Political Science in Mexico in the Cold War and Post-Cold War Context

Abstract

It is not easy to define political science. Political scientists themselves are not in agreement on the definition. Its object of study is not clear. This field has traditionally been concerned with the analysis of (a) the good life; (b) the monopoly of the use of legitimate physical violence; (c) the authoritative allocation of values for a given society; and (d) forms of organization and the exercise of power. It is within this last sphere, perhaps the most generic of all, that we find two positions: the study of power within the state, and how power filters down into society. (Although, in a strict sense, the first is the role of political science and the second of political sociology, even though this is a somewhat artificial division.)