Introduction to Political Science

Political institutions allocate authority and create ways to contest decisions.

How to study this source

• Who gets to decide a shared rule?

  coreChapter 1, introductory sections on politics and political power

  Political institutions allocate authority and create ways to contest decisions.

• How does a rule change a person’s options?

  coreChapters on political power and institutions; select two contrasting institutional examples

  A rule can shape choices through permissions, incentives and sanctions.

• How can a right be defended when values conflict?

  coreChapter on civil rights and civil liberties; opening definitions and one worked example

  A rights argument needs a bearer, a duty and a reason for assigning that duty.

Ideas and questions

Read background definitions when a term blocks the argument. Then return to the source and reconstruct its claim in your own words.

Read alongside, read against