What is Politics:

– Definitions of politics

– Role of power, force, influence and authority in politics

Defining the term Politics: • According to Plato & Aristotle (premier Greek

political philosophers who theorised on the history and evolution of political science) politics, which is taken from the Greek word polis, speaks to the city / ideal society wherein men can experience life at higher quality than that dictated by his innate nature as a political animal.

• Harold Lasswell (1958), defines politics as who gets

what, when and how. • Adrian Leftwich (2004), contends that politics is

about people, resources and power.

Andrew Heywood (2002), defines politics as a dynamic and interactive process of making, preserving and amending the general rules which govern society in which we live.

• Bernard Crick (1962), argues that politics is the art of finding peaceful resolutions to conflict through compromise and the building of consensus.

• David Easton (1971), defines politics as the authoritative allocation of values.

• Marxists see politics as class conflict and political power struggle; merely the organized power of one class [the economically dominant /

bourgeoisie] for oppressing another [the proletariat / working class].

• Feminists contend that politics is an extension of the personal realm. For instance they argue that power is derived from the dominance of the male / patriarchy in personal relationships and the family and therefore the personal realm is acutely political.

• Politics has a sharp edge as well; it is seen as a dirty, self seeking struggle for power.

Machiavelli sees politics as the pursuit of power. He argues that the end justifies the means (means could

include warfare). Therefore if the end is to gain and maintain power then the means must involved both charisma and fear.

In other words, the politician in pursuit of power must seek

to be loved and feared and where both cannot be achieved then it is better to be feared.

In this sense politics is viewed as a potentially ‘violent’ and

‘dirty’ process / activity.

– Conversely; politics is not only about power it must involve morality and therefore seek to serve the common good of society.

• Additionally, the term is used to refer to/ describe “organizational / institutional politics”.

In these instances, it refers to the interplay between the exercise of authority, influence and the outcomes/ decisions that were intended within these institutions/ organizations.

Considering the aforementioned definitions [and the

many others you will come across in your readings], we can observe four broad perspectives / conceptualizations / views of politics:

– Politics is associated with the activities of government

• Here politics is largely associated with the activities of the public institutions of the state and the formal institutions of the government.

– (The State in this view is the architecture / machinery for governing a

society).The state exercises the highest form of secular authority because it controls the use of legitimate force to impose decisions within the territorial confines of the state.

– Power is vested in governments ; considered to be the steering

mechanism of the state.

– Politics focuses largely on public affairs

• Here politics is largely associated with public life and activities therein as opposed to personal or private affairs.

– Politics involves the exercise of power

• Here politics is related to the seeking of power; the exercise of such power and the distribution of power.

– Politics is a process which involves consensus building and compromise

• Here politics refer to how decisions are made; political decision making involves consensus building, compromise and conciliation as resources are limited while demands seem infinite and come from varied sources.

Power, force, influence, authority: their role in politics:

• Defining power:

» Power is the medium, the possession and use of, which

enables the responsibilities of an office to be discharged effectively and with authority. (Parsons ,1966)

• In its most basic sense, power is the ability to achieve ones objectives even against the wishes of others.

• Elements of power: influence, force and authority.

• Types of authority: traditional, charismatic and legal - rational

• Power is either manifest or implicit.

– Manifest power speaks to a clear observable path of authority from one action to another.

– Implicit power is most clearly expressed in social institutions such as the family where the authority of the parents or leaders is understood and the children or followers follow without necessarily being dictated or instructed to each time.

• Political power is expressed in many different forms for example the authority to govern or make decisions on behalf of those governed, shaping peoples’ public view / political ideology through selected information presentation, influencing what program, policy, legislative considerations are given precedence over others and therefore make it onto the political agenda.

– This runs the spectrum from political socialization to

propaganda while the latter reflects the influence of corporate groups, lobbying groups, think tanks, and other social and political pressure groups (Shively, 1987).

• Political power is derived from/ comprised of the following:

– Authority: legitimate power which is derived from your

position or the position of the office occupied on the hierarchy of the power structure .

– Influence: the ability persuade, manipulate or simply to cause people to do what you want or to accept your argument not solely on the basis of that argument but because of the perceived prestige of reputation, personality, style or approach.

– Force: coercion as a result of the elimination of other options.

Three types of authority: (Max Weber, 1968)

“Traditional:

Derived from traditional norms defining the position, for example Monarchy, feudal lordship, hereditary chieftainships.

Charismatic:

Derived from personal qualities of the leaders, for example leaders of political, military and religious movements.

Rational Legal:

Defined by rational legal norms for example authority in bureaucratic organizations.” (Spencer, 1970, p.132)

• Power is essential to politics. The interplay of power, authority, influence and force allow for the arrival, enforcement / implementation of political decisions.

– Decisions about the allocation of resources and public

goods are accepted either because the government has the legal authority to make such allocations;

– possesses the power to enforce such decisions where resistance might occur

– or may be able to exercise influence in the person(s) of key government official(s) who are able to persuade opposition parliamentarians and/or disgruntled constituencies to fall in line with a certain authoritative allocation.

Key takeaways: • Politics means different things to different people and

therefore has multiple definitions/ conceptualizations ; to this extent it is argued to be a contested term. There are at least four broad perspectives/ conceptualizations of the term:

– It occurs in the realm of public affairs – It is about government – It involves the exercise of power – It is a process which involves building consensus and arriving at

compromise

The latter two perspectives (on the previous slide) illustrate that politics transcends the public arena - which involves politicians, government, political parties, national elections etc - and international arena to involve the social [private] arena as well. In other words politics is played out within states [public and private realms] and among states [internationally].

Sources: • Axford, B. et. al. Politics an Introduction. NewYork: Routledge. 1997. • Easton, D. (ed.). Varieties of Political Theory. New Jersey: Prentice Hall INC., 1966. • Garner, R., Ferdinand, P, Lawson, S. Introduction to Politics 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press

2009. • Heywood, Andrew. Political Theory: An Introduction 3rd ed. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. • Heywood, Andrew. Politics. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. • Leftwich, Adrian (ed.). What is Politics? The Activity and its Study. Cambridge: Polity Press Ltd.,

2004. • Parsons, Talcott. “On the concept of power” in The American Philosophical Society, Vol. 107, No. 3

(Jun. 19, 1963), pp. 232-262 • Shively, Phillips, W. Power and Choice: an Introduction to Political Science 5th edn. New York:

McGraw Hill Publishers 1987. • Spencer, M.E. “Weber on legitimate Norms and Authority” in The British Journal of Sociology, Vol.

21, No. 2 (Jun. 1970), pp. 123-134.