The mention of Political Science in the mind of plenty persons could be related to the desire to be in Government or the Parastatals of it.
it is best to first define Government, in the past, we have seen Low budget Shakespeares define as the Governing of the people, by the people and for the people... while this context is relatable in theory, it is agreeably said as practicable why? Government like politics involves decision making, and decisions are made for the people {even if not in their entirety} by the people {those who make the rules and laws are also humans}.
But Political Science is not about the Government alone, although Government exist in Political Science, it is just but a branch of Political Science.
In the days of yore, people like William Bluhm defined Politics as: a social science guided by characters involving rivalry and cooperation relating to the exercise of Power that leads to making decisions for a group of persons.
In a grid study, man will always be locked in rivalry and friendship/agreement.
In the past wars happened because of some certain decisions that lead to disagreement {i.e. in Nigerian history the civil war happened because the GOC Yakubu Gowon head of State of the Federation and Chukwuemeka Ojukwu of the Eastern coalition couldn’t come to an Agreement when they went for the Aburi settlement in Ghana and that led to a continuous attack on each other’s territory and more cost of lives}
Another view that separates Politics from being about Government alone is that of David Easton which say: Politics is the Authoritative allocation of values for a society within the political system. According to him, a policy is authoritative when it is accepted and its orders are carried out.
Before the time of the Colonial Masters in Nigeria, there was always need for decision making and leadership and the routine check as at then fell on the hands of the Traditional rulers and some certain elders of the community.
Now, there was no recorded module of Government as at then, but it does prove that Politics which involves decision making will be made outside the corpus of Government
In the official world, an explanation that does ensues is that of Harold Lasswell [1936] “it is the study of who gets what, when and how”
In the white collar job, it is not alien that decision making has to happen to make the companies or organizations continue to gain profit and their ultimate goal is reached or achieved, thus it is best said that Politics is not limited to Government alone.
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