Week 1 - What is Politics Flashcards
The Importance of Politics
-Aristotle
• Politics as a concept emerges in all aspects of human life, especially relating to human interaction. As such politics is extremely important, due to its impact on individuals and communities.
• Aristotle proposed Politics as the Master Science:
Structures Society
Shapes social Rules
Impacts on every facet of human activity
Defining Politics
• Politics is the study of power. It focuses on the competition for power.
Power: ‘The ability to influence the behaviour of others in a manner not of their choosing’. There are various definitions of power. “A has power over B to the extent that he can get B to do something B would not otherwise do”.
Core of Politics
- Driving forces?
- authority
Competition and Cooperation are the driving forces of politics. Competition is between groups advancing ideas or interests. Cooperation is about achieving goals through collective action. The aim of politics is to gain authority to make/preserve or change rules under which we, as humans, live.
• Politics is a competition between various actors within society, each with diverging interests and agendas.
• Politics can also involve cooperation, and achieving goals through collective action
• The goal of politics (through its core of competition and cooperation) is to gain authority to make the rules under which people live.
Inevitability of Politics?
Due to the diversity within humanity, and due to the limited resources available to us, means that politics is inevitable. Diversity (differences in culture and race and religion etc) and Scarcity (the limited amount of resources available within a society) result in the inevitability of politics.
Government V Politics
Government: Relates to how the community administers its affairs; the structures employed in decision making; and the institutions employed in carrying out decisions. The Modern Government includes Parliament-Where decisions are made and the Public Service- which converts policies into action.
Politics: The contest for the acquisition of power within a state so as to gain authority to determine the rules under which people live.
Therefore, Government is the Institutional manifestation of the body of society which has been granted the legitimacy to rule over a populace.
Key Notion in Politics: Authority
WEBER Max Weber proposed that there are three types of authority Traditional Authority Charismatic Authority Legal-Rational Authority
Key Notion in Politics: Authority #1
Traditional Authority
-Command fixed by tradition
-Lack of formal law
(Customs and established status quo- Monarchy)
Key Notion in Politics: Authority #2
Charismatic Authority
-Surrender to person and their attributes
-Individual has authority for personal qualities and not because of a legal position
(Commitment to talented leader-Revolutionary leaders)
Key Notion in Politics: Authority #3
Legal-Rational Authority
-Laws created and enacted by ‘correct’ procedure
-Most common; rules not authority is obeyed
-All about procedure
(Established positions, processes and institutions-bureaucracies and Modern Governments)
Perspectives on Politics: The Types of Ways In Which Politics is Seen
Categories??
The Art of Government
The Art of Public Affairs
The Art of Compromise and Consensus
The Art of Power
Perspectives on Politics: The Types of Ways In Which Politics is Seen
The Art of Government???
Exercising control within society through making decisions
• Control through decision making
• Focus on the Machinery of government
• The ‘running’ of the country
Problematic:
- Everybody has power and this view assumes that only individuals involved in the government have power.
- It downplays the ability of special interest groups and social movements to influence politics
Perspectives on Politics: The Types of Ways In Which Politics is Seen
The Art of Public Affairs??
Politics is central to constructing the systems in which humanity lives.
• There exists a debate between public and private spheres
-Where does public end and private begin, to what extent can power structures become involved in the private lives of individuals
-Should politics influence private lives of individuals
Perspectives on Politics: The Types of Ways In Which Politics is Seen
The Art of Compromise and Consensus??
Focuses on the way decisions are made and not the conduct of political actors.
• Politics is seen as ‘the art of the possible’
• Politics is seen as a way to resolve conflict—through compromise, conciliation and negotiation; a method to maintain social cohesiveness and avoid chaos in the community
• Dispersal of power is crucial, as it avoids individuals and groups wielding absolute power. Relates to restrictions on power.
Perspectives on Politics: The Types of Ways In Which Politics is Seen
The Art of Power?
A cynical view that sees politics purely about power.
• This definition sees politic as concerned with an ability to achieve outcomes, through whatever means.
• Politics is everywhere…from international affairs to individual interactions: and this view sees politics as concerning the use of power
Perspectives on Politics: The Types of Ways In Which Politics is Seen
>The Art of Power
The Three faces of Power:?
Decision making—actions designed to influence decisions Eg. Threat of Military Action
Agenda Setting—advancing issues/ideas that stop other decisions being made Eg. Lobbying/Environmental groups
Thought Control—advancing ideological concepts Eg. Deep set belief that only way to structure society is correct/Cold War…US advancing the notion of the Free West/Communist nations thought socialism was the best system for humanity. Eg, Iraq War.
