Political Science and International Studies

The traditional primary fields in political science are American politics, comparative politics, international relations, and political theory or political philosophy. In some places, public administration and public law may be treated as their own fields rather than subfields of American politics. Comparative politics and international relations are the two fields in political science that receive the most attention for classes and students in international studies. Comparative politics scholars are interested in the domestic politics of countries, typically not including the United States. As academic fields, the primary distinction is that the study of international relations takes place within the single discipline of political science, while international studies assumes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding global developments. Some political scientists talked about a modernization theory, in which during capitalist economic development, a middle class came to embrace democratic values, but other political scientists provided examples of how the “middle class” was as likely to support authoritarian governments.