Politics is not an exact science, like Physics or Chemistry. Firstly, there are no absolutely exact, certain and universally valid laws and principles in it Secondly, no experiment, in the laboratory sense of the term, is possible about man and his political acts and ideas which are die subject-matter of Political Science. Hence, its laws, conclusions and theories cannot be verified. Thirdly, human nature is so complex and so changeable that it is nearly impossible to predict its behaviour and movements.
Finally, there is no consensus of opinion among the scholars and thinkers of Political Science about its methods, principles and conclusions. Its laws are mostly uncertain; its logic is sometimes inexact; and its conclusions are at times dubious. Method makes science. But Political Science, like all other social sciences, has no scientifically reliable method. Experiment is impossible in it, because it deals with State, and State cannot be experimented upon.
A student of Political Science cannot acquire such a power and control over his subject, i.e., man in politics, as to create an artificial .uniformity in him. “He cannot after twenty generations of education or breeding render even two human beings sufficiently like each other for him to prophesy with any approach to certainty that they will behave alike under like circumstances.” Similarly, like the political scientists, the practitioners of politics, viz., the Statesmen and politicians, find it difficult to apply political principles and theories in practice.
They often compromise with them when translating or putting than into practice. Such were the difficulties which made Bismarck to remark that “Politics is not an exact science.” Professor W.M Mackenzie, taking a more sympathetic view of Political Science, says, “The word science here indicates simply that there exists an academic tradition of the study of politics, a discipline communicated from teacher to pupil, by speech and writing, from some 2,500 years now. It does not mean that this discipline claims to be a ‘natural science1, or that it could be improved by copying the methods of physics and chemistry more exactly.”
Nevertheless, though not an exact science, several methods and techniques of modem science and technology have come into being in recent times, which, when applied to researches in Political Science, can make it a more exact science than it was before.