What is Political Science?

What is political science?

Political science is the systematic study of government and politics. It is a branch of social science, it studies human behavior just like sociology, anthropology, psychology, and economics.

How important is political science? We need to study our government because it is connected to our daily lives. If a crime is being committed, you need to call the police department or the agency of the government to uphold the peace. If there is a fire, you ask the help of the fire department. Evidently, both are government agencies.

Why does the government or political institution exist? In the book of Politics written by Aristotle, he stated that "man by nature is a political animal." A state is a creation of nature; it is not a mere accident. Also, Samuel von Pufendorf stated, "Man is naturally sociable, and they are naturally drawn to various political associations in order to satisfy their social needs."

Political Ideologies

Ideologies refers to body of concepts or a set of beliefs or principles, especially those of a particular group or political party. Hence, political ideology is the allocation of power and to what purpose or ends it should be used. Accordingly, political ideologies have two dimensions; (1) Goals –how the society should be organized and (2) Methods - the most appropriate way to achieve the goal.

Aristotle’s Ideology

Aristotle known as the father of political science. He believed that the study is a powerful branch of science which held authority over other branches, such as military science. Moreover, he believed that fundamental achievement happiness derived from state, how it is organized and how the people pursue its ends.
He argued that there are six forms of government, categorize into ruled by one, ruled by few and ruled by many, each where further divided it into “defective or bad and “true forms or good.”

Aristotle classification of government	Defective or perfected for the interest of the ruler(s)	Good or “True forms” For the common interest
Ruled by One	Tyranny	Monarchy
Ruled by Few	Oligarchy	Aristocracy
Ruled by Many	Democracy	Polity

He described that tyrant is a usurper of power or acquired his power by force and rules over unwilling subjects. Based on his book politics: “Any sole ruler, who is not required to give an account of himself, and who rules over subjects all equal or superior to himself to suit his own interest and not theirs, can only be exercising a tyranny.”                                                                                                                         
Monarchy is ruled by one person whose authority derived not from election but through heredity. A form of government where the head of state is called often called king, queen, emperor or tsar. A monarch holds his position until death or abdication. Monarchy is classified into two; firstly, absolute monarchy and secondly, limited monarchy. In an absolute monarchy, the power of the king originated from divine right. The doctrine that king source of authority is from God, not from their subjects. Therefore, rebellion is the worst of political crime, for the reason, defying the order of the king is disobeying God. The monarch holds absolute power without constitution limiting it. All the properties of the nation is under complete control of the king.

Limited Monarchy also known as Constitutional Monarchy. The monarch must act in accordance with a written or unwritten constitution.  He is bound to exercise the powers or authorities within the limits prescribed by law. The country under this form delegates its power to promulgate laws to the parliament and holds the judicial and executive power. However, most of the country today, the monarch is just mere ceremonial leader with a limited executive power and influence, compare to the prime minister.

Oligarchy derived from the Greek words oligarkhia which means few and arkho meaning to rule or command.  This form of government is ruled by the few, to Aristotle it is ruled by rich, for which another term commonly used today is plutocracy. These few people claim that the most essential things to rule are wealth, social status and education. They are motivated by their self-interest to protect wealth. People are not given the rights to participate in the government. In contrary, the term Aristocracy derives from the Greek word aristokratia, meaning “rule of the best.” The few people that were chosen are endowed with the attributes to rule. “
Aristotle observes that the dominant class in oligarchy (literally rule of the oligoi, i.e., few) is typically the wealthy, whereas in democracy (literally rule of the dêmos, i.e., people) it is the poor, so that these economic classes should be included. He argued that the propriety constitution or government is represented by polity of middle class citizens.

In the democratic form of government, the state function through the law created by the politician which they create for their self-interest, to Aristotle “there are two parts of good government; one is the actual obedience of citizens to the laws, the other part is the goodness of the laws which they obey.”

Karl Marx’s Ideology

According to Marx society is divided into social classes: (1) Bourgeoisie, the Capitalist or Business owner who is the owner of the properties and control the production and (2) Proletariat, the workers who transform raw materials into economic goods. The capitalist controls the business, to maximize the profits he pays the laborers the lowest wage and employ social institutions as tools, like government to enforce law to maintain ownership of properties, church and education for propaganda. Laborers view the employment as a means of survival. This circumstance would eventually lead to revolution and end of capitalism.

Economic Determinism

It is a theory that economic relationships are the foundation upon which all other societal and political arrangement is based. This means every social institutions such as religion institution and political institution are determine by economic institution.

Dialectic Materialism

The Marxist theory (adopted as the official philosophy of the Soviet communists) that political and historical events result from the conflict of social forces and are interpretable as a series of contradictions and their solutions. The conflict is seen as caused by material needs.

The haves (the rich or bourgeoisie) refer to the thesis or idea in conflict with the have-nots (the poor or proletariat) refer to the anthesis or counter idea. He founded that this would lead to Synthesis or New Idea. It is very evident to his theory that revolution would bring desire change.

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Analyze the roles and responsibilities of the Philippines Judiciary

Branches of the Government

The Philippines is a republic with a presidential form of government wherein power is equally divided among its three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.

The legislative branch is authorized to make laws, alter, and repeal them through the power vested in the Philippine Congress. This institution is divided into the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The executive branch carries out laws. It is composed of the President and the Vice President, who are elected by direct popular vote and serve a term of six years. The Constitution grants the President authority to appoint his Cabinet. These departments form a large portion of the country’s bureaucracy.

The judicial branch evaluates laws. It holds the power to settle controversies involving rights that are legally demandable and enforceable. This branch determines whether or not there has been a grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction on the part and instrumentality of the government. It is made up of a Supreme Court and lower courts. (retrieved from: https://pia.gov.ph/branches-of-government)

According to Jayson & Reyes (1993), the judiciary is the branch of government that interprets the law of the state and upon which devolves the application of the law for the settlement of conflicts arising from the relations between persons and between government and persons.

The judicial branch of government is known as the guardian of the Constitution. It protects the liberties and freedoms written in the Constitution. It ascertains and decides rights, punishes crimes, administers justice, and protects innocent individuals from injury, usurpation, and other wrongful acts.

Judicial Review: It is the power of the Judicial Branch of government to determine the validity of executive and legislative acts if they are in accordance with the Constitution. This is known as an expression of the supremacy of the Constitution.

A justiciable question can be entertained by the court. It is a given right, legally demandable and enforceable, an act or omission violative of such right, and a remedy granted by law for said breach of right. However, political questions are questions of policy. They involve the wisdom of an act or the efficacy or the necessity of a particular measure. These are questions that are better left for the political branches of the government to determine or resolve. For instance, recall a mode of removing a local official from his post even before his term ends due to a lack of confidence. It is a political question that cannot be intruded upon by the courts.

Qualifications and Hierarchy of Courts The general qualification cited in the constitution is “proven competence, integrity, probity, and independence. In addition, based on the hierarchy of courts are the following:

Justices of the Supreme Court (1) Natural-born citizen; (2) At least 40 years of age; (3) 15 years or more a judge of a lower court or has been engaged in the practice of law in the Philippines for the same period

Justices of the Court of Appeals (1) Same qualifications as those provided for SC Justices, and (2) Congress may prescribe other qualifications.

Regional Trial Court Judges (1) Citizen of the Philippines; (2) At least 35 years of age; (3) Has been engaged in the practice of law for at least 5 years or has held public office in the Philippines requiring admission to the practice of law as an indispensable requisite

Municipal Trial Court Judges (1) Citizens of the Philippines; (2) At least 30 years of age; (3) Has been engaged in the practice of law for at least 5 years or has held public office in the Philippines requiring admission to the practice of law as an indispensable requisite.

Judicial power rests with the Supreme Court and the lower courts, as established by law (Art. VIII, sec. 1 of the 1987 Constitution). Its duty is to settle actual controversies involving rights that are legally demandable and enforceable (Art. VIII Sec. 1(2)).

The judiciary enjoys fiscal autonomy. Its appropriation may not be reduced by the Legislature below the appropriated amount the previous year (Art. VIII, Sec. 3).

Please visit this link for the history of the judiciary: https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/387.

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