Contemporary Political Science

Analyses of politics appeared in ancient cultures in works by various thinkers, including Confucius (551-479 BC) in China and Kautilya (flourished 300 BC) in India. Writings by the historian Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) in North Africa have greatly influenced the study of politics in the Arabic-speaking world. But the fullest explication of politics has been in the West. Some have identified Plato (428/427-348/347 BC), whose ideal of a stable republic still yields insights and metaphors, as the first political scientist, though most consider Aristotle (384-322 BC), who introduced empirical observation into the study of politics, to be the discipline's true founder. This book contains the fundamental and basic information on the subject.