Politics And Politics Essay

The study of politics is an essential part of our everyday experience and can be simply defined as a universal activity, although there is no universal consensus regarding such definition. Indeed, there are many interpretations of what politics actually is, and with disagreement come dispute. Of these interpretations, there are four main collectives: politics as the art of government, which is the traditional viewpoint; politics as public affairs which interprets politics being associated with public life (which itself is hard to define) and focuses on the state institutions; politics as compromise and consensus, where importance significantly gravitates to the way in which decisions are made; and finally politics as power, and power as the

This view of politics is reinforced everyday by simple conversation. For example, people are said to be 'in politics ' when they hold public office or ‘entering politics’ when they seek to do so. Politics is practised in cabinet rooms, legislative chambers and government departments, which can only be accessed by a certain specific group of people, often politicians and civil servants. This differs from other viewpoints such as politics as power which believes that it is practised through the ability to achieve a desired outcome. This traditional view ensures that politics is conducted within a framework of checks and constraints that ensure governmental power is not abused. These institutions are the legislative power which make the laws, the executive which implements them and the judiciary which interprets them therefore is a strong viewpoint of politics. nonetheless, it may be seen as antiquated for our current society and individuals may feel they are not being represented properly as not being able to associate their beliefs and wishes with those of politicians. Thus another viewpoint such as politics as public affairs may be a more accurate

Power stems from a security of resources, and is concerned with the production, allocation and use of these scarce resources. (Heywood 2013:9) This viewpoint believes that politics is concerned where the power lies (who gets what when) and how it is achieved, politics as power does not constrain politics to a particular sphere the private or public realm but instead, sees politics at work in all social activities in people’s lives. Through this viewpoint politics is also seen as decision making, a face of power which consists of conscious actions which influence the content of decisions.(Heywood 2013:9) Politics is about diversity and conflict; however, the essential factor is the existence of scarcity - while human needs and desires are never ending, the availability of their wants is limited. This differs from the viewpoint of politics as public affairs which focuses on the state institutions and keeping the public and private life separate. Overall it is clear that power is a huge part of politics as there are many people who are in politics and hold more power however this is flawed due to unlimited wants of people and the limited resources, which is advocated through power therefore another viewpoint may be more