Modes of Political Analysis in politics.pptx

An area in politics.

1. Modes of Political Analysis   The Orientations of Political Analysis In every situation in which you find yourself, you invariably ask certain basic questions. What is the state of things? How has it come to be the way it is? Is it good or could it be better? How can you act to arrive at the desirable state of things (for yourself, your wife, your children, your professional association, your country and so on?). Underlying all of these questions is another one which most of us often take for granted: What do you mean by the key terms you use?

2. P olitical analysis can accordingly be categorized into semantic analysis (by which you seek clarification of subject); normative analysis (by which you seek to assess or “judge” policies and situations based on certain norms); empirical analysis (by which you seek to discover causes and establish relationships among the elements you are considering); and policy analysis (by which you look for that solution among possible solutions).

3. SEMANTIC ANALYSIS In semantic analysis or what is called conceptual analysis, we try to clarify the meaning of the key terms or concepts that we use. There are two ways of going about semantic analysis. Nominal definition : a term or concept can be defined by appealing to an authority whose definition is widely accepted, or by relying on definitions offered in standard English or “technical” dictionaries such as Oxford English dictionary, Britannica, Wikipedia etc. Operationalization of concepts : in the case of very nebulous concepts like democracy, freedom, or equality which are often coloured by ideological considerations, we can devise certain “objective” indices according to which they can be defined, and insist that they mean exactly what we want them to mean. Operationalized concepts are referred to as variables that are measurable and quantifiable .

4. NORMATIVE ANALYSIS Normative analysis involves questions of what ought to be, rather than what is. What ought to be is determined by the values we have, whether these are divine, natural laws, or are purely subjective.

5. EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS The point is that in empirical analysis, the concern is with what is. When you ask the question, what causes destitution; you are asking an empirical question based on what is In essence, empirical analysis and conclusions reflect the implications of (the) empirical evidence rather than (the analyst’s) personal values, preferences, or presuppositions.”

6. POLICY ANALYSIS Policy analysis involves the search for policies or courses of action which will take us from the present state to that which we desire. In other words, policies are solutions which we think will bring desired and satisfactory results. Certainly, in any unsatisfactory situation, there would be more than one possible solution.

7. How the Modes are related Although each orientation of analysis emphasizes a particular focus, the four modes of analysis are not mutually exclusive i.e. none is independent of the others. Normative analysis requires prior empirical knowledge: to know what ought to be, we require to know what is. Policy analysis makes use of both empirical and normative analysis because, in a sense, it attempts to bridge the gap between what is and what ought to be. Furthermore, normative assumptions provide us the criteria for evaluating polices. Underlying all analysis is, of course semantic analysis, without which few analyses can be made.