The discipline is normally divided into six subfields:

• Political philosophy, which deals with normative questions about how power should be used and distributed, rights and obligations, the nature of justice and the ideal state.
• American politics, which is concerned with campaigns and elections, parties, elected executives, legislative processes, and issues of public policy.
• Public administration, which studies the role played by public employees in policy making, planning, personnel management, taxation and finance, and in responding to the needs and problems of communities and the nation.
• Public law, which involves the judicial process, civil rights and liberties, and the significance of such terms as equal opportunity and due process in the United States.
• Comparative government, which raises the same questions of politics, administration and law about other countries, and moves toward conclusions based on comparisons between them.
• International politics, which is concerned with relations between the states and other international actors such as multinational corporations and the United Nations and with the underlying realities of power, based on resources, wealth, military preparedness and national security.