What Is Politics?
Politics is the authoritative and legitimate struggle for limited resources or precious rights and privileges within the context of the state, economy, and society. It includes formal processes for making official government decisions and other forms of political participation – such as protest, lobbying, and election campaigns – that enable individuals and groups to advance their own or collective interests in a democratic system.
It is often viewed as an adversarial activity where competing interests battle each other in the pursuit of their own self-interests, even when they disagree with one another. In the United States, for example, the search for common ground on issues such as climate change, immigration, guns, and inequality is frequently frustrated by a lack of political will to reach reasonable accommodation. The result is that solutions to these problems frequently grossly favor one group over another.
This view of politics has led many to dismiss the practice, arguing that politicians are incompetent or corrupt. This argument has also contributed to the growing distrust of government and its representatives, with many citizens believing that they are unable to trust their government to make good choices for them. This is a significant challenge for democracy, and it underscores the importance of a civic education that prepares students to participate effectively in our democratic process.
In addition to the partisan divisions and ideological clashes that are commonly associated with the term, political conflict in America is complicated by other factors such as the Constitution’s design that gives states equal representation in the House of Representatives (but not the Senate) and provides for lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court; the fact that two parties dominate the national stage; and geographic sorting that has widened the gap between red and blue states. The result has been a federal government that struggles to enact policies in line with public opinion.
A growing number of scholars have challenged the classic image of politics as a battle over distribution by arguing that politics is as much about contestation over ways of framing or narrating policy challenges as it is about struggles over their allocation. This recognition chimes with debates over “fake news” and the extent to which different narratives of a policy problem can have profound implications for how it is ultimately resolved.
This broader definition of politics enables us to explore how political process is shaped by less observable activities, from parliamentary agendas that determine who gets to speak and for how long, to the news agendas that determine which issues will be covered in a given day or week. It also allows us to consider how a person’s ability to participate in politics in a variety of contexts – at work, in school, in church, etc. – might shape their approach to traditional legislative debates, political news, and elections.
Politics is the authoritative and legitimate struggle for limited resources or precious rights and privileges within the context of the state, economy, and society. It includes formal processes for making official government decisions and other forms of political participation – such as protest, lobbying, and election campaigns – that enable individuals and groups to advance their own or collective interests in a democratic system. It is often viewed as an adversarial activity where competing interests battle each other in the pursuit of their own self-interests, even when they disagree with one another. In the United States, for example, the search for common ground on issues such as climate change, immigration, guns, and inequality is frequently frustrated by a lack of political will to reach reasonable accommodation. The result is that solutions to these problems frequently grossly favor one group over another. This view of politics has led many to dismiss the practice, arguing that politicians are incompetent or corrupt. This argument has also contributed to the growing distrust of government and its representatives, with many citizens believing that they are unable to trust their government to make good choices for them. This is a significant challenge for democracy, and it underscores the importance of a civic education that prepares students to participate effectively in our democratic process. In addition to the partisan divisions and ideological clashes that are commonly associated with the term, political conflict in America is complicated by other factors such as the Constitution’s design that gives states equal representation in the House of Representatives (but not the Senate) and provides for lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court; the fact that two parties dominate the national stage; and geographic sorting that has widened the gap between red and blue states. The result has been a federal government that struggles to enact policies in line with public opinion. A growing number of scholars have challenged the classic image of politics as a battle over distribution by arguing that politics is as much about contestation over ways of framing or narrating policy challenges as it is about struggles over their allocation. This recognition chimes with debates over “fake news” and the extent to which different narratives of a policy problem can have profound implications for how it is ultimately resolved. This broader definition of politics enables us to explore how political process is shaped by less observable activities, from parliamentary agendas that determine who gets to speak and for how long, to the news agendas that determine which issues will be covered in a given day or week. It also allows us to consider how a person’s ability to participate in politics in a variety of contexts – at work, in school, in church, etc. – might shape their approach to traditional legislative debates, political news, and elections.