Explore topic-wise InterviewSolutions in Current Affairs.

• Political Science is related to political life of man, whereas Economics is related to economic life. 
• Political Science is an idealistic science, whereas Economics is descriptive.

Contribution of Political Science to Economics: 

Political situations, system and decisions definitely affect the economy. 

Contribution of Political Science to Economics can be explained under the following points: 

1. Structure of Economy depends on Policies of State: 

The structure of economy depends on the form of government and its policies. Control of the state on economic life increases in socialist countries where state has no control on economic life in capitalist countries. Economy gets affected by the policies of the government like tax-system, investment policy, monetary system, import-export, trade, agriculture, etc.

2. Production and distribution of Goods depend on the form of government: 

Production and distribution of goods in any country depends on the form of government. In communist countries, government has full control over the means of production and distribution, whereas in capitalist countries, means of production and distribution remain in individual hands. Government has no control over them. 

3. Effect of quality of Governance of Economic development: 

Economic development of a country is affected by the level of governance of a country. Economic development can be accelerated by effective governance system. If the government is corrupt, then it may create hindrance in economic development. 

4. Reason and Solution of Economic Problems depend on the State: 

The problems which a state solves are mostly of economic nature. For example: Taxation, unemployment, labor, liberation, etc.

Aristotle gave this statement.

Subject matter of study of Sociology is man and society, whereas subject matter of Political Science is state.

• Scope of Political Science is narrow, whereas Sociology is broad in scope. 
• Political Science is idealistic subject, whereas Sociology is descriptive.

According to Catlin, “Political Science and Sociology are integral, and in reality, these are two sides of one coin.”

(a) Paul Jane

(d) Human Welfare

According to Gettle, “Economic situations affect the organisation, development and activities of state, and in response, state changes the economic situations through its policies and laws.”

Political Science studies the structure of the state that is basically a part of social structure. Knowledge about state and political development can be obtained only through the knowledge of social development.

There is close relationship between Political Science and Geography. Political Science studies about the state. One of the main elements of state is territory. Area of land is studied under Geography. Geography is related to earth, its size, shape, minerals, atmosphere, etc.

Geographical conditions definitely affect the Political structure and life of a country. Aristotle and Bodeoun had accepted the close relationship of Political Science and Geography and had explained a close relation between different forms of government and climate.

Hot climate is suitable for dictatorship, cold for barbarous and mild climate is suitable for democratic government. Montesque had accepted the maximum effect of geographical conditions on social and political institutions, especially on liberty. Geography affects not only home policy, but foreign policy also. The main reason of increase of power of countries like USA is their natural resources. 

The global importance and influence of western Asian countries is due to their geographical situation, minerals and mineral oils. Due to its favorable geographical conditions, direct democracy has been successful in Switzerland. Due to the lack of natural resources countries such as Nepal and Bhutan are backward with political viewpoint.

Modern political thinkers also accept the effect of geographical conditions on Politics. As a result, a new subject has been developed which studies the political effect of geographical conditions, which is known as Geopolitics.

Man is a social or political creature. There are many aspects of human life – political, economic, cultural, religious, moral, psychological, etc. Many sciences have been developed to study these aspects like – Political Science, Sociology, Economics, History, Ethics, etc. These are related to any one of the aspects of human life, so these are social sciences and related deeply to each other. All these sciences are supposed to be inter – related since ancient times. Political thinkers had questioned the efforts to separate these social sciences and emphasised the inter – relationship of these sciences because all social sciences think that man is a social animal and their aim is to make human life better. This basis of integration unites all the social sciences.

All the subjects of social sciences are profited by knowledge of each other and while studying about various aspects of human life they are mutually interdependent even after maintaining their independent identity. They cannot be separated. Thus, it becomes necessary to study other subjects for significant study of any one subject.

Following are the differences between Political Science and Economics: 

1. Difference in Subject – matter:

Political Science is related to political life of man, whereas Economics is related to economic life of man. Subject-matter of Political Science is state, whereas subjectmatter of Economics is money and property.

2. Difference in Nature:

Political Science is ideological, but Economics is narrative. Political Science studies from point of view of moral and social values, whereas Economics studies only from materialistic point of view. 

3. Difference in Aim:

Political Science studies man as man, whereas Economics studies man as money and property.

4. Difference in Scope:

Scope of Political Science is wide, but Economics is narrow in scope. Economics studies only monetary or economic aspect, whereas Political Science studies other aspects also like political, religious, cultural, ethical, etc.

Differences between Political Science and History are as under:

1. Difference in study methods:

Study method of Political Science is thought – based. It studies the events related to political aspects and deduces the general laws and theories on the basis of observational, comparative, scientific and philosophical aspects. Study method of History is descriptive. It only narrates the events of the past neutrally.

2. Difference in Scope:

Political Science studies the political life of man and political institutions. It studies past, present and future also, whereas History studies the past of whole life of man and all the social institutions. In this way, scope of Political Science is narrow and that of History is wider.

3. Difference in Purpose:

Purpose of Political Science is to make present and future more comfortable by using the experiences of past. Whereas, aim of History is to merely study the past events.

4. Difference in Nature:

Nature of Political Science is ideological, whereas History is descriptive or narrative.

• Political Science is related to man’s political life, whereas Economics is related to man’s economic life.
• Political Science is ideological, whereas Economics is descriptive.

(d) Psychology

Significance of political activities is decided on the assumptions of Ethics.

(b) Political Science

The greatest virtue of Political Science is its readiness to accept the conclusions of other branches of Social Science.

Scope of Sociology is wider than Political Science. Sociology studies all aspects of the society and all the social relations of a man, while Political Science studies only the political relations of man, state and its governance system.

(a)  Narrative

• Study method of Political Science is observational and philosophical, whereas study method of history is descriptive.
• Aim of Political Science is to make present and future more comfortable and useful by taking advantages of experiences of past, whereas aim of history is only to get knowledge of the past.

necessary to understand the political life and problems of the society of a country. Geography not only affects the home policy, but also the foreign policy of a country.

• Scope of Political Science is limited, whereas scope of ethics is more extensive.
• Political Science is descriptive and practical, whereas ethics is ideological and theoretical.

This statement is given by Catlin.

‘Perhaps, the greatest virtue of Political Science is its politeness’. This statement is given by Rothi.

State is a central topic of Political Science.

(c) Ethics Science

The speaker in ‘When You are Old’, loved the pilgrim soul, as well as the changes that appeared in her face as she grew older.

The foot would like to be a butterfly or an apple.

According to the speaker, ‘love’ had hidden his face amid a crowd of stars.

According to Borges, in every book there is a need for something more, which is always mysterious. A book can be full of errors; we can reject its author’s opinions; disagree with him or her, but the book always retains something sacred, something mortal and something magical which brings happiness. Thus, the book goes beyond the author’s intention.

Grimm’s ‘Fairy Tales’ in an English version.

Alifano asked Borges what was blindness to him. Borges replied that it was a way of life. He added that in his case the visible world had moved away from his eyes. Alifano again asked Borges whether he had thought of writing a book on the history of the book. Borges said that it was an excellent idea and that he would keep it in his mind.

taken for granted; dawn on.

According to Borges, we must transmute our humiliations, our misfortunes and our embarrassments, to create eternal works.

Borges filled his house with books when the visible world moved away from his eyes.

(a)    sight.

According to Borges, Spengler’s book ‘Decline of the West’ has remarkable comments on books.

The library of Alexandria in his dream.

In his dream, Borges visualized the burning of a great library with its countless volumes attacked by flames.

Goethe (Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe).

Towards the end of the interview, Roberto Alifano asks Borges’ opinion on the comment that modern developments in communications will replace books with something more dynamic than reading. In reply, Borges asserts that books will never disappear and it is impossible to replace books. He justifies his opinion saying that ‘book’ is the most astounding invention of man. Whereas the telephone can be considered as an extension of our voice, the television and microscope as extensions of our sight, and the sword and the plough as extensions of our arm, only the book is an extension of our imagination and memory and nothing can replace books.

Books preserve the great memory of all centuries and their function is irreplaceable. Naturally, if books disappear, history would disappear and man would also surely disappear. He says that books always retain something sacred, mortal and magical which brings happiness.

Borges believes that poetry is something so intimate and so essential that it cannot be defined without oversimplifying it. Then he says that poetry is not the poem and opines that a poem may be nothing more than a series of symbols. According to Borges, poetry is an aesthetic act; and poetry is not the poem. The poetic act takes place when the poet writes it and the reader reads it and it always happens in a slightly different manner. When the poetic act takes place, Borges believes that we become aware of it. That is why he calls poetry as a magical, mysterious and unexplainable event. If one does not feel the poetic event upon reading it, Borges opines that we need to conclude that the poet has failed.

While answering a question about his blindness, Borges says that whatever happens to us in life should be considered a resource, because he believes that all things have been given to us for a purpose and an artist must feel this more intensely. He believes that all that happens to us, including humiliations, misfortunes, and embarrassments are given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we say shape our art. He says that humiliation, misfortune and discord are given to us so that we may transmute them, so that we may make from the miserable circumstance of our life eternal works or works that aspire to be so.

‘All that is near becomes far’.

A poet is considered a failure if one does not feel the poetic event upon reading it.

(a) by the flowers 

(b) smiles, not tears

When I am disappointed, I think of the times when things were good. I speak to my parents and share my problems with them. I try to smile and face the situation bravely.