HSSRP Political Science Resources by GEB HSSRP

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In this section, you will learn about what constitutes Political Science and its relevance in today's world.

1.1 What is Political Science?

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In this short video, Dr Tamir Sukkary introduces political science and its main sub-fields:

Political Theory
International Relations
Comparative Politics

1.2 Relevance of Political Science

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Political Science is a broad discipline. Here, Professor Michael Munger explains why the study of Political Science is important.

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After an introduction to the discipline and its research process, we will now learn some Political Science content, starting with Political Theory.

3.1 Breaking Down Political Theory

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"Political Theory" are two very big words. In this video, we will learn about what defines political theory and how it has been and continue to be studied.

3.2 Features of Good Political Theories

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This video explains how some modern political scientists evaluate political theories.

3.3 Thomas Hobbes and the State

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Modern political theories come from a long line of philosophers. One of them is the 17th-century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who wrote the book Leviathan that laid the foundation for theories of the state. Watch this video for a short explanation of Hobbes' ideas and their relevance in today's world.

3.4 John Locke's Natural Rights, Popular Sovereignty and the Rule of Law

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Building on Thomas Hobbes' ideas, another English philosopher John Locke first introduced the concepts of Natural Rights, Popular Sovereignty and the Rule of Law in the Second Treatise of Government. This video explains his ideas.

6.2 Theories of International Relations

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How can we understand Internation Relations? This video explains the three theories of International Relations: Realism, Liberalism and Constructivism.

6.6 The United Nations (UN)

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This video explains how the UN was formed, its components and functions.

To learn more about the UN, check out the following free-access e-books:

6.7 Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN)

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This video explains the origins of ASEAN and how it works.

To learn more about ASEAN, check out the following free-access e-books:

2.3 Narrowing Your Research Question

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Is your research topic and question too broad? Dr Emily Maiden explains how you can narrow your research question for a Political Science paper.

2.7 Political Science Methods

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Professor Anne Pluta introduces some research methods used by political scientists. You can refer to the textbook below for further details.

2.5 How to Find Academic Materials for Your Research Paper

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The National Library Board (NLB) gives you access to various academic and newspaper databases. Watch this video to learn how you can access these databases and find academic materials for your research paper.

2.9 Tips For Writing a Good Political Science Paper

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Finally, here are some tips for a good Political Science paper.

Another good guide is here:

https://twp.duke.edu/sites/twp.duke.edu/files/file-attachments/poli-sci.original.pdf

2.6 Defining concepts

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One important task for any scholar is to define appropriate concepts. This video explains the difference between the reliability, validity and precision, and how you can assess your research material through these criteria.

4.3 Politics and Government

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What is the relationship between politics and government? This video lays out some basic definitions of the two and how each one affects the other.

4.2 Types of Government

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Governments can generally be categorised into three types: Unitary, Federal and Confederal. This video explains the characteristics of each type of government and gives some examples of them.

2.2 Formulating Your Research Question

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This video covers the three types of questions you can ask about your research topic to formulate your research question in Political Science:

What caused X?
What is the effect of X on Y?
What is the meaning of Y?

2.4 Literature Review

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A literature review is an essential component of any research paper to demonstrate what you understand about your research topic and what other academics have said. This guide explains how you can write your literature review.

6.4 Foreign Policy Tools

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How does a country execute its foreign policy? This video lists some tools of foreign policy.

6.3 Foreign Policy and International Relations

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What is foreign policy in the study of international relations? What defines a country's foreign policy? This article explains it all.

6.5 Foreign Policy Analysis

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How is foreign policy analysis done? This article introduces 5 models scholars use to analyse a country's foreign policy.

5.1 Introduction to Comparative Politics

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What is Comparative Politics? This video explains what it entails and some common themes in the Political Science sub-field.

For a complete introduction to Comparative Politics, check out The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics.

5.2 Methods of Comparative Politics

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Comparative Politics involves making comparisons in politics. This guide introduces some methods used in Comparative Politics.

Resource Navigation

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In this section, you will find 7 sections with curated resources on Political Science:

Introduction to Political Science
Political Science Research
Political Theory
Public Policy
Comparative Politics
International Relations
Other Topics
Southeast Asian politics
Chinese politics

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In this section, you will learn how to conduct Political Science research and write a paper.

In general, writing a good research paper has several parts:

Identifiying an interesting research question. One way to start is to look think of something puzzling which lacks good explanations.
Literature review: looking for and understanding what others have written on the subject.
Theorising: Here, you can either draw on others' theory or develop your own theory to answer your research question.
Research design: How are you going to test your theory? What cases are you looking at, and what methods?
Results: What are the results of your analysis? What conclusions can you draw?

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After an introduction to Political Theory, we will now move on to learn about Governments and Public Policy.

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In this section, we will learn about the sub-field Comparative Politics.

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And finally, moving on to the macrolevel of Political Science, we will learn about International Relations.

3.5 Defining Political Ideology

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Political theory is sometimes confused with political ideology. This video explains the definition and characteristics of ideology.

4.4 The Political Spectrum

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This video introduces the political spectrum, a tool used by political scientists to categorise a government or a population's political views on social and economic issues.

4.5 Public Policy

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What is public policy? In this video, political scientist Tom Birkland explains the definition and purpose of a public policy introduced by a government.

4.7 Importance of Public Policy

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Why is public policy important? This article explains how good public policy is the key to good governance.

5.3 An Example of a Comparative Politics Paper

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Comparative Politics is a broad sub-field that can include almost any topic that involves the comparison of political systems, behaviour or ideology. As an example, this journal article illustrates how research is done for a topic in comparative politics. To access this article, use your NLB account to log in to the JSTOR database. Watch this video to find out how.

2.8 Writing Thesis Statement

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This short video explains how you can write a strong thesis statement for your paper.

5.4 Identity Politics

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Identity Politics is a topic trending in the study of Comparative Politics. But what exactly is it? This video explains how our identity affects our political behaviour.

5.5 Voting Behaviour

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How do people in a democracy decide who they want to vote for? Political scientists have come up with 4 explanations for people's voting behaviour:

Party-line voting
Rational choice
Retrospective voting
Prospective voting

3.6 Capitalism, Socialism and Communism

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Capitalism, Socialism and Communism are three major ideologies that have shaped modern history and politics. This video provides a quick introduction to them and their key differences.

4.8 Neoliberalism

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Neoliberalism is a term used to describe the UK and US government policies of the 1980s. This video explains what is neoliberalism and what it entails in public policy making.

6.8 European Union (EU)

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This video explains what is the EU and how it is run.

To learn more about the EU, check out the following open-access e-books:

The EU-China Security Paradox

6.9 G7 & G20

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This video explains what the G7 and G20 comprise of, as well as their influence in international relations.

5.8 Political Economy

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You may have noticed that Capitalism and Communism are ideologies that affect both politics and economics. This intersection between the two disciplines is known as Political Economy, which this video will elaborate more on.

2.1 The Process of Writing a Research Paper

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Writing a research paper on your own can be daunting for some. This guide breaks down the entire process into 4 simple steps:

What type of question are you asking?
What types of answers to your question are worth evaluating?
Collect data!
Begin writing!

Check out the guide for more information of each step.

6.1 Introducing International Relations

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International Relations is a relatively new subfield in Political Science. This free textbook provides an introduction to beginners on what the study of International Relations entails.

4.1 State vs Government

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What is the difference between the state and the government? This video lays out 8 key distinctions.

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Political Science is a broad discipline that covers a range of topics. Here are some additional topics you can read up on.

4.6 Public Policy Process

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How is go governments come up with public policy? This video gives a short explanation of the public policy process:

Agenda Setting
Policy Formulation
Policy Adoption/Legitimization
Policy Implementation
Policy Evaluation/Assessment

8.1 International Political Economy

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International Political Economy is the study of the intersection between politics and economics on a global scale. This playlist introduces the topic as well as some key terms and concepts.

8.3 Digital Government

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Digital Government is another new topic in Political Science that is gaining traction. This video by Smart Nation Singapore explains what Digital Government is and how it already exists in our everyday lives.

To learn more about Digital Government, check out the following open-access ebooks:

8.2 Environmental Politics

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Climate Change is a growing concern in today's world and part of the solution is found in Environmental Politics. In this video, Professor Calvin Chung explains the study of Environmental Politics and its relevance to future generations.

To learn more about Environmental Politics, check out the following open-access e-books:

Environment, Climate Change and International Relations

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If you are interested in reading more about International Relations, visit E-International Relations for a range of free online books and analytical articles.

1.3 Reflecting on political science

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In this article, noted scholar of International Relations Robert Jervis reflects on what political science is.

General textbook

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For a good overview of different metholodgies to the study of political science, you can refer to this open access textbook.

In this section, we will discuss methodology in greater detail.

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Political methodology are the tools that political scientists use in their research. In general, political methodology can be split into two types:

Quantitative methodology; the use of numerical data and statistical methods
Qualitative methodology; the use of non-numerical data and methods, such as case studies and interviews.

Foundations of Quantitative Research in Political Science

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This free online course by the American Political Science Association provides a good overview of quantitative methods.

Statistical programming (R)

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Most political scientists use R, a free and open source programming language, to perform their statistical calculations. If you want to learn more, this is a free online textbook.

Experiments

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Political scientists often use experiments to test their theories. Here is an introduction.

Qualitiative methods

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A review of how qualitative methods are used.

Case selection

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How should you select cases for your case study? This provides an overview.

What is a case study?

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Interviews

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How can you conduct interviews effectively?

3.8 Introduction to political philosophy

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A free online course that touches on the major works of the Western canon

5.6 Power and politics in today's world

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This is an introductory video series on comparative politics, covering many different topics

5.7 Introduction to political economy

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This is a free course that provides an introduction to the field of political economy.

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This section includes a selection of readings on chinese politics that may be relevant for your research.

4.9 State capacity

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Why are some states strong and others weak? This provides a review of the literature.

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This section includes readings on SEA politics

The cooperation-infrastructure nexus: Translating the ‘China Model’ into Laos

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ChinaPower Project

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Burma’s Transition to “Disciplined Democracy”:

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Abdication or Institutionalization of Military Rule?

Deng Xiaoping: an assessment

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Research guide to SEA

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Belt and road: a backgrounder

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Empirical studies of conflict: China

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Southeast Asia and the politics of vulnerability

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Southeast Asian Studies: Introduction

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A selective list of resources that are available at NUS.

Asia society: decoding chinese politics

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Lecture series on China

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This is a lecture series on China by Princeton professor, Rory Truex

The Diplomat

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New Mandala

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8.4 Asian politics

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A good youtube general covering various topics in Asia, some of which are political

Online Burma Library

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An online library of resources on Myanmar

Myanmar conflict map

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