政治科学试图去理解, 来解释, and — sometimes — to evaluate how humans live and work together in public ways. 这样做, political scientists focus on what happens in and around government and politics, 人类是如何合作的,又是如何相互对抗的, 为什么有的国家成功,有的国家失败.
政治学家研究投票和革命, 最高法院和联合国, 正义的概念和权力的本质, 环境政策, criminal law and gender politics - all in the pursuit of clearer knowledge about the characteristic ways humans interact in the public sphere.