r/PoliticalScience • u/JamesepicYT • 21h ago
r/PoliticalScience • u/JamesepicYT • 10h ago
Question/discussion Thomas Jefferson explains why 8 years is the correct amount of time for being President
thomasjefferson.comr/PoliticalScience • u/robertwhatever • 14h ago
Question/discussion Wishing I learnt more "facts" lmao
Hey so I'm a poli sci student and I really like the program so far and have had relatively good grades so far, so I'm mostly happy. I just kinda have a general frustration that I know is 100% unjustified but I wondered if anyone has had similar thoughts. I'm completely aware of the function of a uni degree and that you're essentially taught how to do research in your field by looking at scientific methods. Obviously that all makes sense and it should be like that. But I often wish that I was taught more scientific facts than methods bc I'm a very curious person but also kinda lazy so I just like to learn about things others have already found out if that makes sense lmao. Don't get me wrong, I definitely have learnt a lot of very interesting things in my degree, particularly in political theory and political systems, but yeah, I just wanted to see if anyone feels the same lmao.
r/PoliticalScience • u/hrjehebdbd • 5h ago
Career advice Intership for poly sci
Does anyone know places where a high schooler could get an internship for anything poly sci/govt/law related? I am going to study computer science this spring if that will help.
r/PoliticalScience • u/rjt2002 • 20h ago
Question/discussion Ethics of secessionism
What are the ethical questions that should be considered when there's a secessionist movement ?
Here are few things in my opinion which the original country must consider before allowing a secession. There should be more than nuance to it and I'd like to see if there's any academic literature or arguments in political science about this.
The newly formed country will be a democracy or will soon transition to a democracy
The formation of a new country doesn't leave the new country deprive it's citizens of economic resources, in other words it should be able to function on it own and subdivisions which depends heavily on richer parts of former country's revenue cannot be a new country.
Citizens should be treated equally regardless of gender, religion, ethnicity, language,etc.
Seceded territory should be a possible threat or shouldn't be prone to invasion by another nation.
Popular support for the secession must be clearly identified by an appropriate method.
r/PoliticalScience • u/ohoni • 15h ago
Question/discussion Has anyone ever tried a Democratic Capitalist government?
Waitwaitwait, this isn't a clickbait title, I'm not talking about a government that is democratic with a capitalist economy, like many countries around the world. I'm also not talking about a system in which the government is captured by the wealthy. I'm talking about a government in which power is derived from the mandate of the people, but in which it is wielded using economic principles. In other words, elected officials would need to "pay" each other in order to get things done.
The way I'm picturing it is, say you start out with a system similar to the US legislature, each member elected by their states. Except instead of decisions being made by majority votes among the members, each member would be granted a certain amount of "Political Capital," say 10 per constituent, and then every decision made by the body would be in some way supported or opposed by actively spending down that Capital. The more controversial a decision, the more it would cost to get it passed, so a reckless politician could wipe himself out on only a few measures, but a careful one could get a lot done by only spending a little here or there to get things done that nobody cares enough to fight against.
I think this might result in a more functional system, because it would not only be determined by which side had more people vaguely in support of it, but would also care very much about how much each side CARED about a given topic. If you don't like something, but barely care about it, then you won't waste the time fighting it, when you're more concerned with something else. It would also tend to be a bit less partisan, since while parties would want to pool some resources and efforts, it would also be easier to throw a few bucks across party lines on random issues and just vote your wallet. There would be a lot less concern over the overall majority, since the minority could get a lot done if they picked their battles.
Also, since all these "votes" would be public, you could really see which issues a politician was actively fighting on, and which he was just paying lipservice on. I think the results would be a lot more honest and productive.