Contemporary Approaches and Methods

Contemporary approaches to political study are functionally oriented, behavioural and fact-oriented. While traditional approaches largely rely on philosophical, deductive, historical and, in a few cases, comparative and empirical methods, contemporary approaches are based on scientific and empirical methods, and use statistical and quantitative techniques. Thus, both in their focus and scope of study, as well as in the techniques and tools used, contemporary approaches are revolutionary. We will discuss these approaches and methods, and their implications for the study of political science.