FACULTY OF ARTS

SCHOOL FOR SOCIAL AND GOVERNMENT STUDIES

POLITICAL STUDY

Political Studies focuses on states, governments and the phenomenon of politics generally related to these.  Politics in a state and government context relates directly to ongoing decision-making (policy formulation).  People have widely divergent ideas, preferences and interests, and therefore political decision-making necessarily requires influence and power over the majority of people.

Against this background, the aim of Political Studies is the systematic explanation of events inside and outside state borders.  It also explores the relationships between states and their actions, whatever their reason, within the realm of international politics.

Political Studies encompasses a range of current topics:

• introduction to political science

• the South African political system

• comparative politics

• Africa politics

• political philosophy

• political participation and interaction

Significance and application

It is undoubtedly so that the topics studied in Political Studies shape the societal context of an individual’s way of life.  Life is ultimately no more than a politically driven reality in which people have to negotiate their own path.

Students gain knowledge of and insight into politics – political processes, institutions and consequences for society and the environment.  Students will thus be better able to understand and address the demands and challenges of their way of life.  This applies equally in their capacity as citizens of the country, or in a specific profession, and is accompanied by the necessary realisation that nothing constructive can be achieved in the country concerned, or in world politics, without mobilising people regarding political objectives and policy.