Politics

 decisions that apply to members of a
group. [1]
It refers to achieving and exercising positions of
governance—organized control over a human
community, particularly a state . [2] The academic
study focusing on just politics, which is therefore
more targeted than all Political science , is
sometimes referred to as Politology (not to be
confused with Politicology ).
In modern nation-states, people have formed
political parties to represent their ideas. They
agree to take the same position on many issues
and agree to support the same changes to law
and the same leaders. [3]
An election is usually a competition between
different parties. [4] Some examples of political
parties worldwide are: the African National
Congress (ANC) in South Africa, the
Conservatives in the United Kingdom , the
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Germany
and the Indian National Congress in India .
Politics is a multifaceted word. It has a set of
fairly specific meanings that are descriptive and
nonjudgmental (such as "the art or science of
government" and "political principles"), but often
does carry a connotation of dishonest
malpractice. [1][5][6] The word has been used
negatively for many years: the British national
anthem as published in 1745 calls on God to
"Confound their politics", [7] and the phrase "play
politics", for example, has been in use since at
least 1853, when abolitionist Wendell Phillips
declared: "We do not play politics; anti-slavery is
no half-jest with us." [8]
A variety of methods are deployed in politics,
which include promoting one's own political
views among people, negotiation with other
political subjects, making laws , and exercising
force, including warfare against adversaries. [9]
[10][11][12][13] Politics is exercised on a wide
range of social levels, from clans and tribes of
traditional societies, through modern local
governments , companies and institutions up to
sovereign states , to the international level .
It is very often said that politics is about
power. [14] A political system is a framework
which defines acceptable political methods
within a given society. The history of political
thought can be traced back to early antiquity,
with seminal works such as Plato's Republic ,
Aristotle 's Politics and the works of Confucius .
Etymology
Women voter outreach from 1935.
The word comes from the same Greek word
from which the title of Aristotle 's book Politics
(Πολιτικά, Polis) also derives; polis means
"affairs of the cities". The book title was
rendered in Early Modern English in the mid-15th
century as "Polettiques"; [15] it became "politics"
in Modern English. The singular politic first
attested in English 1430 and comes from Middle
French politique , in turn from Latin politicus, [16]
which is the Latinization of the Greek πολιτικός
( politikos), meaning amongst others "of, for, or
relating to citizens", "civil", "civic", "belonging to
the state", [17] in turn from πολίτης (polites ),
"citizen" [17] and that from πόλις (polis ),
"city". [17]
Classifications
Formal politics refers to the operation of a
constitutional system of government and publicly
defined institutions and procedures. [14] Political
parties, public policy or discussions about war
and foreign affairs would fall under the category
of Formal Politics. [14] Many people view formal
politics as something outside of themselves, but
that can still affect their daily lives. [14]
Semi-formal politics is politics in government
associations such as neighborhood associations,
or student governments where student
government political party politics is often
important.
Informal politics is understood as forming
alliances, exercising power and protecting and
advancing particular ideas or goals. Generally,
this includes anything affecting one's daily life,
such as the way an office or household is
managed, or how one person or group exercises
influence over another. [14] Informal Politics is
typically understood as everyday politics, hence
the idea that "politics is everywhere". [14]
History of state politics
The history of politics is reflected in the origin,
development, and economics of the institutions
of government .
The state
Main article: State (polity)
The origin of the state is to be found in the
development of the art of warfare . Historically
speaking, all political communities of the
modern type owe their existence to successful
warfare. [18]
Kings, emperors and other types of monarchs in
many countries including China and Japan, were
considered divine. Of the institutions that ruled
states, that of kingship stood at the forefront
until the American Revolution put an end to the
" divine right of kings". Nevertheless, the
monarchy is among the longest-lasting political
institutions, dating as early as 2100 BC in
Sumeria [19] to the 21st century AD British
Monarchy. Kingship becomes an institution
through the institution of hereditary monarchy.
The king often, even in absolute monarchies,
ruled his kingdom with the aid of an elite group
of advisors, a council without which he could not
maintain power. As these advisors and others
outside the monarchy negotiated for power,
constitutional monarchies emerged, which may
be considered the germ of constitutional
government . [20][21]
The greatest of the king's subordinates, the earls
and dukes in England and Scotland, the dukes
and counts in the Continent, always sat as a
right on the council. A conqueror wages war
upon the vanquished for vengeance or for
plunder but an established kingdom exacts
tribute . One of the functions of the council is to
keep the coffers of the king full. Another is the
satisfaction of military service and the
establishment of lordships by the king to satisfy
the task of collecting taxes and soldiers. [22]
Themes
Activism is a form of politics.
Forms of political organization
There are many forms of political organization,
including states, non-government organizations
(NGOs) and international organizations such as
the United Nations . States are perhaps the
predominant institutional form of political
governance, where a state is understood as an
institution and a government is understood as
the regime in power.
According to Aristotle, states are classified into
monarchies, aristocracies , timocracies ,
democracies , oligarchies , and tyrannies . Due to
changes across the history of politics, this
classification has been abandoned.
All states are varieties of a single organizational
form, the sovereign state. All the great powers of
the modern world rule on the principle of
sovereignty . Sovereign power may be vested on
an individual as in an autocratic government or it
may be vested on a group as in a constitutional
government. Constitutions are written documents
that specify and limit the powers of the different
branches of government. Although a constitution
is a written document, there is also an unwritten
constitution. The unwritten constitution is
continually being written by the legislative branch
of government; this is just one of those cases in
which the nature of the circumstances
determines the form of government that is most
appropriate. England did set the fashion of
written constitutions during the Civil War but
after the Restoration abandoned them to be
taken up later by the American Colonies after
their emancipation and then France after the
Revolution and the rest of Europe including the
European colonies. [ citation needed ]
There are many forms of government. One form
is a strong central government as in France and
China. Another form is local government, such as
the ancient divisions in England that are
comparatively weaker but less bureaucratic.
These two forms helped to shape the practice of
federal government , first in Switzerland, then in
the United States in 1776, in Canada in 1867
and in Germany in 1871 and in 1901, Australia .
Federal states introduced the new principle of
agreement or contract . Compared to a
federation , a confederation has a more dispersed
system of judicial power . [23] In the American
Civil War , the argument by the Confederate
States that a State could secede from the Union
didn't stand because of the Federal
government's power. [24]
According to professor A. V. Dicey in An
Introduction to the Study of the Law of the
Constitution , the essential features of a federal
constitution are: a) A written supreme
constitution in order to prevent disputes between
the jurisdictions of the Federal and State
authorities; b) A distribution of power between
the Federal and State governments and c) A
Supreme Court vested with the power to interpret
the Constitution and enforce the law of the land
remaining independent of both the executive and
legislative branches. [25]
Global politics
Main article: Global politics
Global politics include different practices of
political globalization in relation to questions of
social power: from global patterns of governance
to issues of globalizing conflict. The 20th
century witnessed the outcome of two world
wars and not only the rise and fall of the Third
Reich but also the rise and relative fall of
communism. The development of the atomic
bomb gave the United States a more rapid end
to its conflict in Japan in World War II . Later, the
hydrogen bomb became the ultimate weapon of
mass destruction.
Global politics also concerns the rise of global
and international organizations. The United
Nations has served as a forum for peace in a
world threatened by nuclear war, "The invention
of nuclear and space weapons has made war
unacceptable as an instrument for achieving
political ends." [26] Although an all-out final
nuclear holocaust is radically undesirable for
man, "nuclear blackmail" comes into question
not only on the issue of world peace but also on
the issue of national sovereignty. [27] On a
Sunday in 1962, the world stood still at the brink
of nuclear war during the October Cuban Missile
Crisis from the implementation of U.S. vs Soviet
Union nuclear blackmail policy.
According to political science professor Paul
James , global politics is affected by values:
norms of human rights, ideas of human
development , and beliefs such as
cosmopolitanism about how we should relate to
each:
Political corruption
Main article: Political corruption
William Pitt the Elder, speaking before the British
House of Lords, 9 January 1770, observed:
"Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of
those who possess it." [29] This was echoed
more famously by John Dalberg-Acton over a
century later: "Power tends to corrupt, and
absolute power corrupts absolutely." [30]
Political corruption is the use of legislated
powers by government officials for illegitimate
private gain. Misuse of government power for
other purposes, such as repression of political
opponents and general police brutality , is not
considered political corruption. Neither are illegal
acts by private persons or corporations not
directly involved with the government. An illegal
act by an officeholder constitutes political
corruption only if the act is directly related to
their official duties and/or power. [31]
Forms of corruption vary, but include corruption ,
extortion , cronyism, nepotism, patronage , graft ,
and embezzlement. While corruption may
facilitate criminal enterprise such as drug
trafficking , money laundering, and trafficking , it
is not restricted to these
activities. [ citation needed ] The activities that
constitute illegal corruption differ depending on
the country or jurisdiction. For instance, certain
political funding practices that are legal in one
place may be illegal in another. In some cases,
government officials have broad or poorly
defined powers, which make it difficult to
distinguish between legal and illegal
actions. [ citation needed ] Worldwide, bribery
alone is estimated to involve over 1 trillion US
dollars annually. [32] A state of unrestrained
political corruption is known as a kleptocracy ,
literally meaning "rule by
thieves". [ citation needed]
Political parties
Main article: Political party
A political party is a political organization that
typically seeks to attain and maintain political
power within government , usually by participating
in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or
protest actions. Parties often espouse an
expressed ideology or vision bolstered by a
written platform with specific goals, forming a
coalition among disparate
interests. [ citation needed ]
Politics as an academic discipline
Political science , the study of politics, examines
the acquisition and application of power . [33]
Political scientist Harold Lasswell defined
politics as "who gets what, when, and how". [34]
Related areas of study include political
philosophy , which seeks a rationale for politics
and an ethic of public behaviour, as well as
examining the preconditions for the formation of
political communities; [35] political economy,
which attempts to develop understandings of the
relationships between politics and the economy
and the governance of the two; and public
administration , which examines the practices of
governance. [ citation needed ] The philosopher
Charles Blattberg , who has defined politics as
"responding to conflict with dialogue," offers an
account which distinguishes political
philosophies from political ideologies. [36]
The first academic chair devoted to politics in
the United States was the chair of history and
political science at Columbia University , first
occupied by Prussian émigré Francis Lieber in
1857. [37]
Political values
Political views differ on average across nations.
A recreation of the Inglehart–Welzel Cultural Map
of the World based on the World Values Survey .
Main article: Political spectrum
Several different political spectra have been
proposed.
Left–right
Political analysts and politicians divide politics
into left wing and right wing politics, often also
using the idea of center politics as a middle
path of policy between the right and left. This
classification is comparatively recent (it was not
used by Aristotle or Hobbes, for instance), and
dates from the French Revolution era, when
those members of the National Assembly who
supported the republic, the common people and
a secular society sat on the left and supporters
of the monarchy, aristocratic privilege and the
Church sat on the right. [38]
The meanings behind the labels have become
more complicated over the years. A particularly
influential event was the publication of the
Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich
Engels in 1848. The Manifesto suggested a
course of action for a proletarian revolution to
overthrow the bourgeois society and abolish
private property, in the belief that this would lead
to a classless and stateless
society. [ citation needed ] [39]
The meaning of left-wing and right-wing varies
considerably between different countries and at
different times, but generally speaking, it can be
said that the right wing often values tradition and
inequality while the left wing often values
progress and egalitarianism, with the center
seeking a balance between the two such as with
social democracy, libertarianism or regulated
capitalism . [40]
According to Norberto Bobbio , one of the major
exponents of this distinction, the Left believes in
attempting to eradicate social inequality -
believing it to be unethical or unnatural [41] while
the Right regards most social inequality as the
result of ineradicable natural inequalities, and
sees attempts to enforce social equality as
utopian or authoritarian. [42] Some ideologies,
notably Christian Democracy , claim to combine
left and right wing politics; according to Geoffrey
K. Roberts and Patricia Hogwood, "In terms of
ideology, Christian Democracy has incorporated
many of the views held by liberals, conservatives
and socialists within a wider framework of moral
and Christian principles." [43] Movements which
claim or formerly claimed to be above the left-
right divide include Fascist Terza Posizione
economic politics in Italy, Peronism in Argentina,
and National Action Party in Mexico. [44]
[ citation needed ]
Chart showing the political positions
Authoritarian to Libertarian and Left-wing
to Right-wing on a 2D plane.
Authoritarian–libertarian
Authoritarianism and libertarianism refer to the
amount of individual freedom each person
possesses in that society relative to the state.
One author describes authoritarian political
systems as those where "individual rights and
goals are subjugated to group goals,
expectations and conformities", [45] while
libertarians generally oppose the state and hold
the individual as sovereign. In their purest form,
libertarians are anarchists [46] , who argue for the
total abolition of the state, of political parties
and of other political entities , while the purest
authoritarians are, by definition, totalitarians who
support state control over all aspects of society.
[47]
For instance, classical liberalism (also known as
laissez-faire liberalism , [48] ) is a doctrine
stressing individual freedom and limited
government . This includes the importance of
human rationality, individual property rights, free
markets , natural rights, the protection of civil
liberties , constitutional limitation of government,
and individual freedom from restraint as
exemplified in the writings of John Locke , Adam
Smith , David Hume , David Ricardo , Voltaire ,
Montesquieu and others. According to the
libertarian Institute for Humane Studies , "the
libertarian, or 'classical liberal,' perspective is
that individual well-being, prosperity, and social
harmony are fostered by 'as much liberty as
possible' and 'as little government as
necessary.'" [49] For anarchist political
philosopher L. Susan Brown "Liberalism and
anarchism are two political philosophies that are
fundamentally concerned with individual freedom
yet differ from one another in very distinct ways.
Anarchism shares with liberalism a radical
commitment to individual freedom while
rejecting liberalism's competitive property
relations." [50]
See also
Politics portal
Book: Politics
Index of law articles
Index of politics articles - alphabetical list of
political subjects
List of years in politics
Outline of law
Outline of political science - structured list of
political topics, arranged by subject area
Political lists - lists of political topics
Politics of present-day states
Political organisation
List of political ideologies
Notes
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Introduction . Macmillan International Higher
Education. pp. 1–. ISBN 978-1-137-31786-5 .
2. ^ "Political | Definition of Political by
Merriam-Webster" . Merriam-webster.com.
Retrieved 25 February 2018.
3. ^ Giovanni Sartori (2005). Parties and Party
Systems: A Framework for Analysis . ECPR
Press. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-9547966-1-7 .
4. ^ Richard Rose; Neil Munro (1 April 2009).
Parties and Elections in New European
Democracies . ECPR Press. p. 43.
ISBN 978-0-9558203-2-8 .
5. ^ William A. Joseph (14 March 2014).
Politics in China: An Introduction, Second
Edition . Oxford University Press. p. 38.
ISBN 978-0-19-938483-9 .
6. ^ Birkland (18 May 2015). Introduction to the
Policy Process . M.E. Sharpe. p. 6.
ISBN 978-0-7656-2731-5 .
7. ^ God save our lord the king , The
Gentleman's Magazine 15 October 1745
8. ^ Johnston, Alexander; Woodburn, James
Albert (1903). "American Orations: V. The anti-
slavery struggle" .
9. ^ Bo Hammarlund (1985). Politik utan partier:
studier i Sveriges politiska liv 1726-1727 .
Almqvist & Wiksell International. p. 8.
10. ^ Linda P. Brady (1 October 2017). The
Politics of Negotiation: America's Dealings with
Allies, Adversaries, and Friends . University of
North Carolina Press. p. 47.
ISBN 978-1-4696-3960-4 .
11. ^ Mary Hawkesworth; Maurice Kogan (7
November 2013). Encyclopedia of Government
and Politics: 2-volume Set . Routledge. p. 299.
ISBN 978-1-136-91332-7 .
12. ^ Steven L. Taylor (1 June 2012). 30-Second
Politics: The 50 most thought-provoking ideas in
politics, each explained in half a minute . Icon
Books Limited. p. 130.
ISBN 978-1-84831-427-6 .
13. ^ Shannon L. Blanton; Charles W. Kegley (1
January 2016). World Politics: Trend and
Transformation, 2016 - 2017 . Cengage
Learning. p. 199. ISBN 978-1-305-50487-5 .
14. ^ a b c d e f Painter, Joe; Jeffrey, Alex.
"Political Geography" .
15. ^ The Diets and Sayings of the Philosophers
(Early English Text Society, Original Series No.
211 , 1941; reprinted 1961), p. 154: "the book
of Etiques and of Polettiques".
16. ^ Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short. "A Latin
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17. ^ a b c Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott.
"A Greek-English Lexicon" . Perseus Digital
Library. Archived from the original on 24
September 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
18. ^ Carneiro, Robert L. (21 August 1970). "A
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Bibcode : 1970Sci...169..733C . doi: 10.1126/
science.169.3947.733 . PMID 17820299 .
19. ^ "Sumerian King List" (PDF). Retrieved 7
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20. ^ "European Absolutism And Power
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21. ^ "Constitutional Monarchy" . British
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22. ^ Jenks, Edward. A history of politics.
pp. 73–96. "The origin of the State, or Political
Society, is to be found in the development of the
art of military warfare."
23. ^ "Confederation vs Federation - Difference
and Comparison" . Diffen. Retrieved 25
February 2018.
24. ^ Social Sciences . PediaPress.
25. ^ Jenks, Edward (1900). A history of
politics . J. M. Dent & Co. pp. 1–164.
Retrieved 19 February 2016.
26. ^ Rabinowitch, Eugene (June 1973). Bulletin
of the Atomic Scientists . Educational
Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc. p. 13.
ISSN 0096-3402 . "...the rationale of traditional
patterns of world politics."
27. ^ Dulles, Allen (2006). The Craft of
Intelligence . Globe Pequot. p. 224.
ISBN 1599215772. "...using 'nuclear blackmail'
as a threat to intimidate other countries."
28. ^ James, Paul (2014). Globalization and
Politics, Vol. 4: Political Philosophies of the
Global . London: Sage Publications. pp. x.
Retrieved 19 February 2016.
29. ^ Safire, William, ed. (2008). Safire's
Political Dictionary . Oxford University Press.
p. 566.
30. ^ Dalberg-Acton, John (Lord Acton). Letter
to Bishop Mandell Creighton, April 5, 1887 .
Published in Historical Essays and Studies,
edited by J. N. Figgis and R. V. Laurence
(London: Macmillan, 1907)
31. ^ "Political Corruption Law & Definition" .
USLegal . Retrieved 26 November 2016.
32. ^ "BBC NEWS - Business - African corruption
'on the wane' " .
33. ^ Safire, William (2008). Safire's Political
Dictionary . Oxford University Press US. p. 566.
ISBN 0-19-534334-4 . "Power tends to corrupt;
absolute power corrupts absolutely."
34. ^ Schmidt, Barbara A.; Bardes, Mack C.;
Shelley, Steffen W. (2011). American Government
and Politics Today: The Essentials (2011–2012
Student ed.). Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage
Learning. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-538-49719-0 .
35. ^ Laurie, Timothy; Stark, Hannah (2017),
"Love's Lessons: Intimacy, Pedagogy and
Political Community" , Angelaki: Journal of the
Theoretical Humanities , 22 (4): 69–79
36. ^ Blattberg, Charles (July 2001). "Political
Philosophies and Political Ideologies". Public
Affairs Quarterly. 15 (3): 193–217.
ISSN 0887-0373 . SSRN 1755117 .
37. ^ Farr, James; Seidelman, Raymond (1993).
Discipline and history . University of Michigan
Press. ISBN 0-472-06512-2 . "...a chair at
Columbia in 1857 as professor of history and
political science, the very first of its kind in
America."
38. ^ Andrew Knapp and Vincent Wright (2006).
The Government and Politics of France.
Routledge.
39. ^ Marx, Karl; Engels, Friedrich (2002-01-01).
The Communist Manifesto . Penguin.
ISBN 9780140447576 .
40. ^ Daniel J. Levinson. "CONSERVATISM AND
RADICALISM" . International Encyclopedia of the
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41. ^ Gelderloos, Peter (2010). Anarchy Works .
42. ^ Bobbio , Norberto, Left and Right: The
Significance of a Political Distinction (translated
by Allan Cameron), 1997, University of Chicago
Press. ISBN 0-226-06246-5
43. ^ Roberts and Hogwood, European Politics
Today, Manchester University Press, 1997
44. ^ "bale" (PDF). Retrieved 2018-02-25.
45. ^ Markus Kemmelmeier ; et al. (2003).
"Individualism, Collectivism, and Authoritarianism
in Seven Societies". Journal of Cross-Cultural
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doi: 10.1177/0022022103034003005 .
46. ^ afaq. "150 years of Libertarian" .
Anarchists Writers.
47. ^ Dictionary.com
48. ^ Ian Adams, Political Ideology Today
(Manchester: Manchester University Press,
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49. ^ What Is Libertarian? , Institute for
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50. ^ L. Susan Brown . The Politics of
Individualism: Liberalism, Liberal Feminism, and
Anarchism . BLACK ROSE BOOKS LID. 1993
References
Connolly, William (1981). Appearance and
Reality in Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge
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James, Raul ; Soguk, Nevzat (2014).
Globalization and Politics, Vol. 1: Global
Political and Legal Governance . London:
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Ryan, Alan: On Politics: A History of Political
Thought from Herodotus to the Present.
London: Allen Lane, 2012.
ISBN 978-0-713-99364-6
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