I'm undertaking a political science course and I'm currently studying the French fourth and fifth republics. Now this would come under the umbrella of contemporary history and I was wondering is there any difference between the way a political scientist and a historian would study the period?
I study both, & whilst they certainly do overlap, one finds history to focus more so on the facts, as well as the material themes and trends (eg. The effect of war on children's eating habits).
With political science, the focus is primarily on theoretical trends, (eg. The behavior of a state & how it demonstrates political realism), whilst this certainly also can occasionally fall into the study of history, political science gives it a new focus of attention.