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CSS 131INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCEis a set of learning objectives. These objectives let you know what youare required to know by the time you have completed the unit. Theselearning objectives are meant to guide your study. The moment a unit isfinished, you must go back and check whether you have achieved theobjectives. If you make this a habit, it will improve your chances ofpassing the course significantly.The main body of the unit guides you through the required reading fromother sources. This will usually be either from the reference books orfrom a Reading section.The following is a practical strategy for working through the course. Ifyou run into any difficulties, telephone your tutor. Remember that yourtutor’s job is to help you. When you need assistance, do not hesitate tocall and ask your tutor for help or visit the study centre.Read this Course Guide thoroughly, it is your first assignment.1. Organize a Study Schedule. Design a ‘Course Overview’ to guideyou through the course. Note the time you are expected to spend oneach unit and how the assignments relate to the units. You need togather all the information into one place, such as your diary or a wallcalendar. Whatever method you choose to use, you should decideand write in your own dates and schedule of work for each unit.2. Once you have created your own study schedule, do everything to befaithful to it. The major reason students fail is that they get behindwith their course work. If you get into difficulties with yourschedule, please, let your tutor know before it is too late for help.3. Turn to Unit 1, and read the introduction and the objectives for theunit.4. Assemble the study materials. You will need the reference books inthe unit you are studying at any point in time.5. Work through the unit. As you work through the unit, you will knowwhat sources to consult for further information.6. Before the relevant due dates (about 4 weeks before due dates),access the Assignment File. Keep in mind that you will learn a lotby doing the assignment carefully. They have been designed to helpyou meet the objectives of the course and, therefore, will help youpass the examination. Submit all assignments not later than the duedate.7. Review the objectives for each study unit to confirm that you haveachieved them. If you feel unsure about any of the objectives, reviewthe study materials or consult your tutor.8. When you are confident that you have achieved a unit’s objectives,you can start on the next unit. Proceed unit by unit through the6

CSS 131INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCEcourse and try to pace your study so that you keep yourself onschedule.9. When you have submitted an assignment to your tutor for marking,do not wait for its return before starting on the next unit. Keep toyour schedule. When the Assignment is returned, pay particularattention to your tutor’s comments, both on the tutor-markedassignment form and also the written comments on the ordinaryassignments.10. After completing the last unit, review the course and prepare yourselffor the final examination. Check that you have achieved the unitobjectives (listed at the beginning of each unit) and the courseobjectives (listed in the Course Guide).TUTORS AND TUTORIALSThere are 15 hours of tutorials provided to support this course. Tutorialsare for problem solving, and they are optional. You need to get in touchwith your tutor to arrange date and time for tutorials if needed. Yourtutor will mark and comment on your assignments, keep a close watchon your progress and on any difficulties you might encounter andprovide assistance to you during the course. You must submit yourtutor-marked assignments to your tutor well before the due date (at leasttwo working days are required). They will be marked by your tutor andreturned to you as soon as possible.Do not hesitate to contact your tutor by telephone, e-mail, or discussionboard. The following might be circumstances in which you will findhelp necessary. Contact your tutor if You do not understand any part of the study units or the assignedreadings. You have difficulties with the exercises. You have a question or problem with an assignment, with yourtutor’s comments on an assignment or with the grading of anassignment.To gain the maximum benefits from course tutorials, prepare a questionlist before attending them. You will learn quite a lot from participatingin the discussions.SUMMARYThe course guide has introduced you to what to expect in Introduction toPolitical Science. It examines the nature and scope of political science,approaches to the study of political science, concept of a modern state,sovereignty, power and authority, legitimacy and influence. The course7

CSS 131INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCEalso discusses the constitution and constitutionalism, the role of politicsin social change, nature of African armies, public administration, andinternational relations. Upon completion you should be equipped withthe foundation for analyzing and researching political issues.We wish you success with the course and hope you will find it bothengaging and practical.REFERENCES/FURTHER READINGAnifowoshe R. and Francis Enemuo, (ed.) 1999.Elements of Politics,Lagos: Malthouse Press Ltd.,Ologbenla, D. K. 1996. Introduction to Political Science, Lagos: OlucityPress Ltd.Nnoli O. 1986. Introduction to Politics, Lagos: Longman Nigeria Ltd.8

CSS 131INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCEMAINCOURSECourse CodeCSS 131Course TitleIntroduction to Political ScienceCourse DeveloperDr. Derin K. OlogbenlaUniverisity of LagosAkoka – Lagos.Course WriterDr. Derin K. OlogbenlaUniversity of LagosAkoka – Lagos.Course CoordinatorDr. Godwin Ifidon OyakhiromenNational Open University of NigeriaLagos.9

CSS 131INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCENATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIANational Open University of NigeriaHeadquartersNational Open University of Nigeria14/16 Ahmadu Bello WayVictoria IslandLagos.Abuja Annex Office245 Samuel Adesujp Ademulegun StreetCentral Business DistrictOpposite Arewa SuitesAbuja.E-mail: centrainfo@nou.edu.ngUrl: www.nou.edu.ng Natioanl Open University of Nigeria, 2006First Printed 2006ISBN: 978-058-434-XAll Right ReservedPrinted by Goshen Print Media LtdForNational Open UniversityCONTENTSPageModule 1Unit 110The Nature And Scope Of.Political Science.1 - 8

CSS 131Unit 2Unit 3Unit 4Unit 5INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCEThe Subject Matter Of Political Science .9 - 18The Legalistic Approach To The Studyof Politics .19 - 24The Behavioural Approach To The StudyOf Politics.25 - 31The Nature, Purpose AndFunctions Of The Modern State.32 - 42Module 2Unit 1Unit 2Unit 3Unit 4Unit 5The Concept Of Sovereignty. 43 - 53Power And Authority .54 - 68Legitimacy And Influence .69- 74Political Ideas And Movements.75 - 96Constitution . 97-102Module 3Unit 1Unit 2Unit 3Unit 4Unit 5Constitutionalism.103 - 109Politics And Social Change: Reforms,Revolutions And Military Coups.110 - 117The Nature Of African Armies.118 - 125Public Administration.126 - 142International Relations And Organizations.143 - 155MODULE 1Unit 1The Nature and Scope of Political ScienceUnit 2Unit 34Unit 5The Subject Matter of Political ScienceThe Legalistic Approach to The Study of Politics UnitThe Behavioural Approach to the Study of PoliticsThe Nature, Purpose and Functions of The ModernState11

CSS 131UNIT 1INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCETHE NATURE AND SCOPE OF 64.05.06.07.0IntroductionObjectivesMain BodyDefinitions/Explanations of Politics.The Development of Political Science as a Field of Study.What is Science? What makes Political Science a science?The Meaning of VerifiabilityThe Meaning of SystematicThe Meaning of Generality or UniversalityConclusionSummaryTutor-Marked AssignmentReferences/Further Readings1.0INTRODUCTIONIn this unit, you will be introduced to what Politics is all about. In yourday to day activities, you must have heard of the word Politics withoutactually understanding its meaning. What do you think is Politics? Thisquestion has been asked many times in every age before the birth ofJesus Christ – when the Greeks first introduced the idea of the ‘polis’meaning city-state. It is from ‘polis’ that we derive our modern wordpolitics. Aristotle (384-322 BC) in his book POLITICS first used theterm politics to refer to the affairs of a Greek city-state. Aristotleobserved that ‘man by nature is a political animal’. By this he meant thatthe essence of social existence is politics and that two or more meninteracting with one another are invariably involved in a politicalrelationship.Aristotle observed that whenever men seek to define their position insociety or as they attempt to achieve personal security from availableresources and as they try to influence others to accept their points ofview, they find themselves engaged in politics. In this broad sense,every one is a politician.Today, the word politics is an elastic one. To some authorities, politicsis concerned with the ordinary day-to-day activities of the community inwhich we are all personally involved. To others, including HaroldLasswell, politics has been equated with the study of power or the studyof influence and the influential. In fact, Lasswel went as far as to define12

CSS 131INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCEpolitics as “who gets what, when how” which underlines the importanceof power as the major ingredient of politics.2.0OBJECTIVESAt the end of this unit you should be able to explain what politics is allabout, the development of political science as a subject of study andwhy political science is regarded as a science.3.0MAIN BODY3.1Definitions/Explanations of PoliticsGenerally speaking, it is difficult to define politics because there aremany definitions by various scholars that conflict or sometimescomplement one another. Ernest Baker (1962:1) stated that politics isthe process of making and execution of governmental decisions orpolicies. Harold Lesswell and Abraham Kaplan (1950) defined politicsas authoritative, allocation of values or who gets what, when and how.Austine Ranany (1975: 35-38) maintained that politics is a process ofresolution of conflict in society.For Max Weber, (1947:145-154) politics is the operation of the state andits institutions. Politics for him, means the sharing power to influencethe distribution of power among individuals and groups within a state.Lasswell suggests that politics is essentially the struggle for positions ofpower and influence by which those who succeed in monopolizing suchpositions in society are able to make decisions that affect the lives ofevery citizen within the country. More will be said about power laterwhen we examine it as a topic on its own.For our purpose, politics can simply be defined in three ways: First, itattempts to discover the general principles, formation and functioning ofgovernment. Secondly, it is concerned with people and the way inwhich they make decisions and the way those decisions are reached.Thirdly politics is that part of the social sciences which treats thefoundations of the state and the principle of government, governmental,social and economic programmes, international relations, organizationsand cooperation.13

CSS 131INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCEPolitics goes beyond the activity of government, the political parties andthe politicians. Politics is a universal phenomenon- that is, it is presentin all human organization such as the family, trade unions, corporations,universities, etc. In all these organizations, politics is characterized bystruggle for power and influence, conflict, bargaining, reconciliation,resolution and consensus.Politics can be played at a national level or internationally. At thenational level, the failure of the Nigerian political elite between 1962-66gave the military the opportunity to intervene in our political process.History repeated itself in 1983 when the political elite again failed tosettle their differences following the 1983 October general elections.Again, the military employing their monopoly over the use of force andthe acquiescence of the Nigerian people swept the political elite off thepolitical stage and ruled until 1999.Similarly, it was politics at the international level when the Palestinianand the Israelites partly resolved their age-long military/ideologicalconfrontation over Palestinian home land in Gaza. Also it was apolitical action/decision when ECOMOG troops were sent by WestAfrican States to war-torn Liberia for peace-keeping operations. Thishelped to stop the fighting from getting worse. Peace has now returnedto Liberia after 15 years of fighting.3.2The Development of Political Science as a Field of StudyThe Greeks as we have seen established a broad definition of politics.However, between the sixteenth and early twentieth centuries, Europeanpolitical philosophers established a narrower definition of politics.For example, Jean Bodin (1430-1596), a French political philosopher,who first used the term “political science” (science politique) was alawyer. Because of his legal training, Bodin focused on thecharacteristics of the state more than any other aspect of the politicalprocess. He concentrated on analyzing the relationship between theorganization of the state and how this relates to law.Another French philosopher Montesquieu (1689-1755) argued that thefunctions of government could be encompassed within the categories oflegislation, execution, and the adjudication of law. Montesquieu14

CSS 131INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCEcategories found their way into the United States Constitution and otherRepublican Constitutions with the assumption that liberty was bestassured by separation of powers between the Legislature, the Executiveand the Judiciary.It was the work of these two philosophers that imposed a restricteddefinition of politics on political scientists. Political scientist for yearsconcentrated almost exclusively on the Executive, the Legislature andthe Judiciary as major concern until recently.In the mid-nineteenth century, Darwin’s theory of evolution and naturalselection began to exert a powerful influence upon political science. Infact, Biology came to reinforce history in the study of politicalinstitutions, which were seen as the product of historical change and,apparently organic evolution. The development of sociology after the19th century prompted political scientists to give more attention to theimpact on government of social forces not defined with reference to theinstitutional outline of the state. The industrialization of previouslyagricultural societies and sharpening clash between the emergentworking classes and their employers (industrialists) compelled a closerstudy of economic facts, forces and trends, as these produced politicalproblems and helped to shape political behaviour.The advent of World War II brought about a re-think by politicalscientist that Legislature, Executives, agencies, and the Courts did notexist by themselves and that they did not operate independently of oneanother or of the other political organizations in society. Politicalscientists in America and Europe embarked on new fields of study byexamining the political parties, interest groups, trade unions, as well ascorporations and church organizations. Ideologies have alsocommanded the attention of political scientists because of their(ideologies) role in the formation of Ultra-Right and Ultra-Left politicalparties and movements. It is all the above institutions of the state plusother political and social organization that constitute the politicalsystem.What this mean is that politics is not just about government andpoliticians but a complex process involving everybody in a givensociety, attitudes to issues, interest groups, group organization,electioneering, as well as the formulation, implementation, andinterpretation of law.15

CSS 131INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCESelf Assessment Exercise (SAE) 1Define politics and describe the development of political science as afield of study.3.3What is Science? What makes Political Science a Science?Pure science is concerned with obtaining accurate knowledge about thestructure and behaviour of the physical universe. It deals with universaland with rational analysis of known facts. It is fact seeking as well asfact-using. The ultimate goal of a science is the classification of facts,and on the basis of such classification, the formulation of a body ofgeneral rules and logically consistent and universally valid statementabout the universe. Science has been described as an “adventure of thehuman spirit”.The scientific method entails vigorous procedures starting fromselection of problems to be solved or analysed, followed by formulationof hypothesis, gathering of data and testing of hypothesis, and finally,the use of findings to refute, modify or support existing theories. Toevaluate the findings of their own studies and of others, scientistsemploy a number of knowledge, to be scientific it must be characterizedby verifiability;it must be systematicand must, have generalapplicability.3.4 The Meaning of VerifiabilityA proposition is said to be verified when it has been checked ortested by many specialists in the relevant field of study and whenthey all agree that other scientists and the general public can believeit to be true. However, there are no certainties in anything butprobabilities. The probability that some propositions will hold true,is so great that they can be treated as certainties, but in the socialsciences, this is not the case.16

CSS 131INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCEIf scientific knowledge is to be verifiable, science must be empirical,that is, scientific statements must be descriptive of the empirical world.Similarly, if scientific knowledge is to be verifiable, the desire forreliability and, ultimately, for verifiability has been the chief factorleading to the adoption of quantitative methods.3.5The Meaning of SystematicKnowledge is said to be systematic when it is organized into a

National Open University of Nigeria Headquarters 14/16 Ahmadu Bello Way Victoria Island Lagos Abuja Annex 245 Samuel Adesujo Ademulegun Street Central Business District Opposite Arewa Suites Abuja e-mail: centralinfo@nou.edu.ng URL: www.nou.edu.ng National Open University of Nigeria 2006 First Printed 2006 ISBN: 978-058-434-X