ABSENT

What are the methods of analysis political scientists use to understand the similarities and differences between states? We looked at both qualitative and quantitative data. We also looked at how political scientists use both quantitative and empirical analysis to make comparisons across countries to draw conclusions about politics.

Politics is a term that refers to government activities and the attempt by people to attain political office. There are two main political parties in the United States: the Democrats and the Republicans. The United States is a democracy. This means that people over the age of 18 choose their leaders in regular elections. For the most part, anyone in the US can get involved in politics. Political engagement is not limited to voting. Political rallies, protests, and activism are also forms of political activity. Politics plays a major role in people's day-to-day activities. In democratic societies, politics inevitably leads to conflicts because there are so many different opinions in society. Politicians carry out a number of activities to keep themselves in office. This includes meeting with constituents and explaining what their taxes pay for. One of the reasons they do this is to resolve political power struggles over limited national resources. International politics is often aimed at resolving conflicts.

ABSENT

Today we were able to meet for 20 minutes to discuss some of the weekend HW. Nina was extremely proactive and she sought me out at lunch to let me know she had to leave early today. We did get to spend some time discussing HW, which was good. Kudos to Nina for coming to find me so we could meet for part of a lesson.

ABSENT

Political science is a field of study focused on understanding how power is built, used, and exchanged. It spans many social science fields including history and economics, and psychology, but stands alone in its focus on politics. There is a deep history of political science that goes back thousands of years to ancient China and India, but the ancient Greeks are credited with being the original political scientists. Today, there are fields and subfields that operate under political science's umbrella. These include: Comparative politics (the study of national politics, and comparisons between nations and their politics), Domestic policy (study of one's nation's policies and policy development), International relations (the study of political relationships between governments), Political theory (study of the philosophical underpinnings of politics)
Public law (the study of the constitution and its implications in governmental and societal operations), Public policy (the study of the development and implementation of all policies across society, at all levels of government), Public administration (study of political bureaucracy). Political science is essential to understanding not only contemporary power and governance but learning from the past and its political records in order to better inform (and create) future power dynamics and systems of government.

In our second period together today we discussed important course themes such as: female succession and ascension to power in history, bystander syndrome, Cain & Abel syndrome, what is a puppet ruler, possible reasons for civil wars, what is a culture clash and the cycle of empires? Nina's course is registered with the College Board/AP Central and she may access further topics about the class as soon as she registers into it for 2022-23.

Through our reading, we discussed issues such as: why do some languages cease to exist? The explanation(s) often relates to issues of history, government and politics. We also discussed why the decline of the Roman Empire is used time and again to analyze and/or compare how and why other governments and empires may decline. Nina actually asked if we could work an extra period together at 12:30 pm today. She is so motivated!

ABSENT