Defining Politics

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The word politics comes from the Greek, meaning the affairs of the city-state (polis). Even though we have changed our predominant form of governing and our way of life from the times of Socrates and Plato, politics remains a vital part of how we interact with the world around us. Keeping that in mind, defining politics has always been a hard task and with the evolution of political forms, ideologies and an ever-expanding definition of the word global most would argue that a universal definition of politics is impossible. Looking at what the term encompasses today, I would seem to agree with them. In their efforts to answer the question of ‘what is Politics?’ Political Science, Philosophy and numerous other branches of Social Science, as well as extraordinary individuals, have produced different definitions through time based on power, resources, society, governance, war, cooperation, common goals, values, protection, exploitation etc., but none of them could agree on a single universal definition. This essay will avoid answering the question of what politics is exactly and try to see what it can be, based on predominant definitions and classifications. It will explore two things; firstly why is the definition of politics so elusive and possibly why should it remain undefined. Secondly it will endeavour to produce a viewpoint on what politics can be, seen as an ‘arena’ or as a ‘process’, introducing the concept of power distribution as an integral part of the study of politics and what is political. By doing so, one can produce a unique outlook into politics with usage for real world understanding and problem solving, especially for International Development.
What is politics? Is it the sole arena of governments and politicians? I...

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Works Cited

Crick, B. 1992. In Defence of Politics, 4. ed. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Goodin, Robert E.; Klingemann, Hans-Dieter. 1996., New Handbook of Political Science, A. [online]. Oxford Scholarship Online. Available from: 9 December 2013
Heywood, A. 2013. Politic, 4. ed. London: POLGRAVE MACMILLAN
Hay, C. 2002. Political Analysis: a critical introduction, London: POLGRAVE MACMILLAN
Leftwich, A. 1983. Redefining Politics: People, resources and power, London: Methuen & Co.
Leftwich, A. ed. 2004. What is Politics?, London: Polity Press Ltd.
Lipset, S.M. ed. 1969. Politics and the Social Sciences, New York: Oxford University Press
Marsh, D. Stoker, G. 2010. Theory and Methods in Political Science, 3. Ed. London: Palgrave Macmillan
Parsons, T. 1957. The Distribution of Power in American Society, World Politics 10:123-143

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