SCHOLAR: THEORY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE JURISDICTION

THEORY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE JURISDICTION

The discipline of Political Science has domestic and foreign jurisdiction.  Jurisdiction is the authority granted to a legal body to act on legal matters.  When a Political Scientist becomes an Attorney or an Advocate, he or she has the ability to practice with “jurisdiction” because he or she has become a legal body.  Becoming a “legal entity” means that the individual, association, company, partnership, has privileges and responsibilities established by law.  Having “jurisdiction” means that such legal entity can action on legal matters within the legal framework of the land.  Having a degree in any discipline is the effect of a legal entity in the form of the educational institution.  Graduation is the process by which students are attested by the educational institution to have completed the requirements of the educational program they matriculated to.  Less a degree in Law, a Political Scientist can become an advocate.  Further, the advocate becomes a legal individual when he or she uses his or her works such as briefing notes and transitions them to amicus briefs.  Amicus briefs are filed by a third party referred to as “amicus curiae” with the special interest or expertise in legal matters with the desire to influence a courts decision in a specific way.  The expertise is developed through “apparent authority” or “actual authority”.  In the case of Political Science, the individual has “discretionary authority” on the other disciplines.  Thus, it becomes necessary for the Political Scientist to hone his ability through continued education.  This can be done through the creation of literatures pertaining to society which then keeps the practice of Political Science current.  In the Westminster Parliamentary Model of the government, bills become acts, acts become statutes.  This occurs through “three readings” done in Parliament.  There is currently a lack of a degree pertaining to lobbying in which precedes the discipline of Political Science henceforth, currently a Political Scientist can create “amicus briefs” from previous works of literature that depict his “apparent authority” granted to him by the University to become an “amicus curiae”.  Essentially this process makes the Political Scientist an “advocate”.  Further, in the judiciary, amicus briefs can be filed for court cases in a bid to influence the ratiodecendendi of the honorable Judge. 

As it pertains to disciplines educated by academia, the term used is “scope”.  “Scope” is the “right” and “duty” given by the government in the form of legal jurisdiction to academics permitting them to practice their discipline.  Political Scientist exercise their expertise on a wide array of subject matters.  It is the honing of their capacity which gives Political Scientists varying degrees of jurisdiction on societal matters.  As it pertains to “jurisdiction,” the Westminster Parliamentary Model delegates various forms of “jurisdiction” however the absolute authority here is what is referred to as parliamentary supremacy.  This means that what transpires in Parliament through the three readings process of bills is the absolute authority of the land.  In Canada, this was bestowed upon the government by the throne of England.  Intra vires refers to matters within the jurisdiction and ultra vires outside of the jurisdiction of the federal or provincial government.  This means that powers are delegated under the Constitution under s91 and s92.  Seeing as the discipline of Political Science involves both matters described in both sections, it can be claimed that the discipline itself involves intra vires jurisdiction of both which then is delegated in the form of the "scope" of the discipline.  Henceforth the Political Scientist exercises “discretionary authority” of which is included in the apparent authority (actual authority if under a principal) of the discipline when related to matters pertaining to jurisdiction. 

Within the theory of Structural Functionalism is the Policy Process.  The Policy Process involves taking inputs and feedback from the domestic environment so that interest can be articulated and aggregated for policy.  Specifically, within the Policy Process is the first two steps are “Agenda Setting” followed by “Policy Formation”.  In Agenda Setting, it is important that the Political Scientist has the information needed to identify the problem to be solved.  This involves investigation.  Investigation can come in the form of field work, canvasing demonstrations, surveys amongst others.  It is investigation via field studies that allows the Political Scientist to get a firsthand experience necessary to identify the existence of problems.  By working the field involving other disciplines the Political Scientist can collect primary data.  The collection of primary data by Political Scientist allows them to have a handle on the matter.  Further, secondary data can be collected to support the primary data, this can be done through interviews, academic research etc.    The investigation process involved in the “Agenda Setting” stage of policy making serves as a measure by which Political Scientist can serve the discipline in question free of prejudice, bias or preconceived notions.  Some disciplines require more technical knowledge and with that said, the Political Scientist can opt to have a “supervised practice” for the duration they investigate a matter to be solved for policy purposes.  Such is the case when a policy is being created in the Legal field.  Specially concerning this an example is as follows:

There are concerns that Canada does not have a legal coverage program (the problem).  The Political Scientist would then station himself at Access Probono as a supervised worker with designated task by the Attorney under an Agency Agreement.  Such designation of tasks requires an orientation in which the Political Scientist studies before hand to be able to gain the “skill” necessary to be able to investigate the problem of concern.  Once orientation is completed, the Political Scientist would work under supervision, investigating and querying the clientele according to the designated tasks.  In this, primary data would be collected and recorded.  When the process in the field is completed, the Political Scientist would refer to academic literature or secondary sources to validate the problem.  When this occurs, an analysis occurs resulting in “Policy Formation.”

For the above to occur, it is necessary to send a Proposal to the Research Panel on Ethics (Core TCPS2) and have it approved.  Sending a Proposal to the panel means that the Political Scientist did his or her research on the subject of contempt and can “practice” the “designated tasks” within an experiment with intent.  It also facilitates the creation of the Agency Agreement wherein those tasks are defined.  Lastly, some disciplines would require prior approval of the regulating body, in this case the Law Society.  The compelling of the regulatory body would involve interest articulation and interest aggregation essentially through Petitions.  Having completed Petitions serves as a method by which the regulatory body can confirm and validate that a problem exists.  When these aforementioned are all completed, the expirament can begin, and it starts with an orientation.  In the orientation the “skills” are taught and it is these “skills” that are actioned during the field study.  When the research is done, the Political Scientist would use the Commissioner of Lobbying to announce changes in existing bills, acts and statutes.  The Political Scientist would then connect with a Politician to draft a bill. 

The Policy Process within the Structural Functional Theory is designed for nation building and national unity.  Policy serves as a method by which the population can concur on bills, acts and statutes that govern their actions.  It also serves as a way by which societal cohesion can occur and in this the society can be transformed to meet the needs and wants of its citizens.  Policy allows for members in society to have a commonality between interest, goals and preferences.  This is influenced by the policy created by the government as it serves to give citizens concessions in exchange for rights and freedoms.  Policy also helps with the development of Political Culture.  Culture can be defined as a common a set of values, beliefs and morals.  The policy in the government helps influence Political Socialization.  Socialization is a way by which ideas and ways of doing things can be transferred from person to person.  This can be done through three levels according to G.  Bingham, Political Socialization occurs through the system, process and policy.  The system involves matters such as national identity and legitimacy.  The process on the other hand means the roles and perceptions of those involved in society and policy refers to the government taking inputs and feedback from the domestic enviornment and creating regulation.

On the system level, legitimacy is attained from adherence to the laws and the government meeting its obligations to the people.  This involves taking inputs and feedback from the domestic environment in order to properly identify the problems or issues in society so that a gradual increase in the standard of living occurs.  On the process level, the government works with society to determine the expectations.  In this the government uses communication, socialization and recruitment in order to facilitate political participation.  Policy created within the government structure are advertised through campaigning or propaganda and then put into a platform of a political party so that people can vote when elections occur.  Various interest groups in society can react to these so as to influence the democratic process, such groups include anomic groups, non-associational groups, institutional groups, associational groups etc.  Further the media is a channel of political access by which such campaigns can be conveyed to the publics.  With all this, a Political Culture is maintained, and it occurs through socialization of which are influenced by the Policy Process a part of the Structural Functional Theory. 

Policy can be created to regulate municipal, provincial, federal (domestic) and international (foreign) affairs per the Structural Functional Theory.  The domestic and foreign environments are part of the theory which then help define the scope of the Political Scientist.  Through the above-mentioned process, the judiciary and the legislature can be influenced, but also, international institutions such as intergovernmental organizations and nongovernmental organizations.  These foreign institutions function through “foreign policy” and “decision making” based on rational choice theory wherein foreign officials takes steps in response to situations or events abroad.  Within foreign institutions, it is widely known that states compete for limited resources wherein they maximize outcomes.  Oftentimes when in relation to foreign policy decisions they are impeded by what is referred to as “bounded rationality” meaning that many factors are involved in a decision of which in the policy process “Agenda Setting,” “Policy Formation” and “Legitimation” are all involved.   Agenda setting requires the sound collection of data from primary and secondary sources.  Without such collection or articulation and aggregation there would be no decision.  “Agenda Setting’ is arguable the most important factor in this process. When such data is collected, “Policy Formation” occurs.  This is where objectives are set, and costs and estimates are considerate of the problem.  And, in the “Legitimation” step, support is determined.  “Legitimation” is dependent on “Agenda Setting” because it is interest articulation and interest aggregation that allows for the foreseeing of adequate inputs and feedback by which then affects the Policy Process and decision making thereafter. These institutions also function according to a bureaucratic model wherein decisions are resulted from the “pulling and hauling” between government agencies.  Bureaucracy also aims to provide checks and balances to the decisions.  The model states that decision making outputs provide feedback so that inputs can be created, and these are resulted from bargaining with bureaucratic units as suggested.  The scope of Political Science within International Relations henceforth lies within the policy functions of extraction, regulation and distribution in a bid to affect the outputs.  Henceforth the discipline of Political Science influences International Relations in that the policy in the state are designed to obtain feedback from the foreign institutions who provide outputs based on customs and conventions.  Feedback from foreign entities comes in the form of trade, diplomacy, negotiation, arbitration, mediation amongst others within the established foreign structure. Disagreements in custom are settled via International Court of Justice, while, the United Nations and the Security Council deliberate about customs and conventions.  With all these noted, it becomes increasingly clear that the discipline of Political Science is granted domestic and foreign "discretionary jurisdiction" and "territorial jurisdiction" delegated within their "scope" along with the "discretionary" (Political Science) " personal jurisdiction" and "subject matter jurisdiction" of individual disciplines.  Together with the the other disciplines, delegated "concurrent jurisdiction" is achieved as mentioned above.

WORK CITED 

Boyd.  (2015).  Canadian Law.  Ontario, Canada.  Nelson. 

Powell, et al.  (2012).  Comparative Politics Today.  Illinois, USA.  Pearson. 

Sens, et al.  (2005).  Global Politics.  Ontario, Canada.  Thomson Nelson.

US Legal (2022). Jurisdiction. Retrieved from: https://civilprocedure.uslegal.com/jurisdiction/

Yates, R., et al.  (2017).  Business Law in Canada.  Ontario, Canada.  Pearson.