Political Institutions. Political Science. The Republic of Belarus

Since Political science is essentially a study of human behavior, in all aspects of politics, observations in controlled environments are usually not available and impossible to reproduce or duplicate. Because of this, political scientists seek patterns in the reasons and outcomes for political events so that generalizations and theories can be made. Again, study is still difficult since humans make conscious choices unlike other subjects in science, such as organisms, or even inanimate objects as in physics. Despite the complexities, consensus has been reached on various political topics with the help of proper study. To the extent that political scientists are not politicians, they can demonstrate a greater objectivity about politics. Politics may be studied as an activity, as current affairs, as the work of government and as conflict, either national or international, and its early solution.

The advent of Political science as a university discipline was marked by the creation of university departments and chairs with the title of political science arising in the late 19th century. Integrating political studies of the past into a unified discipline is ongoing, and the history of political science has provided a rich field for the growth of both normative and positive political science, with each part of the discipline sharing some historical predecessors.

In the 1950s and the 1960s, a behavioral revolution stressing the systematic and rigorously scientific study of individual and group behavior swept the discipline. The late 1960s and early 1970s witnessed a take off in the use of deductive, game theoretic formal modeling techniques aimed at generating a more analytical corpus of knowledge in the discipline. This trend has continued and accelerated, even as the behaviouralist revolution has subsided. At the same time, due to the interdependence of all social life, political science also moved towards a closer working relationship with other disciplines, especially sociology, economics, history, anthropology, psychology, public administration, law, and statistics without losing its own identity. Increasingly, political scientists have used the scientific method to create an intellectual discipline based on the generation of formal models used to derive testable hypotheses followed by empirical verification. Over the past generations, the discipline placed an increasing emphasis on relevance and the use of new approaches to increase scientific knowledge in the field and provide explanations for empirical outcomes.

2. Answer the following questions:

1) What aspects make political researches difficult for generalization?

2) What are the existing approaches to the notion of politics?

3) When did Political science appear as a university discipline?

4) What are the fields of study closely related to Political science?

DEVELOPING VOCABULARY

1. Give all possible derivatives of the following words.

analyze

relevance

provide

science

2.Give synonyms to the following words:

a take off

to aim at

advent

ongoing

inanimate

complexities

DISCOVERING LANGUAGE

1.  Complete the sentences with appropriate prepositions:

1) Consensus has been reached …various political topics … the help … proper study.

2) Integrating political studies of the past … a unified discipline is ongoing.

3) Theoretic formal modeling techniques are aimed …generating a more analytical corpus … knowledge … the discipline.

4) Political science also moved … a closer working relationship … other disciplines.

5) The discipline placed an increasing emphasis … relevance and the use … new approaches to increase scientific knowledge … the field.

LISTENING

1. Watch two sections from the video “The Communist Manifesto by K. Marx and F. Engels”. As it is known, at present more and more people in the West refer to the works of K. Marx, trying to find answers to the questions of modern times in them. Explain why.

2.Watch the video the second time, and be ready to answer the following questions:

1) Why does the Manifesto speak about “the spectre of communism in Europe”?

2) What does the Manifesto say about “the splitting of the society into the classes”, and what are they? Characterize them.

3)  In what way do political scientists consider communism as compared