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What is Politics
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Introduction isn’t what Politics is
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1: WHAT IS POLITICSSome definitions:
An elementally social activity
“Who gets what, when, and how” Harold Lasswell
The nature of politics:
Conflict / conflict resolution
Social setting / context varies but not human instincts
About ‘values allocations’ – the ‘things’ that matter, material and non-material
Is anything excluded? – Aristotle’s boundary out-dated??
The logics of politics
Scarcity of resources
Inequality of access / political opportunity / elites
Differential power resources
Human discontents: material and ideational / ideological
Differential social status
ALL above are sources of conflict / competition and require conflict resolution
BOTH of which are the essence of politics
The arenas of politics
Where politics is played out: locations
And modus operandi – methods of politics
‘High’ politics and ‘Low’ politics
International / global arenas: war, diplomacy, IGOs
States: government, administration, political parties; democratic and non-democratic
‘persuasion’
Territorial polities: states, regions, provinces
Local / municipal governance: city, town and county
Organised groups / special interests: lobbying
‘Disorganised’ groups, collective action and mass politics: assassinations, rebellions,
revolutions, movements, terrorism, demos, the crowd and the ‘mob’
War: is war ‘politics by other means’? (Carl von Clausewitz 1780-1831) – ‘War is thus an act
of force to compel our enemy to do our will’
Individual actions: terrorism, assassinations, murder, hunger strikes, protests, blogging etc.
Politics in the modern liberal state
Modernisation is key here – followed historically by liberalism and democracy
1. Pluralistic: multiple sources / locations of political power/authority
2. Consensual: with the broad consent / agreement of publics / electorate and society at large
3. Ideological: ideas about the ‘ideal’ society drives political parties – though not in an
extremist sense, except at the margins of society
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