Does that mean that politics can never be like a natural science? Political science is an empirical discipline that accumulates both quantified and qualitative data. With such data we can find persistent patterns, much like in biology. Gradually, we begin to generalize. When the generalizations become firmer, we call them theories. In a few cases the theories become so firm that we may call them laws. In this way, the study of politics accumulates knowledge, the original meaning of science.