TILE BRANCHES OF POLITICAL SCIENCE. In ae• eordance with the general division of political science which has been indicated above, we may group the various brandies of the subject as follows: Political Dynamics 1. Diplomacy and international Politics.
2. Party Politics.
3. Comparative Legislation.
4. Governmental and Administrative Policies. Political Statics ]. Constitutional Law.
2. International Law.
3. Administrative Law and Technique.
4. Comparative Study of Institutions.
5. Jurisprudence.
General and Normative Politics 1. Political Theory.
2. Political Ethics.
It would, of course, he impossible to deal with the living forces of public life without paying regard to the settled institutions, or, on the other hand, to investigate the hitter without giving at tention to the motive forces by which they are sup ported ; and, no matter what subject in politics may he under consideration, generalizations be longing to political theory or ethics can never he excluded. While these various subjects are thus intimately interrelated, each of them nevertheless forms the centre for a group of specific considera tions and preserves in the main its own point of view. Put their mutual relations ought never to be overlooked. A study of the public law of any State without attention heing given to political forces and their mode:: of fiction fails to convey a just conception of political life. In a State like the :\meriean Union, founded upon the theory of government by law deduced from a written constitution, static and juristic facts are often placed unduly in the foreground. The discussions in the American Congress are usually given a juristic turn, so that, for instance, the considera tion of measures dealing with economic subjects like the trusts will be based primarily on consti tutional arguments. The greatness of such states men as Lincoln consists in their knowledge of the true motive powers and in their readiness when necessary to modify juristic. principles so as to
adapt them to the living forces of politics—"to' throw the Constitution overboard in order to save the Constitution." International law and diplo macy similarly bear a close relationship to each other. Not only is the former largely a result of the efforts of the most enlightened diplomatists. hut its enforcement is always conditioned by the actual grouping of the various factors in inter national politics. The study of comparative legis lation furnishes materials to general jurispru dence, and this in turn enables the legislator to secure greater harmony and a more effective structure in his legal enactments. Practical poli tics, while primarily founded upon the grouping of interests, cannot afford to overlook the prin ciples of political theory which pervade the thought of the people and give direction to their action and to their enthusiasms. Political theory, on the other hand, should strive to be an expres sion of the cardinal facts of actual political life, and consequently the theory of democracy can longer rest upon the original concept of an ideal state of nature. The intimate connection between practical polities and political ethics would not seem to need emphasizing, were it not for the fact that certain writers like :Machiavelli have disso ciated political considerations from ethical prin ciples, and also that in the practical politics of the lower type but very little application of ethical motives can be perceived. Even the de tails of administrative technique have a close connection with dynamic politics, for often a method of action which seems thoroughly con venient, and indeed almost necessary from the administrative point of view. may be subject to grave objections when the political life of the State is considered.