Mastering Active vs. Passive Voice in Political Science Writing

In political science, the choice between active and passive voice dictates whether you are emphasizing the agency of political actors or the structural outcomes of systemic processes. While behavioralists often favor the active voice to highlight decision-making, institutionalists may rely on the passive voice to describe historical path dependencies where the 'actor' is a broad entity like the state.

What Is an Active Vs Passive Voice in Political Science?

In political science, active voice places the political actor—be it a voter, a lobbyist, or a sovereign state—at the front of the sentence as the performer of the action. Passive voice shifts the focus to the policy, the conflict, or the data being acted upon. Unlike the hard sciences where passive voice is standard for objectivity, political science requires a strategic mix: active voice for causal arguments and passive voice when describing broad geopolitical shifts where specific agency is diffused.

Before You Start

• Identify the primary level of analysis (individual, state, or international system) for your paper.
• Determine if your methodology is qualitative (often requiring active agency) or quantitative (where data trends may be the subject).
• Review the submission guidelines for journals like 'American Political Science Review' or 'World Politics' to gauge their stylistic preferences.
• Clarify whether your argument relies on 'human agency' (e.g., a leader's choice) or 'structural realism' (e.g., systemic constraints).

Identify the Political Actor

Before writing, ask who is exercising power. In political science, clarity on who 'acts' is essential for accountability and causal tracing.

Example: Instead of 'The bill was passed,' use 'The Senate coalition passed the bill.'

Tip: If you cannot identify the actor, you may be missing a key variable in your political analysis.

Use Active Voice for Causal Claims

When arguing that one variable affects another, use the active voice to show the direction of influence clearly.

Example: Instead of 'Democratization is hindered by resource wealth,' use 'Resource wealth hinders democratization.'

Tip: Active voice makes your hypothesis testing sound more assertive and logically sound.

Reserve Passive Voice for Institutional Processes

Use passive voice when the specific individual actor is less important than the institutional outcome or the state of affairs.

Example: Instead of 'The bureaucrats implemented the policy,' use 'The policy was implemented across all regional districts.'

Tip: This is useful in Comparative Politics when describing long-term historical developments.

Animate Your Theoretical Framework

When discussing theories like Realism or Constructivism, make the theory or its proponents the subject to keep the literature review engaging.

Example: Instead of 'It is argued by Realists that...', use 'Realists argue that states prioritize security in an anarchic system.'

Tip: Attributing views directly to schools of thought prevents 'floating' ideas without academic context.

Lead with the Data in Quantitative Sections

In the 'Results' section of a political behavior paper, it is often appropriate to use passive voice to maintain a neutral, objective tone regarding the statistical findings.

Example: Instead of 'I found a correlation,' use 'A strong correlation was found between voter turnout and education levels.'

Tip: Avoid 'I' or 'We' in results sections to let the empirical evidence stand on its own.

Highlight Agency in Foreign Policy Analysis

When analyzing diplomatic decisions, use active voice to attribute specific actions to specific leaders or cabinets to avoid ambiguity.

Example: Instead of 'A treaty was signed,' use 'The Executive Branch signed the bilateral trade agreement.'

Tip: Passive voice in foreign policy can accidentally obscure who is responsible for a diplomatic failure.

Clarify Legal and Constitutional Interpretations

When discussing judicial politics, use active voice to describe the Court's action to show the exercise of judicial review.

Example: Instead of 'The law was struck down,' use 'The Supreme Court struck down the law as unconstitutional.'

Tip: In Public Law papers, the actor (the Court) is just as important as the ruling itself.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Using passive voice to hide a lack of evidence regarding which political actor is responsible for an outcome.
• Overusing 'it is believed' or 'it is thought' instead of citing specific political theorists.
• Switching voices mid-paragraph when describing a single policy cycle, which confuses the reader.
• Using active voice for inanimate objects, such as 'This paper thinks,' instead of 'This paper argues.'
• Relying on passive voice in the abstract, which weakens the impact of the research's primary contribution.

Pro Tips

• Read your thesis statement aloud; if it is in passive voice, rewrite it immediately to clarify your causal argument.
• In International Relations, use active voice to distinguish between the 'State' as an actor and 'Non-state actors.'
• Check the 'Methods' section of the 'Journal of Politics'—you will notice a shift toward active voice when describing researcher choices.
• Use passive voice when the recipient of a political action is the focus of your case study, such as marginalized populations.
• When peer-reviewing, highlight every 'was' and 'were' to see if a stronger verb can replace the passive construction.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is 'I' allowed in political science papers?

It depends on the subfield; while International Relations and Theory often allow the first-person active voice ('I argue'), quantitative behavioral papers often prefer the third-person or passive voice for the sake of perceived objectivity.

When is passive voice better in a political science context?

Passive voice is superior when describing a state of being or a systemic condition where no single actor is responsible, such as 'The region was plagued by instability for decades.'

Does active voice make a political science paper less 'academic'?

No, modern political science scholarship increasingly favors the active voice because it forces the writer to be precise about causality and agency, which are the foundations of the discipline.

How do I change 'The vote was taken' to active voice?

Identify the body responsible: 'The Parliament took the vote' or 'The committee members voted on the resolution.'

Related Resources

• How to Write an Active Vs Passive Voice for Computer Science

• How to Write an Active Vs Passive Voice for Biology

• How to Write an Active Vs Passive Voice for Psychology

• How to Write a Sentence Rewriting for Political Science

• How to Write Topic Sentences for Political Science

• How to Write a Paragraph Structure for Political Science

• Find Peer-Reviewed Sources with Sourcely

• Polish Your Writing with Revise AI