What Is Politics?
Politics, derived from the ancient Greek word politika or “affairs of the city”, involves how people agree on how to live together in groups such as tribes, cities and countries. People who are interested in politics study political science, public affairs or government. Governments have rules that govern their citizens and how they interact with each other. Governments also provide services like schools, roads and hospitals.
There are many ways to define the concept of politics, but a common definition is that it refers to all activities, actors and spaces relating to power (Dahl, 1991). The classic view of this is that it concerns all matters relating to the state, but this is now widely challenged. Many argue that politics encompasses a much broader range of activities, including all manner of protest and boycott campaigns, even when these do not involve the state.
Nevertheless, most would still agree that a major part of politics is the exercise of power in a way that leads to decisions being made about resources and other factors affecting humans. The distribution of this power can be controlled by the use of formal systems of governance – laws and regulations, for example – as well as informal ones such as reputation, social networks and interpersonal relationships.
In modern societies, people often make these decisions in a process called democracy. This includes organising elections, where the public chooses who will run their governments. Most of the time, candidates for government are members of one or more political parties. They may be nominated by their party or may seek office as an independent. Some voters are only allowed to vote for the candidate from their party, but a large proportion are permitted to cast ballots in any election.
Politics can take place at any level of society, from small family groups and clans to multinational corporations, local governments, sovereign states and global organisations such as the United Nations or World Trade Organisation. At the international level, some states may go to war with each other, but more frequently they engage in a form of political globalisation by joining regional or supranational organisations that regulate inter-state affairs.
The way that these policies are developed and implemented can vary significantly between different societies, but there are some similarities. Many of these differences relate to culture and religion, but they also reflect the particular historical circumstances that created a particular situation and how it has been responded to by political actors.
People who are interested in politics tend to have many different opinions about how society should be organised, and they often have specific policy areas or issues that resonate more than others. Some people become deeply engaged in politics and devote a lot of time and energy to pursuing their goals. Others see politics as a game in which they try to influence the behaviour of other players in order to achieve their own objectives. In both cases, success depends on understanding the rules of the game and knowing how to play it.
Politics, derived from the ancient Greek word politika or “affairs of the city”, involves how people agree on how to live together in groups such as tribes, cities and countries. People who are interested in politics study political science, public affairs or government. Governments have rules that govern their citizens and how they interact with each other. Governments also provide services like schools, roads and hospitals. There are many ways to define the concept of politics, but a common definition is that it refers to all activities, actors and spaces relating to power (Dahl, 1991). The classic view of this is that it concerns all matters relating to the state, but this is now widely challenged. Many argue that politics encompasses a much broader range of activities, including all manner of protest and boycott campaigns, even when these do not involve the state. Nevertheless, most would still agree that a major part of politics is the exercise of power in a way that leads to decisions being made about resources and other factors affecting humans. The distribution of this power can be controlled by the use of formal systems of governance – laws and regulations, for example – as well as informal ones such as reputation, social networks and interpersonal relationships. In modern societies, people often make these decisions in a process called democracy. This includes organising elections, where the public chooses who will run their governments. Most of the time, candidates for government are members of one or more political parties. They may be nominated by their party or may seek office as an independent. Some voters are only allowed to vote for the candidate from their party, but a large proportion are permitted to cast ballots in any election. Politics can take place at any level of society, from small family groups and clans to multinational corporations, local governments, sovereign states and global organisations such as the United Nations or World Trade Organisation. At the international level, some states may go to war with each other, but more frequently they engage in a form of political globalisation by joining regional or supranational organisations that regulate inter-state affairs. The way that these policies are developed and implemented can vary significantly between different societies, but there are some similarities. Many of these differences relate to culture and religion, but they also reflect the particular historical circumstances that created a particular situation and how it has been responded to by political actors. People who are interested in politics tend to have many different opinions about how society should be organised, and they often have specific policy areas or issues that resonate more than others. Some people become deeply engaged in politics and devote a lot of time and energy to pursuing their goals. Others see politics as a game in which they try to influence the behaviour of other players in order to achieve their own objectives. In both cases, success depends on understanding the rules of the game and knowing how to play it.