. Conflicts in the national laws can lead to this situation of statelessness. The territory of a state marks the beginning of a regime. Alternatively, a nation can occur through descent. Many states allow the acquisition of nationality through descent and fail to allow female citizens to confer nationality of children. In the case the father is unable to confer a specific nationality the children may remain stateless.
In some instances, statelessness happens during state succession. When a certain nation becomes non-existence, the nation disappears. Alternatively, when another state captures the territory or tends to control and rule over another state. For example, the disintegration of the Soviet Union follows this process. A citizen can become stateless after the renunciation of citizenship. The exception to this case is that many states can only allow one to renounce citizenship after acquiring another. People in a non-state territory are stateless people. This can include territories where statehood does not exist. When one does not hold any proof of nationality such as a birth certificate, one can risk the condition of statelessness. Legally, the absence of population rather than the territory can provide the disappearance of the statehood. When a country’s territory becomes uninhabitable, a state can exist in self-governing territory and can associate with another state.
In conclusion, the international community makes effort to eradicate statelessness. In light of this, the 1954 convention of the United Nations provides a framework to protect stateless people. This convention encourages states to implement this provision in the best interests of the children. United Nations has to work jointly with the governments to prevent the occurrence of statelessness. States should have adequate national legislation, as well as universal birth registration to protect the rights of stateless people. The possession of nationality is a prerequisite for all humans to ensure they enjoy their human rights and participate in the society.