Studying Politics and Public Administration

Politics is a vast field of study that seeks to understand human political systems and societies. Politics is basically the collection of activities which are related to establishing or influencing political relationships between individuals, like the distribution of land or status amongst people. The field of political science which studies politics and public administration are also known as political science. It also includes other branches such as media theory and social science. Politics is a useful field to examine various social issues and political problems that face our world today.

The study of politics is made complicated by the existence of different types of institutions involved in politics like public administration, legislature, executive, judicial, and lobbying and PR. Public administration refers to the role of politicians in ensuring public safety and order through various administrative works. Legislation is the form of political activity, which is passed to empower the citizens through laws. It can be a general law, empowering certain bodies like a municipality, state, nation or union etc. It can also be a constitutional amendment, a bill introduced in the Houses of Representatives and the Senate or an executive order.

Politics and legislation play an important role in making laws that govern the society. In fact, politics is not an easy task as it involves various complexities like culture, language, society, time, ideals, interests, power, ideas and vision. All these elements interact and influence each other to arrive at a particular political context. As a result politics has become a difficult task to perform and is even more difficult to study.

Politics and public administration encompass various other important areas like political economy, institutional arrangement, diplomacy, international relations, international trade and development and political systems. There is no dearth of subjects for students who are interested in politics. There are many colleges and universities which offer Political Science and American Studies degree and you can get the information about the courses on their websites. However, if you want to pursue higher education in Politics then you must opt for a Bachelor of Arts in Politics, which covers all the basic subjects like government, history, philosophy, sociology and the basic features of political systems.

The influence of politics in our daily life is enormous and is far reaching. Politics has affected formal politics, party system, civil society and individual life in the broad sense. Today, all the aspects of life from education to healthcare are affected by politics, thus making politics an important part of our lives.

Students pursuing a political degree should opt for Politics and Public Administration as a career option. The major subjects in this degree include contemporary political sociology, analysis of national and global economic and social structure, introduction to political theory and modern world political economy, development of political economy and social policy. In recent years, these subjects have grown out of traditional political science, making it a part of contemporary academic curriculum. Moreover, in these times of global warming and other environmental issues, one cannot deny the importance of politics as they affect the way people interact with each other.

Politics and public policy are an important segment in contemporary academic curriculum, thus students opting for Politics & Public Administration (PPIA) degree have excellent chances of a bright future. This program helps students learn about current political issues, policies and practices that shape the political system of a country or a region. Moreover, as they learn about different forms of political system such as proportional election, single-party statehood, plebiscitary, popular vote and universal suffrage, students also learn how various political leaders have attempted to solve some of the most critical political issues of the day. Besides this, they also learn about how various institutions, like universities, think tanks, courts, legislature, consultancies and NGOs work collectively to advance public policy.

After a thorough understanding of the political system, students may pursue a specialization in Politics, making laws as their special area of concentration. The specialization coursework includes making laws as a social justice science, which seeks to ensure the equality and freedom of citizens regardless of race, sex, religion, disability, birth or wealth. Other specialized programs include making laws as a human rights science focusing on ensuring that everyone has a fair shot at prosperity. Moreover, students pursuing a specialization in PPIA may also look into making laws as a development theology focusing on protecting vulnerable groups.