What Is Politics?
Politics refers to all activities that involve the institutions of government, people who work for or serve it and places where these things take place. It covers the rules that govern how governments function, and the processes by which policies are made and enforced. It also involves societal norms and values that influence the way politicians behave.
Political science is the discipline that studies the theory and practice of politics. It is one of the social sciences, along with sociology, economics and history. Political science is different from other social sciences because its focus is on power – the ability of an individual or group to get what it wants from another individual or group. It is concerned with the distribution of resources, the control of decision-making and the allocation of goods and services. It also includes debates about the nature of society, and the right and wrong ways to organize it.
In the United States, the term is usually used to refer to the activity of national and state governments. The Constitution sets out how the federal government should operate, with three distinct branches: executive, legislative and judicial. The chief executive of a state is its governor, who is elected to serve four-year terms. Most states have a bicameral legislature, with an upper house called the Senate and a lower house known as the House of Representatives or Assembly.
Most people assume that politics is a struggle over material goods, and that policy makers are motivated by self-interest. This is a view that can be justified by the observation that some politicians behave in unseemly ways and are not always interested in doing what is best for their constituents. However, other ways of thinking about politics challenge this view. For example, some scholars have taken a ‘ideational turn’ in their study of politics, showing that political competition is as much about how problems are framed as it is about the struggle over distributive outcomes.
People who have similar values or beliefs often join together to form political parties, in order to put forward their ideas about how a government should be run. The members of a party usually have the same political viewpoints, and they compete against other parties to try and win elections to government seats. Many of the major issues in world politics are the result of power struggles between different groups. For example, a conflict between the interests of big business and the financial sector has led to globalisation and the rise of powerful multinational corporations.
Other examples of power struggles include the fight over land ownership, whereby farmers are often unable to agree on who should own it, and the battles between different religious or ideological groups. In some cases, these conflicts lead to violence, as happened in the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011. There are also political issues that cannot be settled by governments alone, and they may need to form alliances with other countries or regional organisations.
Politics refers to all activities that involve the institutions of government, people who work for or serve it and places where these things take place. It covers the rules that govern how governments function, and the processes by which policies are made and enforced. It also involves societal norms and values that influence the way politicians behave. Political science is the discipline that studies the theory and practice of politics. It is one of the social sciences, along with sociology, economics and history. Political science is different from other social sciences because its focus is on power – the ability of an individual or group to get what it wants from another individual or group. It is concerned with the distribution of resources, the control of decision-making and the allocation of goods and services. It also includes debates about the nature of society, and the right and wrong ways to organize it. In the United States, the term is usually used to refer to the activity of national and state governments. The Constitution sets out how the federal government should operate, with three distinct branches: executive, legislative and judicial. The chief executive of a state is its governor, who is elected to serve four-year terms. Most states have a bicameral legislature, with an upper house called the Senate and a lower house known as the House of Representatives or Assembly. Most people assume that politics is a struggle over material goods, and that policy makers are motivated by self-interest. This is a view that can be justified by the observation that some politicians behave in unseemly ways and are not always interested in doing what is best for their constituents. However, other ways of thinking about politics challenge this view. For example, some scholars have taken a ‘ideational turn’ in their study of politics, showing that political competition is as much about how problems are framed as it is about the struggle over distributive outcomes. People who have similar values or beliefs often join together to form political parties, in order to put forward their ideas about how a government should be run. The members of a party usually have the same political viewpoints, and they compete against other parties to try and win elections to government seats. Many of the major issues in world politics are the result of power struggles between different groups. For example, a conflict between the interests of big business and the financial sector has led to globalisation and the rise of powerful multinational corporations. Other examples of power struggles include the fight over land ownership, whereby farmers are often unable to agree on who should own it, and the battles between different religious or ideological groups. In some cases, these conflicts lead to violence, as happened in the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011. There are also political issues that cannot be settled by governments alone, and they may need to form alliances with other countries or regional organisations.