Political science is a branch of social science that studies the state and the different political factors and forces existing within it. It deals with analyzing political systems and also the theoretical and practical implementation in real life scenarios. Aristotle chose to define this discipline as the study of state. However, in today’s world it is much more complex than that. It intersects different fields, namely economics, sociology, history, anthropology and even public policy. Political scientists today are very sought after. They deal with issues not just regarding the political climate of an area but also the political economy of the world which is a precarious thing.

Today the scope of the subject is very vast. It can be further broken up into five sub categories. These are;

  1. Public law,
  2. International relations,
  3. Comparative politics,
  4. Political theory and
  5. Public administration.

These categories deal with and try to find out how political systems work, what the relationships between institutes in these systems are, how elections can be made fair etcetera. Thus it is safe to say that the scope of the field has widened over the centuries.

Importance of Political Science

The importance of this field essentially lies in its impact. This means that no matter who a person is, he is always somehow impacted by politics. Whether it is global politics or one that is limited to a country or even a district, it has the power to impact lives. As globalization grows political scientists are looked at for developing and understanding relations between states to attain mutual benefits. They are looked to be diplomats, intellectuals and generally world leaders to solve issues of global interest.

They are also heavily relied on by journalists and special interest groups who need to gain an insight into the political system to analyze problems they may be dealing with. A political science background lets you do anything you want. You can even get a position in the corporate sector because large companies always need analysts who help them gain perspective in public domains. This in return helps them with their social responsibility programs. The intellectual skills a person gains when they study this subject enable them to hone their critical thinking and analytical skills. This is why unsurprisingly many political scientists manage to make it big in their careers whether it is in the government or in a fortune 500 company.